New York City ~ Day 5

Our last day. We spent the morning reminiscing our weekend eating breakfast at The Flame before parting for our separate ways in the early afternoon. Lorri and Chris left via taxi. The rest of us visited the Library room in the hotel, and Dad and Erika played chess. 






Mom, Cheryl, and I walked Hell’s Kitchen and bought bagels, sandwiches and bananas. Mom and Dad left via taxi. Cheryl and Erika walked to FAO Schwartz while I took the Subway to Amtrak. I bought more bagels and sour dough bread then went home on the train.

Carolyn "Care Bear" King

New York City ~ Day 4

We started the day buying Museli at the grocery store. Then we took the subway to Rockefeller Center where we took pictures outside. 

We shopped at the Met Museum store and Carolyn bought souvenirs for the kids. Dad and Mom met a Swiss man and talked with him awhile on a bench. 

We then crossed the street to visit St. Patricks Cathedral and saw the statue of Atlas.

Photos from inside and outside the cathedral.

Cheryl and Carolyn shopped at Saks Fifth Avenue where Cheryl had a makeover. We saw models in the store. We also visited a tea store, Gucci, Trump Tower, and Lindt Chocolates. Then we took a bus to the hotel.

Trump Tower

Carolyn ate Pannini on hotel’s 15th floor patio and drank an expensive white mint lemonade. Then we strolled the streets of the International Food festival in Hell’s Kitchen where we saw an Amish grocery store and Millie's Pierogi.

Lorri and Chris danced in the street

Later Cheryl, Carolyn and Erika the took a subway to the Metropolitan Museum of Art via central park. Their exhibits included a models exhibit, paintings, chamber music, and fresh flowers.

We dined at Tangs Pavilion eating fantastic spiced peanuts and an appetizer of cucumbers. Erika bought rye bread on the walk home.

Me and my niece Erika at dinner

Carolyn "Care Bear" King

New York City ~ Day 3

We started the day with breakfast at The Flame, Dad’s favorite, and then returned to take pictures around hotel and 15th floor terrace. 

Outdoor lounge on the lobby level

Mom and 3 of her 4 daughters

My sister Lorri and me

Decorations on the 15th floor terrace

Then we took a subway to the Woolworth building. We entered St. Paul’s chapel whereWashington once sat. A choir from Ohio sang. There was a memorial of the towers collapsing and it was very moving.

We took pictures of the World Trade Center Ground Zero and Fire Station 10 from One World Financial Center. 

Dad played chess in Zuccotti Park. 

Cheryl and Carolyn took photos by the Bull in the Financial District. We saw the New York Stock Exchange, Tiffanys, the Federal building where a statue of George Washington is erected.

We all took a subway to Brooklyn and ate at Grimaldi’s Pizzaria. The line was so very long, but the food was worth the wait.

The Mom, Dad, Chris and Lorri went to the hotel while Cheryl, Carolyn and Erika crossed the Brooklyn Bridge, walked SoHo, Greenwich Village, saw theWashington Arch, and a ghost bicycle.

Memorial to someone who died while riding
a bicycle in New York city

We took a subway to Grand Central Station, and OMG it was crowded! We were sardines. 

We took a bus to the UN building but there were no flags. We then took some bus rides to Rockefeller center to enter the Top of the Rock for a great deal of $10 per person to see the sunset.

We met up in Times Square with Lorri and Chris where we ate a New York hot dog and cheesecake.

Gotta have a hotdog from a street vendor.

Times Square tower

Oooh, cheesecake

Carolyn "Care Bear" King

New York City ~ Day 2

We started the day with a breakfast at a European cafe.

Erika looking like a native New Yorker

Afterward we boarded a subway to Battery Park. We acted like tourists, but had fun along the way.

Goofy sisters on the subway

We took photos around the park to recreate old shots from the 1960's my parents had taken when they were younger.

Then we hopped a ferry to the Statue of Liberty. The day had a light rain. The security guards took Mom and Dad early through the Statue tour while we waited in line.

New York harbor's lovely Lady Liberty

My funny shot

Afterward we took a second ferry to Ellis Island.

The entrance to Ellis Island

Cheryl, Erika and I took the Ellis Island Tour, while the others did the movie.

Window looking out of the gathering room

Later we took pencil tracings of mom's name from off the memorial wall outside of the Ellis Island hospital.

Mom also took a picture with a Park Ranger.

Photo with the Park Ranger: Mom said
the children were afraid of the men
in uniforms. They don't look so scary
now.

Cheryl also bought a hat for Dad. We met an employee of Ellis Island on the ferry back and had an enjoyable conversation with him. He encouraged my mom to record her memories of her time at Ellis Island for the historian to preserve.

My grandmother's passport with my mother sitting
on her lap

We took the subway back to the hotel where we rested before dinner at Kennedy's, an Irish pub.

My French Onion soup....yum!

We played Dad’s version of Up the Ladder, and Erika coined the phrase “who's the puppet master now?” Dad had new scoring, and of course he won.

Carolyn "Care Bear" King

New York City ~ Day 1

I left for New York City via Amtrak train from Baltimore. The ride was 2 hours and 45 minutes long to Penn Station. Not bad for a relaxing start to my weekend trip with some of my family. We were celebrating my mom's 75th birthday a few months early with a trip to New York. My mom came through Ellis Island when she was 2 1/2 years old, and we wanted to visit the places she first encountered in America with her.

The Quiet Car: not supposed to make noise.

Me on the train

When I arrived I took the subway to Columbus Circle where our hotel, The Hudson, was located.

Globe near Columbus Circle

I was the first one to arrive and had some time to kill, so I walked through the Guggenheim Museum, took a bus to mid Central Park, and then walked back to the hotel.

The Guggenheim Museum

Also arriving were my sisters Cheryl and Lorri, along with Lorri’s husband Chris and Cheryl’s daughter Erika. My mom and dad also came from Florida for an extended weekend in New York. 

My sister Cheryl and her daughter Erika

When everyone finally arrived we all met up for lunch at Bouchon bakery in the Shops at Columbus Circle. 

After lunch we all walked around Central Park and Chris, Lorri, Mom, and Dad took bicycle rick-shaws around park.

My mom and dad on the left and my sister Lorri and
her husband Chris getting ready to ride through
Central Park. 

Dad played at chess. Cheryl, Carolyn, and Erika walked to Bethesda fountain, saw Asian brides, tiles, fountains, bridges, and turtles.

Looking at boaters through the bridge

Me at the fountain.

We dined at Sarafinas, an Italian restaurant, and had a very nice Polish waitress. We walked to Broadway where Cheryl met Elmo. 

My sister Cheryl with Elmo

We saw the Lion King which was absolutely wonderful, and afterward some took cabs while others walked back to the hotel.

Rafiki from the Lion King

Carolyn "Care Bear" King