Aussie Navy Wife

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Thanksgiving in New York City!

Holloway/Jackson's hit New York City!!!

What better way to spend our first Thanksgiving then New York!
We packed up the car and the 3 boys and made our way to Staten Island. We had booked a cute little terrace apartment that had the most fantastic view of the New York skyline through homeaway.com.

Day 1, 23rd Nov 2011:

The drive from Virginia - New York City

Today consisted of the long drive, about 8 hours, up to New York and settling into our accommodation for the night :)

The view from the 'holiday house'

New York Skyline at dusk

Hubby on the front porch of our holiday house!

Day 2, 24th Nov 2011:

Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, Central Park, Central Park Zoo & Empire State Building!

This morning we rugged up and headed down to the Staten Island Ferry (totally free and runs 24/7!) to take the trip across to Manhattan. Given we were new to the public transport system, some locals took pity upon us and basically gave us a private escort from the ferry to the train station, helped with the train ticket and even took us to a great viewing point of the parade, opposite Central park!
The Macy's Thanksgiving Parade was great! Thousands of people lined the streets to get a glimpse of the HUGE balloons and amazing floats. It was a great experience and the boys really got a kick out of the size of the balloons!

To infinity & beyond!

The crowd went wild for Santa!

One BIG Superman!

After the parade wrapped up, we took a stroll through Central Park towards the zoo. We saw the bridge used in many movies, the outdoor ice skating rink, the carousel and enjoyed the size of this awesome park!

Central Park Zoo - home of Alex the Lion, Gloria the Hippo, Melman the Giraffe & Marty the Zebra............so we thought! Don't take your children to this zoo on the pretence that they will 'meet' these famous characters from the Madagascar movies! There was no lion, hippo, zebra or giraffe, but there was some seals, penguins and a polar bear! The boys enjoyed it all the same, even though it was a very small scale zoo!

The main entry to Central Park Zoo

After a full day in the city, we headed back to the 'holiday house' for a rest before heading off in search of a Thanksgiving feast! The goal tonight to was find a cheap, family friendly place that at least had turkey on the menu! Hubby did a quick google search and found a great little place called Z-Two. They loved the kids, even gave them some colouring sheets & crayons and put on a great feed that suited our budget! on the way back to the house we noticed how clear the night sky was and immediately thought it a perfect opportunity to head back to Manhattan and into the Empire State Building! It was getting really cold now with winter on the way, so we all rugged up with extra layers and took the ferry back to Manhattan!!

The line to get up into the building was quite long. I guess others had the same idea as us, it was also Thanksgiving weekend, so New York was pretty busy anyway! We went through security check points, 2 lots of lifts, a photo stand and memorabilia before finally getting to the 86th floor observation deck!
The view was amazing!!! The wind was bitter cold, so we took some snappy pics and headed back inside to the warmth of the heating!

Inside the Empire State Building

Day 3, 25th Nov 2011:

Statue of Liberty, 9/11 Memorial & Time Square!

After a good night sleep it was time to venture back to Manhattan for what became one of the most humble and surreal days for us all.

First stop was Statue of Liberty. Although we had passed Lady Lib several times on our ferry journeys, it was time to get up close and personal! We purchased our tickets and joined the line, with the thousand other visitors, spending almost 3 hours just waiting to get to the security check point! As we had already booked our tickets for the 9/11 memorial, we were hard pressed for time now.

The short ferry ride across to Liberty Island was quite good, with views looking back on the 'Big Apple'. the ferry docked and we were off! We literally had 45 mins to see and do as much as we could, before needing to get back to the memorial site.

Lady Lib was much bigger than i thought she would be. Truely amazing and some of the best views of the city around! The boys enjoyed taking photos and hubby & I stood pinching ourselves that here we were in New York standing at the foot of the Statue of Liberty!

Part of line up to get to the Statue of Liberty! This was about the half way mark!

We left Liberty Island and the ferry made a quick stop to Ellis Island. Sadly we had to stay on board, but are keen to check out the immigration museum when we head back there again!
We got off the ferry and made a mad dash for the 9/11 ticket office, which is located just around the corner from the memorial site. Although we had booked tickets online, we needed to pick them up! After a brief wait, quick security check and walk, we were there, standing at the site of where the twin towers once stood.
It is really difficult to explain what we felt today. There are no real words. To stand there and look up between the buildings and just imagine the aircraft crashing into the towers, the people running and then the collapse is indescribable. Both Col & I had HUGE lumps in our throats, and the emotions you feel are that of which you felt 10 years ago when it all happened.
There is a museum being build and the fountains are a great tribute to all of those who lost their lives that day.

After the 9/11 memorial we grabbed a bite to eat and headed up to Time Square! We stepped of the train and out of the subway and were HIT with the realisation that we were in the right place! People everyone, lights everywhere and just an amazing buzz about the place!! It was truely quite a unique experience and one that we will never forget! The streets were lined with people dressed as characters ready to pose for photos, billboards galore and plenty of shops to explore!

Once again, hubby and I found ourselves in disbelief that we were actually there, in Time Square!

Now remember I mentioned that people dress in character for photos.....well here's some quick pics we took of the boys :)

Day 4, 26th Nov 2011:

Radio City Music Hall, Santaland & Mars 2112!

We started the day off with a nice sleep in and hot cooked breaky! We needed the rest after such a huge few days. I was also only a week post surgery after having a partial hysterectomy, so I really needed the rest!!! We headed back across to Manhattan and were quite the expert with the ferry timetable and routine now! Our first stop was Macy's to visit Santaland. We had heard a bit about this place and once again we had a line, but WOW what an awesome set up they had!

We hopped on board the Santa Express and walked our way through many different Christmas Scenes, taking about an hour, before arriving on Santa's doorstep! A quick visit with Santa and a photo with the kids and our experience at Santaland was done! We finished up with a shop around the Christmas decorations and picked up some great ornaments for our tree!

Whilst roaming the strip in Time Square last night, we managed to pick up some tickets to take the boys to Radio City Hall to see "The Christmas Spectacular" with the Rockettes!! there was lots of dancing, singing and the Rockettes were amazing to see! They all dance in time and don't miss a beat. there was even a visit from the big man himself Santa! the kids really enjoyed it, as did the adults! It was great to see at least one show while we were in New York City!

This was a Christmas Tree made out of crystals inside the Radio City Music Hall!

After a most 'spectacular' show it was time to take the kids for a treat! Hubby had heard of a restaurant called Mars 2112 that was basically life as it is on Mars! There was a Mars Bar for the adults who like a drink, a games room for the kids and some rather alien like creatures roaming the floors of the eating areas! Although a little on the pricey side, it was all about the experience. The boys thought it was fantastic and enjoyed the games room after our meal :)

It was a great way to end our New York adventure, smiles all around and a place we will never forget!

Well that concludes our Thanksgiving trip to New York City! we had an amazing time, many WOW moments and a lifetime of memories. here are a few more pics in and around the Big Apple :)