After a hotel breakfast, we were off to the Empire State Building this morning – beautiful clear skies so great views! Very worthwhile- interesting displays and beautiful Art Deco interior.
From the Empire State we all went for coffee, then the boys and girls split up – the boys to the USS Intrepid Air, Sea and Space Museum, and the girls to the Guggenheim and the Met.
We decided that we loved the Guggenheim building – structure is amazing, and a great way to see art with its circular design (and very different to New York’s grid like structure), but we didn’t really go much on the art ….. i felt that Cate’s Yr 12 Art project would have looked much better in there !!The Met is HUGE! But we visited the Egyptian section, modern and contemporary art with Degas, Monet, Pissaro …. then there was a special exhibition of amazing Medieval armour (Maximilian I) and our favourite (part from the Degas) , the costume exhibition.
Pretty exhausted by now, but we pushed on, bus-sing it down 5th Avenue for a bit of crazy busy shopping before stumbling back to the hotel, then onto dinner. Xxx
An early start this morning – 5:50am departure from the hotel for a 6:35am train from Penn Station – what was I thinking! After a brisk 15 min walk we arrived at Penn Station. Managed to find a good bagel and croissant bakery + coffee and headed for the train. It was still dark out so not much to see for the first part of the journey out of New York and into New Jersey until the sunrise.
Enroute – New York to Washington DC (2.5 hours by train)
Once we arrived in Washington, we were pretty impressed by the grand station concourse …
And the grand “boulevards” that stretched in every direction – including up to the Capitol Building.
There were few people around early, so it was nice to have most of the place to ourselves. We visited the Thomas Jefferson Library first, before our scheduled tour of the Capitol Building at 10:40am.
The Thomas Jefferson Library was actually far more impressive than the Capitol Building!
We had a ‘picnic’ lunch (takeaway salads in the sun) and then hired some bikes for a scenic ride down past many of the museums in Washington to the White House …. have never seen so many grand buildings to be honest – the might and power of America on full display!
You couldn’t actually get very close to the Whitehouse at all! Closest was the Whitehouse Christmas tree!
We then went to the Newseum – museum of Journalism which was interesting – before heading back to the station.
Squirrels and Birds!
Back on the 5pm train, we all pretty promptly fell asleep!
Arrived back into New York at just after 7:30pm – time for dinner at the hotel and into bed! Xx
Reasonably early morning start for a walking tour of Lower Manhattan.
Starting with Wall Street and the New York Stock Exchange…
Then Trinity Church and Zucotti Park
It was absolutely freezing here – after standing on the cold stone for over an hour in sub zero temperatures, we were definitely ready to warm up!
The into One World Trade Centre to warm up and for much needed coffee! We then went to the 9-11 memorial and to the Oculus.
This is the Oculus – designed so that the sun, precisely at 8.46am on Sept 11 comes through the aperture at the top of the building- the time the first plane hit the World Trade Centre Tower
The more beautiful buildings including the Woolworth Building and City Hall and a glimpse of the Brooklyn Bridge
A subway ride …
And into Little Italy
Where we heard about La Guardia (who became mayor and had an airport named after him), the treatment of the Italian immigrants, the Mafia and more. The walking tour then moved into SoHo (South of Houston) with cast iron clad buildings – the original garment district (and now great shopping!)
Once the tour ended, we headed back into LIttle Italy for recommended handmade pasta at Aunty Jack’s (usual name – but the best pasta!). From here the girls and boys split to different shopping pursuits!
The girls at makeup store Glossier
We then all met up at a wine bar for a drink and onto a great Mexican restaurant for dinner!
An early morning walk up Fifth Avenue – as you do ….
Saks Fifth Avenue windows
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Rockefeller Centre
We headed downtown, walking to the Flatiron building, Union Square markets, SOHO then subway to Battery Park at the bottom of Manhattan Island.
Ferry Cruise to Statue of Liberty – cold at -1 for most of the day!
Once we finally returned to Battery Park – cold and hungry at 4pm – food (and warmth) became a priority!
A fortuitous wine bar came into view, with half price Rose by the bottle and delicious food!
and onto Bryant Park markets behind The NYC Library – great Christmas spirit!
USA 🇺🇸& Canada🇨🇦 2019 