Hello BIG APPLE!
After just a few short hours of sleep... We are ready for NYC!
The Residence Inn by Marriot Financial District
215 Pearl Street
Looking west from our hotel you could see One World Trade Center!
After breakfast, we made our way to Fulton Street station to grab a subway to Central Park for our Biking Excursion. This was the first time Chris and the kids had ever been on the NYC subway and their initial experience was near perfect, and typical for NYC. The streets leading up the station had trash bags everywhere, dogs peeing on the street and people smoking weed. Chris referenced The Office "I always imagined less manure, I mean a little manure, just less".
This was SO MUCH FUN!
We made it to the 51st and Columbus subway station and then walked to Unlimited Biking off of 51st street to redeem our Groupon for our biking excursion. I had found this on Groupon for 2 bikes for 4 hours for only $26. I was able to purchase two of these vouchers during a sale and got all 4 bikes for only $39 total. TIP- Always look at Groupon for the city you are visiting as you never know what attractions will be offered! We almost ALWAYS find something available!
We walked our bikes to the start of Central Park just south of Columbus Circle and then we were off. This turned out to be the most unique experience of the trip and a true bucket list item for me. In all my many trips to NYC, I had never been to Central Park and biking it was such a cool experience. Chris and I have done several different biking excursions; including biking from Canada back into USA during our Alaska Cruise in 2016. We planned on just biking the central areas of Central Park but we missed a street option and ended up biking THE ENTIRE PARK, which was over 8 miles. By the time we made it back to Columbus Circle, we only had 20 minutes left on our rental and we were so tired and sore.
Columbus Circle at the entrance of Central Park.
We were SO LUCKY it was Cherry Blossom season AND they were in bloom!
This was PRICELESS!
Seriously GORGEOUS scenery!
Bethesda Fountain in Central Park.
I LOVED this experience SO MUCH!
40 and 44 years YOUNG and still got it!
One of my favorite pictures of the whole trip!
This was one of the most AWESOME experiences of my life!
I am so happy I got to share it with Chris and the kids!
Hot and fresh right from the fryer at Doughnuttry!
We got back to the hotel and showered and got changed for the rest of our first day in Manhattan. We stepped outside our hotel and it was absolutely picture perfect with One World Trade Center right in our view. We stopped to get lunch at Tradita's Pizza just outside our hotel and it was SO GOOD! The kids each ended up get TWO massive NYC pizza slices and they were set for the rest of the afternoon.
These slices were HUGE!
Its time for an afternoon of Skyscrapers and BASEBALL!
We rode the subway back to Rockefeller Center to go to the Top of the Rock using our NYC C3 City Pass. I had been to many of skyscrapers in my many trips to NYC but had never been to the Top of the Rock so I was excited to get a GREAT view of NYC. TIP- We purchased the C3 Pass from City Pass and it worked out pretty well. There was a minor issue with the Empire State Building but more on that later. It was $370 for ALL FOUR of us and featured 3 major attractions that could be pre-booked which was a HUGE advantage compared to other attraction passes. I did a lot of homework and this proved to be the best option for what we wanted to see in NYC.
Once at Rockefeller Center we had to wait until our exact entrance time of 3PM so we roamed around Rockefeller Center, Radio City Musical Hall and nearby attractions off of 5th avenue. Once 3pm rolled around we were on an elevator to the Top of the Rock.
This girl is going places and Radio City Music Hall may just be one of those places!
The Top of the Rock was everything I had always heard and exactly how I imagined it being with the most crystal clear view of midtown and downtown Manhattan AND an unrestrictive view of Central Park. This was the perfect thing for our afternoon since we literally biked around the entire perimeter of Central Park that same morning. We were also able to see Yankee Stadium and even Citi Field from the Top of the Rock. We spent over an hour on the observation deck before heading back down to get on the subway to Citi Field for Game 1 of our 3 game New York baseball bucket list trip.
Our initial view from Top of the Rock!
Luke's first words were "Whoa... This is DOPE!"
This was one of my favorite parts of the trip!
A very underrated observatory!
Selfie #110 (HAHA... it's only Day 1)
I love this one!
Postcard worthy!
One of the best family pictures to date... Too bad we are in hideous Mets gear!
We biked that... ALL. OF. THAT!
The Apple from Shea Stadium!
We have arrived and I am in love!
The original bridge from Shea Stadium!
I was HIGHLY impressed with Citi Field, especially the rotunda area at the home plate entrance. In fact, this area completely blew me away. We roamed around the concourse levels for a while before making our way to our seats in section 510. These seats were HIGH but a great view of the game. However, it was SO COLD at 42* and us Houstonians were not as prepared as we should have been so we opted to move to a sunny area of the stadium in hopes of staying warm. That helped but when the sun went down, we were FREEZING. We ended up buying a blanket for Chris to stay warm as he was wearing shorts! Looking back... it was kinda comical!
I just HAD TO try the steak sandwich.
It was good... But WAY OVERRATED and OVER PRICED!
Luke was SO HAPPY! Baseball stadiums is his happy place!
My traditional Star Spangled Banner video at a new stadium!
Be still my heart!
We were SO COLD but all smiles!
It was an EPIC night at Citi Field! We loved EVERY MINUTE OF IT!
We enjoyed the game and stadium but opted to leave in the 9th inning to help avoid crowds on the subway as we quickly learned in our 1st 24 hours in New York City, that Luke was not necessarily a fan of crowds (which we already knew) and got claustrophobic on the train ride to Queens for the game. That... and we were SO COLD!
It took about an hour and 1 transfer to get back to our hotel in the Financial District. Due to the new pitch clock rules of baseball, we were back in our hotel room around 10:30PM. We decided to change our Empire State Building arrival time for the next day from 9AM to 10:15AM in hopes of catching up on the sleep we missed from our late arriving flight the night before. We were showered and in bed, asleep by 11PM. We were tired.
A view as soon as you leave Fulton Street Station... PRICELESS!
Up next... Another day in New York City and a day full of bucket list items. Stay tuned for DAY THREE!
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