NYC Part 2

On our 2nd and final day in NYC we went to visit the Cloisters museum. It's actually a bit of a haul to the upper west side of Manhattan. We grabbed a Starbucks snack, missed a bus and then took the subway, but we had to change trains a few times.  I think it took us over an hour to get there! This museum was built in the 1920s and includes many artifacts from European monasteries in medieval times.

Subway selfies on a Saturday morning

Someone had mentioned that there was some walking and some hills to get to the museum, but we didn't expect quite the hike it required!

Finally we made it to the museum at the top of the hill!

We were able to spend the morning and early afternoon with our nephew Brian who lives in NYC. These medieval doorways were not built for men this tall!

Some of the chapels in the museum

The views across the Hudson River into New Jersey were lovely.

There were a few garden areas inside the museum.

And many beautiful statues

vestments and mass vessels

So. many. stairs.

More gardens. There were actually herbs growing here.

Time to move along for lunch!

And a glorious lunch it was!

Soul Food at Amy Ruth's in Harlem

After lunch we picked up some cookies and then caught a bus back to our hotel. We drove along Central Park and this was the closest we got to the MET. Maybe next time!

Grand Central Station

Our hotel, Iberostar Park Avenue

After some time to rest and clean up, we hit the streets again to head down to St. Patrick's Cathedral

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton is my patron and Ellie's

Many beautiful side altars

Stunning

From there we continued down 5th Avenue and walked into Trump Tower, saw the Plaza Hotel, went in a clear elevator in the Apple Store, and kept walking down through Central Park as the sun was setting.

I love having Google Maps on my phone where I can pull up nearby restaurants with reviews. For our last meal in NYC, we found a quaint little Italian restaurant called Via Quaddrono that topped off the weekend just perfectly.

Then we caught a bus back to the hotel and woke very early to get an Uber ride to LaGuardia for our morning flight back to Texas. We arrived home to share photos with the aunts and kids and grab a snooze, then it was time for evening mass with the family and a special dinner to finish off the weekend! A quick but very memorable weekend getaway was just what we needed. Happy 15 years, Steven! Thanks for a fantastic trip!

Fifteen Years! NYC Part 1

Steven and I celebrated our 15 year anniversary a few weeks ago. We were able to use some of his flyer miles to go to New York City for a weekend! We've always wanted to go, and this was a good time with the ages of the kids and not having a nursing baby. Two of Steven's sisters were willing to come and stay with the kids at our house, and my parents helped out a lot too. We had a nice little getaway and got a good taste of the Big Apple! It was our very first trip away since having kids, and we're very grateful it all worked out thanks to Aunts Jill and Pam and NeNe and Papa!

I only fly about once every 3 years, and I'm glad. Ugh, I don't like airplanes. Steven flies often, so he's a bit more used to it. I cringe with every bump thinking we're going to fall from the sky!

Steven's brother Thomas and son Cole were heading to a baseball tournament in NY. They ended up on the same flight!

We got to our hotel, Iberostar Park Avenue, around 1am after our late flight. I actually got the hotel deal on Hotwire the day we were leaving. We'd reserved a room at the rectory of a Catholic church where our friend's brother is the pastor, but there would be no air conditioning, and we decided that was not a good idea in 95 degree heat in July!

We were up early and walked the two blocks to Grand Central Station to figure out how to get down to the 9/11 Memorial.

But first, a tasty breakfast for the pregnant mama!

Bustling Grand Central on a Friday morning

We figured out how to get a ticket for the subway and bus and were on our way down to the Financial District. I think this was a park near New York City Hall, which we passed on our walk from the subway to 9/11.

Street vendors everywhere!

Spotted a Catholic Church called St. Peter's and made a visit

The North Pool where one of the towers stood

We registered for a guided tour of the museum in advance. It was a moving experience. I didn't get many photos in the museum. It was one of those things you have to take in with your whole self, and photos wouldn't do it justice. I think the most touching part was the room with the walls of victim's photos, then a room inside where they showed slides and audio recordings of family members sharing something unique about one of the victims.

After we left, we visited the south pool and now knew that the white roses meant that this person celebrated a birthday on this day. I looked up the name of this victim, Edward Pullis, and saw that he was a young Catholic father with three children.

From the museum, we opted to walk across to the South Seaport area to buy discount Broadway tickets at the TKTS booth there. I got a tasty Carvel ice cream on the walk. We had to wait about 20 minutes in line, before getting our tickets for Fiddler that night!

After leaving the ticket booth, we caught a bus up to a restaurant Steven wanted to visit called Momofuku Ssam Bar, which was a kind of modern Asian BBQ place. We were famished and Steven was happy to try the pork buns and I got some kind of rotisserie chicken ssam burrito wrap. It's not something I would normally eat, but I was just glad for some lunch that day! From there we decided to walk up 5th Avenue and back to our hotel. I'm not sure that was the best idea...it was SO hot and I barely made it!

But we got to walk through Union Square where there were chess players and Hare Krishnas singing.

This was a street market, I think it may have been at Madison Square Park.

The Empire State Building. We opted to look at it from ground level :)

Flatiron Building

We made it back to the hotel to nap and shower before our dinner and show that evening. It was nice to have a 2-3 hour break both days after all the walking.

But then we opted to walk over to Broadway, hoping to find a restaurant on the way. This was Bryant Park which was pretty close to our hotel. Wish we could've stayed to see a Shakespeare play in the park. But it was pretty hot!

Eventually we realized we were in Times Square. It was quite an interesting place where I would not bring children! There were ladies with painted bodies and pretty much no clothing, just walking around, lots of characters dressed up, and just overall a kind of crazy environment.

We couldn't seem to find a quick pizza joint with a place to sit down, so we ended up in a nicer New American restaurant called Thalia. It was pretty good, but my shoe totally broke just before we walked in, so I was glad it was only about 3 blocks from the Broadway Theatre!

Made it to Broadway!

Fiddler on the Roof didn't disappoint. 

Except for the seating, which was apparently made for tiny people, because there was literally no room to move. I guess there weren't our sized people when it was built in the 1920s!

With my shoe situation, we were glad to take an uber drive back to the hotel that night to rest up for another fun day in NYC!

To be continued...