Sunny New York!

Happy Birthday, Masina! How cool you get to spend your birthday in New York City! Hope it was great.

After a great night seeing Aladdin, most people ended up staying out pretty late and enjoying Times Square one last time. That meant a late night but the morning came at the same time. Didn’t matter. Everybody was down eating by 6:45, loaded the bus and ready to go at 7:30.

Yesterday’s weather was kinda cruddy. We were originally scheduled to go up One World Trade, the Freedom Tower, yesterday. Because the weather was raining and today’s forecast was looking good, we delayed the observatory visit until today. Smart move. What a difference a day makes. This is the third out of the previous four trips to New York that the first day had been rainy and the second nice.

Again, Robert met us at the hotel and got on the bus with us. He narrated the entire drive telling us pretty much what was going on with every building, which famous people lived where, what his favorite architect firm is……..He really seems to know everything there is to know about New York. Past and modern. So lucky to have him.

We started at Brookfield Place, home of the Winter Garden. A beautiful shopping center with restaurants and palm trees. Robert showed us a cool acoustic trick before we headed over to the Freedom Tower.

At One World Trade there wasn’t much of a line so we went straight up. The elevator is an experience in itself. There is a video playing that covers the entire inside of the elevator. It shows you what New York City looked like starting from the 1600s till today. You then get out, go to an over look and watch another quick movie. In the end, the screen slowly lifts and reveals the New York skyline and harbor. It was really impressive.

We spent 20 minutes walking the perimeter of the tower. Views all around. Could see northern Manhattan including the Empire State Building. West to New Jersey, south to New York Harbor, Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and all the ships doing work. East to Brooklyn. Straight down to the 9/11 memorial and footprints of the original Twin Towers. What a sight. Crazy to think you are on the 100 – 102 floors of the building. Great experience. Another first for this group that no other trip has done previously.

Another fun elevator ride down that makes you feel like you are flying out of the elevator and we were on the ground. Back on the bus to head uptown to Central Park.

At Central Park we took a quick group photo at the famous Bethesda Fountain and then did another first, we went and rented row boats to take out on the lake! We went in groups of four and rowed around for an hour. A neat fact about Central Park is it is all man made. The lake is really just a giant tub that can drain. It also has a bunch of turtles! I thought for the longest time they were fake and just on rocks as decorations. Nope, after awhile some moved down the rocks and jumped into the lake much to my surprise. #notfaketurtles The sun was shining and temperature much warmer than it had been. It was a great way to spend our time in Central Park. Lot’s of smiling and laughing.

After Central Park, off to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, more commonly known as the MET. Before we invaded the MET, we had lunch on the steps. Lots of food carts are in front of the MET so we grabbed our food and ate.

After Central Park, off to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, more commonly known as the MET. Before we invaded the MET, we had lunch on the steps. Lots of food carts are in front of the MET so we grabbed our food and ate.

The MET is a gigantic art museum that would take so long to go through so we had to pick what we really wanted to see. Many people wanted to check out the roof garden. Some went to Egyptian Wing to see temples that had been transferred to the museum. Monet painting. Sculptures. So much to be seen.

After the MET we sadly said goodbye to Robert. Robert does such a great job with the kids and I really mean it when I say one of my favorite parts of our trips is when he greets us at the hotel with such a genuine smile and one of my least favorite parts of the trip is when he has to say goodbye. We said our goodbyes at the Rockefeller Plaza where in the winter people ice skate around and the giant Christmas Tree is located.

We then had 90 minutes to explore 5^th avenue stores. Nike, Adidas, NBA, Dolce & Gobbana, other stores that I don’t remember the names of but sell $16,000 sticks of lipstick. Chocolate stores and more. Such a great street to people watch as there is people in business suits, fancy clothes, sports jerseys, just every type of person imaginable and they were there. It was a fun last 90 minutes in New York City.

Our dinner tonight was at Ellen’s Star Dust Diner. That name might not sound like anything fun or special but it was great. The servers are Broadway actors / actresses or hoping to be. When they aren’t serving food or drinks, they are singing. And not just on a stage, they walk all over the restaurant. We were upstairs and many times the singers came up and entertained us. Was a really great last experience in New York.

Happy Birthday, Masina!!!!!

After dinner we hoped back on the bus with Jamal and off to Boston we went. We drove through New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and finally Massachusetts. It was about a five hour drive and much sleep was caught up. Thanks for the great driving, Jamal!

Time for the final push. Two days in historic Boston, Massachusetts. We all look forwards to it!