The last present our children opened on Christmas Day was a puzzle that when they put it together told them we were leaving for New York City the next day. They were so surprised and our oldest shed some tears of joy. They got packed up as Christmas dinner was cooking and there were no complaints when we woke up early on Dec. 26 to start driving to New Jersey. Since we were coming from the west, we stayed at a hotel in New Jersey and planned to take the train in to the city both days of our trip. We really didn’t want to drive a car onto Manhattan. It ended up being a very good decision.
We woke up early our first morning, grabbed hotel breakfast and then headed to the train station. It was so easy to get tickets with the app. We only got to our first stop, though, and we had to get off and take a bus for the next two stops because someone had gotten hit by a train that morning. We had a police escort and stayed on time to catch the train from the stop that was going to Penn Station.
We got up to the street and immediately looked like tourists as we took in the city. Our first stop was the Empire State Building. We had tickets for right when it opened and we didn’t have to wait in any lines. The views were great even though a bit of fog blocked the view of some of the bridges. Our children took their time taking in the views of the entire city, pointing out places we planned to visit that day and the next.
We got pizza for lunch, which was one of my husband’s requests for the trip. Our children found out that a lot of NYC has counter eating instead of tables. After lunch, we took a Lyft to Lower Manhattan to catch a ferry to see the Statue of Liberty. We found some coffee first and then went through security to get on the ferry and then a second time to get into the statue. We had tickets to the pedestal and saw some more great views of the city after walking up a lot of stairs. We opted not to visit Ellis Island since it was almost closing time and our oldest was feeling a little sea sick.
We then walked to One World Trade to see the 9/11 Memorial. The tickets were sold out for the museum, but we found the memorial to be pretty powerful. Two square holes sit where the Twin Towers stood and water cascades down the sides into a hole at the bottom. The sound reminded me of the towers falling, of grief falling, of memories. (Read about my Sept. 11, 2001, story here.) Seeing all the names is profound, too.
We had dinner at a wonderful restaurant called Ol’ Days. We had planned to go to a different restaurant, but it ended up being closed and Ol’ Days was right next door and open. Each dish was served with a flower and the atmosphere was super relaxing. Each dish was fantastic. When we were done, we took a Lyft back to Penn Station and headed back to the hotel for the night.