A Visit to the Center of the Universe

It had been much too long since we visited New York City. Lucy had never seen it and Liam was three when he was last there. Ten years had just shot past us. We'd forgotten how much fun the city can be and wanted to try it again, this time sharing it with the kids.

We only spent three days there, but they were jam-packed from morning to night. We left the hotel about ten each day and returned only when it was time to go to bed.

The first day we spent in Midtown. We visited FAO Schwarz and Nancy and Lucy danced on the piano made famous in the movie "Big". We also made the obligatory stop at the Plaza hotel to see where Eloise lived (alas we couldn't go in because it is being turned into condos). We spent a good part of the afternoon in the Museum of Modern Art, where we also had lunch. Liam's favorite painting was a piece of Op art that was all squiggles and made his eyes go screwy, Lucy's favorite was a Chagall. From there we went to the Sony Wonder Technology Lab, where we explored the many uses of computer technology, including environmental analysis, medical imaging, and gaming.


Dinner that evening was at Mars 2112, a theme restaurant that takes you to Mars on a rather mediocre simulator ride. When you arrive, you are seated in a rocky red grotto where you dine among aliens who stop by and pose for pictures. Kinda corny, but it sure beats Chuckee Cheese (fortunately they serve adult beverages on Mars). After dinner we walked down Broadway to Times Square, also known as the Center of the Universe. Times Square was Liam's favorite place on the trip, he loved the lights and all that amazing advertising in one place. We ended the evening by seeing the new Robin Williams movie "Man of the Year" in one of the large theaters on 42nd Street.
Saturday was our downtown day. After aborting our stop at the Empire State Building (toooo crowded), we continued down to the tip of the island for a trip on the ferry to Liberty Island and Ellis Island. The kids liked Liberty, in fact it was Lucy's favorite place on the trip, but neither of them had any patience for the tour of Ellis Island, which we cut short and headed up to Chinatown. This was Liam's second favorite place (partly because he found a video game that he hadn't been able to find anywhere else). We poked through lots of interesting stores and then chose a place for dinner--rather hastily as it turned out, it wasn't as good as we had hoped to find. After dinner we crossed Canal Street into Little Italy for dessert. From there we hopped the subway again for the short trip to Astor Place where we saw a performance of the Blue Man Group. Totally cool ... the most fun you can have in a theater. At the climax we all joined in to make a huge mess in the theater, the kids loved it, we all did. If you ever get the chance, you must see this show.

The third day was our Central Park day. We started at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where we visited with the mummies (unfortunately the arms and armor exhibit was closed for the morning). When we left the museum, we worked our way south through the park. We stopped at the the model boat house, the lake, and the statue of Balto the sled dog (some of you may remember that Nancy and I once had a theater group called Balto Productions). We arrived at the zoo at lunch time and paid a visit to our old friends the polar bears. Liam remembered seeing them--and the penguin house--when he was little. The park was always his favorite outing...the big outside, he called it. On our way out of the park we stopped again at FAO Schwartz and this time watched professional dancers play the piano while Lucy picked out a souvenir. Liam preferred clothes shopping, so we took him to Niketown on our way back to the hotel to collect our things and hop on the train back home.

The trip there and back was so easy we don't know why we haven't done it more. We hope to make it to the Big Apple more regularly in the future.

See more pictures at http://albums.photoshow.net/Show?id=781437-azfxoogn