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teachingmom Forum All-Star
Virginia Bluebells
Joined: Feb 16 2005 Location: Virginia
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Posted: Feb 13 2007 at 12:34am | IP Logged
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If the weather cooperates (prayers for that would be appreciated!) we'll be spending next weekend in New York City. My youngest brother and his wife live in an apartment in Manhattan. They will be away for the weekend and have offered the apartment to us for a visit to the Big Apple. I had heard that his place was in a good location, but was thrilled to find once we started looking at maps online that we will be within a mile to a mile and a half of just about everything we hope to see.
Do any of you have suggestions of must-see attractions? We have already done the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island on a previous trip. For this trip we hope to get to both the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Natural History. My brother bought us tickets to a family concert at Carnegie Hall for Sunday afternoon. We thought we'd go to Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral. Other possibilities include a stop at American Girl Place, a walk through Central Park, a visit to Lincoln Center and Juilliard (which my oldest pianist dd is really interested in seeing), maybe a peek into the lobby of the Plaza Hotel from the Eloise movies.
If any of you locals would like to try to meet up with us, just let me know. I'd love to see anyone if we can arrange it. We'll be there from Saturday through Monday. Also, I'd really love suggestions for family friendly, reasonably priced places to eat.
Thanks!
__________________ ~Irene (Mom to 6 girls, ages 7-19)
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Erica Sanchez Forum All-Star
Joined: March 05 2005 Location: California
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Posted: Feb 13 2007 at 1:21am | IP Logged
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I have no advice, never been, but am extremely JEALOUS, Irene!! Your trip sounds fabulous!
__________________ Have a beautiful and fun day!
Erica in San Diego
(dh)Cash, Emily, Grace, Nicholas, Isabella, Annie, Luke, Max, Peter, 2 little souls ++, and sweet Rose who is legally ours!
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Lissa Forum All-Star
Joined: Jan 28 2005 Location: California
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Posted: Feb 13 2007 at 8:28am | IP Logged
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Essa Bagel! On 2nd Ave around 53rd St, and there's another one down near Stuyvesant Town, I think. Best bagels in the world. Their everything bagel with ham & cream cheese is a lunch to die for.
Ohhhh, you just got me so nostalgic for my Manhattan days!
__________________ Lissa
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Maria B. Forum All-Star
Joined: Jan 16 2006 Location: Virginia
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Posted: Feb 13 2007 at 8:32am | IP Logged
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Irene: You lucky duck!
__________________ Maria in VA
Proud Mom to 10 Great kids!
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msclavel Forum All-Star
Joined: July 26 2006 Location: N/A
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Posted: Feb 13 2007 at 8:41am | IP Logged
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Irene, sounds like fun. My brother lives in Brooklyn and keeps begging Dave and I to get away for a weekend. My kids have been to NYC and loved the Bronx Zoo. It is big and totally different from the National Zoo. But it really needs its own day.
My parents liked to eat out of a lot of the delis. These are great for lunch. And of course NY style pizza shops. My kids also enjoyed seeing china town and loved eating enormous dumplings with soup. My son was impressed with Times Square. When he got back from his trip I asked what he thought about it. He said, "It looks like the future." The Toys-R-Us there is worth a visit. There is a ferris wheel inside. And of course, you and all those lovely girls can't escape without going to the American Girl Place.
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stefoodie Forum Moderator
Joined: Feb 17 2005 Location: Ohio
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Posted: Feb 13 2007 at 9:20am | IP Logged
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If you get to Chinatown, don't miss the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory -- that is, if you're into exotic flavors like lychee and red bean.
__________________ stef
mom to five
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KellyJ Forum All-Star
Joined: June 29 2006 Location: N/A
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Posted: Feb 13 2007 at 9:45am | IP Logged
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If you go to St. Patrick's Cathedral, do try to stop in the bookstore across the street. There are many relics there, including one or more relics of the True Cross. Some years back I was browsing the books back in the area where they were kept and turned around, noticing the relics. I was in tears before these holy articles. Oh, and back then the Cathedral had a relic of St. Therese. I don't know if it is permanent or not. That relic was in the Cathedral itself.
__________________ KellyJ
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BrendaPeter Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 28 2005
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Posted: Feb 15 2007 at 6:10am | IP Logged
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Hi Irene,
How about the Shrine of St. Frances Cabrini located close to the The Cloisters?
Also, we really enjoyed the American Museum of Natural History.
__________________ Blessings,
Brenda (mom to 6)
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teachingmom Forum All-Star
Virginia Bluebells
Joined: Feb 16 2005 Location: Virginia
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Posted: Feb 15 2007 at 1:04pm | IP Logged
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Thanks so much for the link to the Mother Cabrini shrine, Brenda. Someone had mentioned that to me, but I hadn't done a search for info yet. I'm not sure if we can fit it in since we'll have to drive. (We are trying to avoid moving the van once we get there, if we can manage it.) Maybe on our way out of town on Monday? We'll have to save the Cloisters for another trip due to limited time.
We are looking forward to that museum and plan to make it our first stop.
We have not yet seen the movie "Night at the Museum." Can anyone tell us which exhibits we should definitely see in order to make some connections for when we do finally see the movie?
__________________ ~Irene (Mom to 6 girls, ages 7-19)
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teachingmom Forum All-Star
Virginia Bluebells
Joined: Feb 16 2005 Location: Virginia
Online Status: Offline Posts: 2120
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Posted: Feb 20 2007 at 10:47pm | IP Logged
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We got back last night and had a fantastic trip to NYC. Thanks for the prayers. My brother has a great one bedroom apartment in an unbelievably convenient location. We could walk to just about everything.
Highlights of the trip:
MacBeth's daughter, Libby! She was a great hostess, showing us a bit of Juilliard and Lincoln Center and telling us about her music program. We were able to convince her to join us for a quick dinner before she had to catch her train home. My girls really enjoyed meeting her.
Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral - where those who are sitting along the sides where the altar is hidden from view can watch on monitors. At one point the cameras focused on my husband holding my 4 month old at the back of the cathedral. (I can just hear the guys in the control room: "OK, zoom in on the guy at the back holding the cute baby.")
A concert at Carnegie Hall. My brother lives just a few blocks down from there. He got us tickets to a wonderful concert for children consisting of excerpts from Aaron Copelands' Billy the Kid and Rodeo. It was entertaining and educational. And it was VERY COOL to sit in our own box in the second tier. There were parts in which the audience sang along to cowboy songs. So I can honestly say that I've sung at Carnegie Hall!
A very quick visit to the American Museum of Natural History. Much too short. I'd really love to go back.
A half day at the Metropolital Museum of Art. (Dh had found coupons online for free admission for families for the month of February!) Wonderful, but a full day would have been even better.
Shopping (mostly looking really) at American Girl Place, FAO Schwarz (the girls danced on those huge piano keys), some sort of Disney store, and an old time candy store called Dylan's Candy Bar.
God took care of us in so many ways on this trip. The biggest was in parking. My brother had a car stolen a few blocks away from his apartment a few years ago. He told us that parking in front of his building, where it is well lit and people are constantly passing by, is very safe. But we were taking a chance on the side or back roads, so we had better park in a local garage if we didn't find a good spot. The garages are very, very pricey. (Almost the price of a cheap hotel in another part of the US.) On our way into the city we all prayed for a good parking spot.
We proceeded to drive up to the building and found a spot directly in front! Someone had obviously just left. After we found the spot, I turned to the girls in the van and said, "If you ever doubt that God answers prayers, think of this moment! He definitely provided this parking space for us."
We had to feed the meters for three hours and then we could park there for free Saturday night, and all day Sunday. We offered a doorman in the apartment building some money to do that for us, so we were free to sightsee a bit that first afternoon. It was truly amazing that we got that spot and were able to keep it until we left the apartment Monday morning for the art museum. I like to think of it as our own little miracle.
__________________ ~Irene (Mom to 6 girls, ages 7-19)
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