Wickers in the Big Apple

We are killing time in a 2 bedroom suite at a Residence Inn in London while we complete our UK quarantine requirements. The quarantine requirements do not change for vaccinated individuals so the fact that the boys have been unable to be vaccinated is irrelevant.

I really expected to enjoy 10 days of enforced downtime as I have not had much time off in several years. Boy, was I ever wrong.

To fill some of the time, and at the request of a friend, here is a breakdown of how we spent our time in New York and what we feel should not be missed. As a few of these activities were not available due to season or COVID restrictions, we are using some knowledge from previous visits to NYC, as well.

Our top suggestions:

See something on (or off) Broadway. For clarification, physical location has nothing to do with the classification. A Broadway play is performed in a theater that holds an audience of more than 500. An Off Broadway play is performed in a theater that holds less than 500. Either may be performed on the street named Broadway but, truly, few theaters are actually on Broadway. An Off Off Broadway play is performed in a much much smaller theater and are often really unusual productions. We saw one called Jump several years ago that was incredible.

Do the museums! Even if you are not a “Museum person”. You can’t do them all- there are approximately 100. We have done MoMA, The Met, and the Natural History Museum and all were worth the time. We have done The Met three separate times and still have not seen it all so personally I think, if you can only see one, it should be The Met.

If it’s winter- try ice skating! There are several public outdoor rinks over the winter. Central Park, Rockefeller Center, and Bryant Park are all great options and everyone who can should try it. Jade loved it and became slightly obsessed and immediately pretty good at it. The boys were bummed that they didn’t get to try.

Go shopping! The kids recommend the Nintendo Store, FAO Schwarz, the LEGO store, and the M&M store. I think everyone should stroll through Tiffany’s once in their lifetime.

Both boys list Ping Pong in Bryant Park on their short-list of activities. A pickup game of chess there is also recommended. Ian got an impromptu Chess lesson and Ping Pong pointers from a couple wonderful older men who seemed to enjoy sharing their acquired wisdom and skill.

Take the Staten Island Ferry. It’s free and gives you a great view of Lady Liberty. It amazes me that people take this as a daily commute and likely don’t even spare her a glance after a few days. The commercial ships that pass multiple times a day, like the one in this photo with her, may even view her as an inconvenience.

Watch the people in Times Square! They are all either tourists or buskers, as I have been told that natives avoid the area at all costs, but they are incredibly interesting to watch, nonetheless.

Take the tram to Roosevelt Island. After the Sandia Tramway, it isn’t scary, at all. Walking around Roosevelt Island is like suddenly teleporting outside of the city, though.

Spend some time wandering in Central Park. Get a little lost in the middle of one of the world’s great parks.

Walk around. Experiencing New York really requires being on the streets, in my opinion. The city is laid out pretty logically with Avenues running up and down the island and streets running East-West across the island. You only have to learn a few extras (Madison, Lexington, Broadway, etc.) and you can navigate map-less most of the time. Once you do something like walk across the Brooklyn Bridge and leave Manhattan (which we do HIGHLY recommend!), however, please have a map or your phone! We broke 20,000 steps every day and even though our feet were sore by the end of the day, we still wanted to do it again the next day. Although, Eli has now decided that my idea of “it’s not very far” is vastly different from most, lol!

And last but certainly NOT least: EAT! There are some of the world’s best restaurants in NYC and some incredible dives. We had pizza, of course, but we also introduced the boys to Thai and they loved it. Try something different or something that you’ve always wanted to try but can’t find near home. Expand your horizons and your palate by taking a literal bite of the Big Apple!