New York December 2015

---

One date aligns within our family that bonds three of it's members more closely than they may have been, had that date been even a day out of sync. Our eldest daughter was born on my parent's wedding anniversary and that date in 2015 saw my daughter celebrate her Sweet 16 and my folks, their Ruby Wedding. A year previously, when asked how they'd like to celebrate, the notion of a trip to NYC was banded around. Within weeks this trip for the seven of us was booked and planning commenced.

Although our children had never been to NY, we have previously been twice together as a couple, and for my parents this would be their sixth time in the city that never sleeps. Remarkably, given the number of visits we'd previously made collectively, the excitement was palpable. Planning was easy with so much shared knowledge and a hunger in the children for famous landmarks and experiences as well as the prospect of NY street food and burgers!

We stayed in the Ritz-Carlton Central Park South and enjoyed luxuriating with the space afforded to us by having my folks in tow to take a couple of the children. The views up the park from the guest rooms are spectacular and the welcoming staff make it a joy to stay there. In true NY style, nothing is too difficult, no job too small. A guest relations chap even donated his name badge to our son, who has an amazing collection of flight tags on his travel bag, so that he had a personal memento from his stay there. The beds in the hotel are legendary, now I know the early starts, jet lag, travel and endless tourist trails leave you pretty shattered - it's no spa break - but to have a bed that comfortable, enables a less fatigued body and mind to enjoy the frenetic highlights of NYC. As we were there are Christmas, the lobby was beautifully decked out with wreaths and a huge tree all sparkling under the weight of a million fairy lights.

Our arrival evening was tight on time, especially with the 5 hour hop back in time which adds the pressure of staying awake, when really all you want to do is go to bed! We opted to take a stroll down 5th Avenue from our base on 59th Street, with a quick Christmas supermarket-sweep-style spree in the Apple Store. The children and adults were mesmerised standing in front of the Rockefeller Tree, watching the light and musical extravaganza that upscale department store Saks, treated shoppers lucky enough to be in front of it to on an hourly basis. The friday before Christmas in NYC is exceptionally busy, so we swiftly moved through Rockefeller Plaza - to be more accurate, we pushed, pulled and crawled our way through - and emerged at the other side, realising that an ad-hoc dinner in that neighbourhood was out of the question. So, we took a quieter wander up 6th Avenue past Radio City Music Hall and all the way back up to our hotel where a cocktail and a burger quenched our hunger and thirst.

A benefit of east to west travel, especially on a tight schedule is that you are up with the larks in the morning. We enjoyed watching the sun rise on our first dawn, glistening and reflecting on the East Side buildings of the Park. We decided on a local diner for breakfast, where we ordered too much but endeavoured to eat it all in any case. By 9:30am we were on the subway, heading south to the bottom tip of Manhattan. The children enjoyed the sights and sounds of a local rapper on the train, who appeared to have no inhibitions. We emerged from the underground to a swarm of salesmen in Battery Park, desperate for us to take 'their genuine tour' of Ellis or Staten Island - or both. We kept our cool, and headed for the official ticket arena and queue, which was surprisingly efficient given the volume of tourists. A very windswept and cold ferry journey later, having waved to the Statue of Liberty as we passed Staten Island, we hopped off spend some time on Ellis Island. This island was the gateway for millions of immigrants to the United States as the nation's busiest immigrant inspection station from 1892 until 1954. Beautiful Beaux-Arts style brick and limestone buildings, 29 in total, make up this national monument which is easy to navigate and brimming with facts and memorabilia. It is worth a visit, if only to look back across the water at the wonder that is Manhattan. The new Freedom Tower imposes itself beautifully amongst the other buildings of downtown NY. Which led us back across the water to visit Ground Zero, and take a moment to contemplate at the 911 Memorial Fountains. They really have created a genuinely peaceful area in a chaotic city, to help the world reflect on those lives lost and changed irreversibly by the atrocities of that day. We were quiet on our next subway journey to Spring Street, where we wandered around the hip streets of SoHo and took in some of the boutiques. This is a part of NY that I'd like to spend more time in, it's people and architecture so different from that of mid-town and down-town. It's bars, restaurants and shops more relaxed. However, our day was pushing onwards and sunset at the top of the Empire State building was a challenge that we definitely wanted to attempt! We did it and after an hour or so queuing, we were spat out on the 86th floor at the precise moment the sky started turning red beyond the skyscrapers of the financial district. The children were mesmerised as the sky gave way to the lights of the city and New York glowed beneath us. A dinner reservation at the famous Carmines restaurant took us to Times Square and our final destination on a fantastically busy day. We enjoyed sharing platters of pasta - again an indulgence that we were determined to defeat.

Sunday brought another early morning wake-up and the two of us decided to indulge in an early morning jog round Central Park while the city came alive again. A crisp, clear blue sky and temperatures hovering around freezing were perfect conditions for our 45 minute exertion, which left us rushing with endorphins, ready for a shower and more food. The hotel buffet breakfast satisfied the group and we commenced our day's activities. Beginning with hiring bikes and taking the 7km cycle route around the outskirts of the Park. This enabled us views of both sides as well as a glance at Harlem as we glided along the top. A slight hiccup with our son cycling ahead of us and riding half way up the park again, afforded some of the group half an hour's downtime while the wanderer was retrieved. Although shopping was not high on the agenda, a trip to Nike Town and a browse in the wonder that is Tiffany were agreed as compulsory for all. So, there we whiled away some time before heading back to the hotel, a short walk from 5th Avenue along 59th Street. We had made an early dinner reservation, on the advice of our Travel Agent, at a restaurant local to Radio City Music Hall where we had tickets for the evening performance of the Christmas Spectacular featuring The Rockettes. Spectaular is an understatement! Astounding, breathtaking?! We loved it, proper old school entertainment.

Monday drew in and we managed to sleep a little later, enjoyed a breakfast together in the Hotel, and then the girls and boys separated and endeavoured on a day's shopping and a day's sightseeing respectively. The boys had pre-booked a visit to USS Intrepid, an aircraft carrier which fought in WW2 and Vietnam. It famously collected the Apollo space capsules after their landing into the sea. It sits on the Hudson River and is the centrepiece of the Intrepid Air, Sea and Space Museum. From there, they then visited Grand Central Station before moving onwards to a pre booked tour of the UN Buildings, which are are technically extraterritorial through a treaty agreement with the U.S. government. However, in exchange for local police, fire protection and other services, the United Nations agrees to acknowledge most local, state, and federal laws. They enjoyed touring the General Assembly, Security Council, and various meeting rooms. Meanwhile, the girls started a day's shopping in Bloomingdales on 59th and 3rd Avenue, before entering just about every shop on 5th Avenue between 59th and 34th Streets. We ended our spree in Macy's with a bang and decided to splurge on a taxi back to the hotel rather than opting for the subway. That evening, on the advice of the concierge we made a booking at a local Italian restaurant with a view of Carnegie Hall and enjoyed more delicious pasta and pizzas before a last drink in the bar.

Tuesday dawned, a little bit later out of bed and with some swift packing, we'd come to the end of our amazing weekend. The rain had arrived, which dampened our spirits slightly along with our eldest daughter's dream of ice skating on Central Park. We took some time to relax in the lounge, enjoy some of the free flowing coffee and reflect on our busy weekend. After deciding to head out for a last burger, the rain began to ease and with our full stomachs we donned our borrowed ice skates and took to the ice….it's not as easy as it looks. But, its a must do when in New York and we all felt satisfied that we'd ticked our last box. With that, we gathered our cases - heavier than when we arrived - and took our extremely large car to Newark where we flew home for Christmas.

---