The Big Apple

BIG CITY: Our red eye flight was uneventful, but not restful, that's for sure. We took off from Seattle at 11:30 p.m.  We were over Pennsylvania before I got 8 minutes of shut eye. Annabelle managed to sleep for a couple of hours, CJ for about 30 minutes. Christian was about an hour.

Here we are, winging our way over the Great Lakes.

We hit the the big city at 7:30 a.m. NY time, 4:30 a.m. "our" time.

Shortly thereafter, we got our first monkey wrench right away. The air train from the airport wasn't working, and that was the only way we'd used to plot our trip to Manhattan.  Bummer.  So after some waiting, grumbling, a little cursing, and some wild goose chases, we finally found a bus to take us to where the air train *was* working.  After that, we were off! The air train took us to Jamaica Station, a subway terminal. There, we bought our Metro Transit Authority (MTA) passes, and were ready to ride our first subway.

As we waited, we watched subway rats play on the tracks. Cheap entertainment. :)

We made it to the Port Authority terminal with no trouble.  That put us right out onto fabled 42nd Street.

We were dog tired at this point. A great breakfast (huge pile of pancakes for CJ, French toast for Bee, with 2 eggs and amazing bacon at Mike's Deli for only $6.99 per plate helped get us back on our feet.

From there, we found the mini bus to take us to our rental in Weehawken, NJ, right across the water from Manhattan. The view is phenomenal and the suite is fantastic - so happy I found it on VRBO.

We left our bags with a rental caretaker and then hopped a bus back to the city, destination Central Park. Before entering, we oohed and ah-ed over the amazing Dakota building. Built in the early 1880s , so many familiar names have called it home, none more famous than John Lennon, who was gunned down right outside it.

Across the street, in Central Park, is Strawberry Fields. 

No surprise, masses of Lennon fans were milling about there. This mosaic was 'the' touristy shot to say you were there.

We had fun checking out the many, many statues in the section of the park we strolled through. We saw a 7th Regiment memorial  ... 

and Italian Patriot Guiseppe Mazzini to name two.

We ran across a cool tree with what looked to be camouflage bark! 

It was hot (about 82) and humid, so cooling off in sprinklers was welcome.

We found "Adventure Playground" for the kids, which also had a (very tiny) 'river' running through it.

After Central Park, we headed south, toward Rockefeller Square.  On the way, we made sure to find Nintendo World.

There, the kids played some of the newest games, and we chatted with a clerk. We were able to educate him a bit about Nintendo, in fact, telling him about how Safeco Field is wired on the Nintendo DS network, and about the Pokemon kiosks at malls throughout the Seattle area.

First thing we did upon reaching Rockefeller Plaza was check out the 200 or so flagpoles lining the plaza at street level. The flags are of the United Nations member countries, the U.S. states and territories.

 I challenged CJ to find the North Korean flag. "Follow me!" he declared, without hesitation. He led us all the way across the plaza, and straight to it.

Adjacent to the plaza was a big ol' LEGO store, so we popped in there, of course. They had some great LEGO sculptures.

We loved the replica of Rockefeller Plaza, and the fact that a minifig Batman was atop 'The Rock.'

We had a quick lunch in Bill's Burger & Bar, where every TV was tuned into the Jets' game, with nary a Seahawk to be seen, then we headed back to The Rock.  NBC's studios are headquartered in the building.

Right across the street is Radio City Music Hall.

The elevator ride up to the observation deck was fun. More than a story per second in speed. It affected our ears way more than the plane ride here! They had a glass ceiling with some artsy effects along the short ride.

There was a nice view once we got up top (understatement). 

Up there, we had our first view of Lady Liberty.  ...

She's the speck under the red arrow.

We had a loooooong day in the big city, but it was amazing. As is the view from our apartment across the way in New Jersey!

All in all, a great first day.