We did and saw so many things that I am sure to leave out some important information, but hopefully I will hit the good highlights! A note about cab drivers….they were really good when compared to our shuttle drivers.
Day One: Sunday
It was raining a bit that morning and there was a bike race happening that prevented the taxis from picking up in front of our hotel. We walked around until we found some taxis and headed to midtown/Time Square. I had to tell the driver to stop because he drove past our location. I never would have thought I would be giving directions to a New York cabbie! We got our tickets for the hop on hop off double decker bus. Since we were in Time Square we decided to walk around. They were actually filming a movie there. We walked over to Rockefeller Center and saw the set of the Today Show. Then we decided to head up to FAO Schwartz and Central Park. We grabbed a hotdog and a knish from a vendor. Both were ok, not great. In Central Park we caught the HOHO Bus. We were tired and ready for a ride. The uptown loop took us up to Harlem and around the Upper East side. We saw many museums, where John Lennon was shot and lots of great architecture. We went into St. Patrick’s Cathedral. It was amazingly beautiful! There was a Mass going on and the place was packed. We switched buses to do the downtown loop and headed toward Little Italy. We saw many spots from one of my favorite shows, Sex and the City. Greenwich village was quaint and I would have liked to do some shopping there. We got off at Macy’s and walked over to the Empire State Building. They were having a parade for Polish Day so 5th Ave was closed. Apparently there are many parades there. The Empire State Building was awesome. The wait was short and we had beautiful clear skies to see the city. There was even a marriage proposal while we were up there. Canal street was our next stop. Camden went down to check out the subway system. He liked it and was able to see the R train that goes up the west side of the island. We had dinner at a nice little restaurant in Little Italy. The pasta was yummy. The boys and I took a taxi back to the hotel because they were exhausted.
Day Two: Monday
We decided to start with the most somber site, Ground Zero. There is a lot of construction going on as the rebuild. The Tribute to WTC 9/11 was quite moving. The impact of that day was well portrayed and tastefully presented. We were all very sad. After that we decided to head to Seaport and get our Water Taxi to see the Statue of Liberty. Camden really enjoyed this. Carsten went along for the ride. He did seem to enjoy being with the family, but he wasn’t overwhelmed with any of the sites. We had a nice lunch and then decided to do the rest of the downtown loop. Traci and Lee had to hop off and catch a cab back to the hotel at Time Square to make it to the airport in time. We finished the Downtown Loop and walked back to our hotel. We stopped at The Stage Door Deli for a true New York Deli sandwich. We went back to our room to rest and eat.
Day Three: Tuesday
We took a shuttle to the Newark Airport to rent a car and drove to Hamburg New York. We arrived safely and had a quite dinner with Traci and Lee and Liza (their dog).
Day Four: Wednesday
This was a restful day. We walked down the road to the barn to see the horses and goats, played in the backyard and hung out. It started to rain in the afternoon. That evening many people came over for dinner including: Lyn and Leah (Lee’s sister-in-law and niece), Virgina and Vinny (Lee’s parents), Pat (Traci’s mom), Henry and Kristine (his fiance). We enjoyed and great BBQ dinner thanks to my super grilling hubby! A little rain never bothered him!
Day Five: Thursday
We had plans to go to the Finger Lakes and visit some wineries out there, however plans changed when Carsten wouldn’t walk on his foot. He made a visit to a local urgent care and got all checked out. It was just a sprain and he needed to rest it. Because most of the morning was gone we decided to go to Pumpkinville and Ellicottville instead. It was nice. The boys each got a very small pumpkin to bring home and then one a little bigger to carve. Then we went out to lunch in Ellicottville. The boys carved the pumpkin and we ate yummy leftovers.
Day Six: Friday
We had a leisurely morning. We played in the back yard and took some family photos. Then we headed to some closer wineries. While Lee, Traci and I tasted wine, Mark and the boys would explore the grounds finding millipedes, apples, ponds, playgrounds and many other fun items. We went to Mayville and had dinner on the Chautauqua Lake.
Day Seven: Saturday
We spent the morning coloring, playing in the yard, collecting acorns, finding leaves and packing up. We took some family photos and Henry and Kristine came over too. We had some chips and dip in the driveway and chatted for a bit. We left for the airport and we were on our way home.
We will add many of the 496 photos taken to our gallery. I will try to get that done in the next week or so.