I don't know if this will work, but I'm going to attempt to copy my trip report from our visit to NYC and Boston:
The cast of characters: Me (the mom and trip planner); DH (never cracks open a guide book); DS16 (lots of interests; has mild Asperger's Syndrome); DD14 (loves to shop); and DD11 (nature and animal lover)er way).
We left Dallas the morning of July 7th. We landed in the early afternoon at LGA and used Dial 7 Car Service to get to the Embassy Suites in lower Manhattan. Dial 7 worked fine. Our room was not ready so we checked our bags and headed to the subway, via Ground Zero and St. Paul's Chapel. We bought 7 day subway passes for everyone....that turned out to be a good decision because even though we were only there 4 1/2 days, we came out ahead.
Our destination was Grimaldi's in Brooklyn. I realized that although I had the address, none of my maps showed any detail of Brooklyn. We asked directions from the first guy we saw after we got out on the street and he didn't speak English (which was funny to us after all of our recent trips to Europe where "everyone" seemed to speak English.) We finally found Grimaldi's; by this time it was 4 pm and there was quite a line. It took us 45 minutes to get in; had we been a smaller party, it would have been a 35 minute wait.
The minute we were seated was the minute they started cleaning the ovens....simple bad luck. It was 1 hour and 45 minutes from the time we arrived at the restaurant until we had pizzas at our table. The pizza was good, but probably not 105 minute wait good. It was very noisy and crowded.
The next destination was down the street to Brooklyn Ice Cream factory. The ice cream was good but not life changing. What delighted the females in our group is that there were so many brides getting their pictures taken on the Fulton Ferry Landing Pier (with the NYC skyline in the background). It was 7-7-07, so there were probably more brides than usual. We counted 5, just during the time we were having ice cream. We headed to the Brooklyn Bridge. It was quite hot and I sort of lied to the girls about how long the walk would be.It was a fun introduction to the city, because the folks on the bridge were so diverse, speaking so many different languages.
The next morning we arrived right at 7 am when the breakfast opened; I gave everyone 10 minutes to scarf something down. I wanted to get to the ferry to buy tickets to Ellis Island ASAP. We walked all the way around the tip of Manhattan....very peaceful that time of morning. I had not reserved tickets in advance, because I knew it would stress me out if we were late and I couldn't find it, etc. We arrived an hour before the 8:30 ferry, as advised, but they don't open until 8 am. The people who had reserved tickets were taken straight to the security line. The rest of us waited in line and bought tickets, then went to the security line. However, we all ended up on the same ferry. (If you don't reserve in advance, it might be a good idea to arrive a bit later. Our ferry was packed full of the "get there at opening" people like me. The next one was almost empty.)
Probably 95% of the passengers got off at the Statue of Liberty. We had a nice gaze at her from the ferry, then went on to Ellis Island. It was pretty interesting, especially if you take the time to lift the phone receivers and listen to the taped narratives. We also watched the movie. We ate lunch at the cafeteria which was okay (and the only apparent option.) We got back at about 3 pm and by that time they were announcing that all available tickets had been sold. The line to go through security was astoundingly long.
After the ferry back, we had about an hour to rest and get ready for BROADWAY! We were excited.
I had made 5 pm reservations for dinner at Becco. Three of us got the three pasta special. Two of us had the house anti-pasti. It was very good; picky eater DD14 even ate squid. We thought the food was good; the portions were on the large size.
We saw Legally Blonde. It was at the Palace Theatre, which I loved being in. The girls loved the show...very pink and girly. The guys (esp. DS16) disliked it. Leaving the theatre, the kids experienced Times Square at night for the first time. Wow. It just gets more and more intense, doesn't it?
Monday, July 9th. We are a "Today Show" family. It's on every morning at our house, so going there was one of our "must dos." (Also great on a Monday morning when the museums are closed.) We arrived at about 6:30 am...we got decent but not great places to stand. (This improved over time because every time the talent would go inside, some folks would leave.) I am not a person who follows celebrities, but I admit that it was exciting to hear the Today Show music and see Matt, Al and Ann in person (Meredith was on assignment.) We were lucky that it was a slow news day...the East Coast heat was the top story, so the show started outside. It was fun to see how everything was set up and done.
We still have one "cute little kid" in the family-DD11, who has red hair and freckles. Al came over and shook her hand, a crew guy gave her a bottle of water, and Ann came over and told her that underneath her makeup, she had freckles just like her. Obviously, DD11 could have stayed the whole time, as could DH (who was a Mass Comm major in college) and me. DS16 and DD14 got bored. We saw Miss New Jersey and her lawyer through the window and she waived at DD14; we also saw Joey from N Sync (I certainly would not have recognized him), then we gave up our spots.
I was glad we took the time to be in the Today Show crowd. Hopefully it showed the kids that the people on TV are ordinary people, just like them. We went to the concourse and found Dunkin' Donuts .... had donuts and smoothies. I loved being in the buildings in Rockefeller Plaza and seeing the fabulous deco details. After breakfast was Top of the Rock. Zero line; great view. Thanks to everyone who recommended it!
From there, we went to the NBC Studio store where the kids bought Heroes merchandise. At that point, DH noticed signs for the studio tour. I had ruled that out in the planning process (two of the kids had taken the Warner Brothers tour in Hollywood two weeks before), but DH wanted to do it. The tour was fine, but a bit expensive for what we saw. We saw the SNL studio from the window, and went inside the Today Show set. After that we went to the Nintendo Store, then St. Patricks. By that time, everyone was hungry, so we walked to the Burger Joint at the Le Parker Meridian Hotel. Very weird to have such a "joint" behind curtains in the hotel's marble lobby, but fabulous burgers.
Next, time for shopping....Laila Rowe (sp?),
Disney Store (which is like the World of Disney at DL and WDW), American Girl (just looking-my girls have thankfully outgrown their stuff), Zara and H&M. The girls could have shopped more, but everyone's desires must be balanced. (Note about American Girl: In the Ladies Room stalls, they have little racks on which girls can hang their dolls while they are using the facilities....way cool!)
Tuesday, July 10th. I admit it-this day was frustrating.
We arrived at the Metropolitan Musuem of Art about 15 minutes prior to opening. I was glad we did, because later it became very crowded. They are doing quite a bit of interior work, and the result is that the exhibition areas don't flow from one to another. It was hard to find things. We didn't even attempt to see everything, but it was still just too much. We all agreed that if we lived nearby, we would buy a membership, and on each visit, we'd concentrate on just a portion of the collection. But alas, when one gets to NYC every decade or so, one feels like one must try to see a lot. We had lunch in the cafeteria, which was pretty hectic.
After that, we saw a few more things, then headed to Central Park. Again, frustrating, due to the time constraints of being a tourist. I'm sure that the park was not designed for visitors to race from one "sight" to another, and I quickly gave up on that. It was truly far to hot to be wandering around the park in the middle of the day, but that is when we were there. We sought out a few of the playgrounds that had water features, because I had promised DD11 playgrounds. The best by far was the Heckscher Playground at around 7th & Central Park South, between 61st and 63rd streets. Lots of water to wade in. Although it was hot, it was nice to see little kids playing with their parents or nannies.
We also saw the Dakota and the Imagine mosaic. The mosaic was decorated with fresh flowers, in the shape of a peace sign. From there, we went back to the hotel for a bit of rest and to get ready for Mary Poppins. I was personally excited about being inside the New Amsterdam Theatre and it didn't disappoint. In the back hallway of the mezzanine (on the way to the restrooms) they have lots of photographs of Fanny Brice, Will Rogers and scores of others.
After the show we went to John's Pizzaria. I was surprised at how empty it was. We liked the pizza better than Grimald's, but perhaps it was because the restaurant was calm and quiet, rather than packed and hectic.
Wednesay, July 11th. It's our last day in NYC and I'm having to come to grips with all the things we aren't going to have time to see and do. DD14 and I got up before everyone else, had a quick breakfast and walked over to Century 21 at the 7:45 am opening time for some purse shopping. We were very successful, but I can see how that place would be a nightmare when crowded.
We met up with the rest of the family, then walked to Trinity Church, Federal Hall and Wall Street. Neat to see that area in person, but boy, kind of scary too. There are lots of cops in the area, two of whom are pointing machine guns in the general direction of the street. If you had a death wish, all you'd have to do is run toward one of those guys.
My idea was to eat an early lunch in Chinatown, but we had a subway issue. Instead of stopping on Canal Street, the subway stopped at a place where it was impossible for a subway on that line to stop, at least according to the map. On our eventual arrival in Chinatown, we had trouble finding the restaurant. I had us 1/2 a block away, then DH had the brilliant idea of asking a cop, who had us make a huge circle in the wrong direction. A kind old man finally helped us find the street; he'd probably have talked to us for an hour if we'd have had the time.
We ate at New Green Bo. It was very good but I admit we all felt weird about being seated with others at a round table for 8. I've been seated with others at long tables, but never at a round table. Odd to have some guy just staring at you across the table. The food was very good. The scallion pancakes were something I've never had and that I keep thinking about. (The tab was quite inexpensive-truly about the same as our Dunkin Donuts and smoothies.)
I had chosen the restaurant based partly on good reviews and partly because it was across the street from the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory. The best ice cream of the entire trip: Mango Papaya Sorbet. Fabulous! We gave up on "doing" Chinatown. Keeping five people together on those crowded sidewalks was just too stressful.
We took the subway to Grand Central Station (very cool!) and then we walked to the New York Public Library. I wanted to give everyone at least a taste of another part of town, so we rode the subway to Washington Park and saw the park and NYU. It was beginning to sprinkle. We went back to the hotel and got ready for our last Broadway show. Thanks so much to everyone who suggested that we see Hairspray. We all loved it. The cast was very talented and energetic.
Going home, yet another subway problem. We were about halfway to our hotel when it was announced that the train was diverting to another line. How can people cope with that?! So we got off as soon as we could and had to figure out what to get on to get back to the hotel.
The next morning, the air was crisp and cool and the heat and humidity were gone...but it was time to leave.
Thursday, July 12th. The concierge arranged for a van service to take us to Penn Station to our train to Boston; better than two cabs. We had reserved our tickets in advance and it was easy to print them out at the kiosk. We went to the waiting area and I talked to a red cap about helping with our luggage. Everyone, that was fantastic advice. DH could not believe that I knew to do that. When the time came (before our track was posted), the red cap loaded up our luggage and took us down the escalator, found a car with plenty of room, loaded our luggage and we were so easily settled in. It would have been so stressful for us to have been waiting for the track to be posted, balancing our bags down the escalator, etc.
The train ride was delightful. A little over 4 hours of nothing to do but look out the window, read and doze. We had to take two cabs to our hotel. Our suite at the Eliot was lovely but small. The location was terrific.
I had wanted to do the Duck Tour that night, but tickets can only be reserved up to 5 days in advance. We were already in New York at the 5 day point; I tried to reserve them on line in the hotel business center, but everyone was saying that the printer was unreliable, so I didn't complete the purchase. Upon our arrival, all tickets for that day were sold.
We went to eat dinner at the Summer Shack, a short walk away. The evening was young, so we walked to the Lowe's at Boston Common to try to see the Harry Potter movie. The next three showings were sold out, so we bought tickets to Rattatoulle, saw that, then Harry Potter. I saw only about the first 20 minutes of HP; the entire rest of the time was spent in the bathroom stall-food poisoning from the fried clams.
Friday, July 13th. We bought subway tickets first thing. The subway system had a nice employee who showed us how to put money on a Charlie card; very easy to use. It was great that all of us could use the same card. Kids 11 and under ride free. We went to the visitor's center in Boston Common to get info on the Freedom Trail. We enjoyed seeing the historic buildings. Lunch was at Fanuel (sp) Hall. It was hard to decide what to eat, but we all enjoyed our food. My favorite thing was a brochette of maybe 5 large scallops wrapped in bacon; I think it cost $6, which is so reasonable given the cost of scallops in Dallas. I wished later that we hadn't eaten so much, because right after lunch we were doing the part of the trail where we walked through the North End. We passed all the bakeries that I had read about, but no one was a bit hungry.
We walked over to the Charlestown segment of the trail. I was so glad I knew about the ferry back, because our feet were tired and it was nice to be on the water.
After a rest in our hotel room, we ate dinner at Pizzaria Uno. I know it's a chain, but DH grew up in the Chicago suburbs, so we eat their pizza whenever we can.
Saturday, July 14th. Everyone still wanted to do the Duck Tour, so we walked over to the Prudential Center first thing. We waited in line for maybe 35 minutes. I wanted a 4 pm tour (by the time we got to the front of the line, the earliest available time was 12:30.) The employee was kind enough to tell us that the 4 pm tour already contained 18 high school seniors, so we booked the 4:30 pm tour.
From there, we took the train to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, to be there right when it opened...but we were there at 10 am and it didn't open till 11 am. (I feel so terrible when I make a mistake like that!) Fortunately, we also wanted to visit the Museum of Fine Arts, so we walked over there.
After the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the MFA seemed serene. The kids weren't entirely appreciative of the furniture, ceramics, etc., but they all liked the Impressionists. DS16, who is a big Dante fan, really perked up when he saw three works of art featuring Dante/scenes from the Divine Comedy. He was really hoping that the gift shop had a print of the Scheffer Beatrice and Dante painting, but they didn't. (I've since searched on line, but still can't find one.) We had lunch in the cafeteria...not a lot of choices, but not crowded. After leaving the musuem, we got off the train to view the Symphony Hall. DH noticed that the Christian Science Mother Church was nearby, so we walked over there. A very nice lady was giving tours of the Mother Church and the old church (the original mother church); the old church has wonderful stained glass windows. I've known Christian Scientists before but hadn't known much about the religion. The lady explained it all very well. She encouraged us to visit the Maparium, which is in the libary/Monitor building.
The library building is lovely. The Maparium is a huge, stained glass globe (circa 1933, I beleive) that you walk into. It was interesting. If you go to the Christian Science buildings, be sure to visit the rest room (of the appropriate gender) in the library building...they have the most fantastic tile work! (Okay, that is my third and final rest room comment of the report.)
From there we went to wait for the Duck Tour to start. Our guide ("Hardly Davidson") was entertaining. In my opinion, you don't see all that many sights on the Duck Tour-you're basically paying for the humor of the guide.
I had made dinner reservations at Artu in the North End. We would have made it on time, but the train stopped one stop short of where we wanted to get off ("We apologize for any inconvenience.") I called Artu and said we'd be a few minutes late. I could not believe how crowded the streets of the North End were. It would have been a fun atmosphere, except we were in a hurry to get to our dinner reservations. (If you want to eat dinner in the North End, make reservations!)
We got to Artu about 10 minutes late, went to hostess...and she didn't have our name down as having reservations. She was convinced that I had called their other location, and didn't seem to believe me even when I called the number on my cell phone history and her phone rang! Nevertheless, she said she'd get us in and she did...about 25 minutes later. She was pretty rude to everyone in line.
But our waitress made up for it. She was an absolute doll; best of the trip. We were seated in a room with several large parties of adults who were drinking too much and talking and laughing too loud. It was a bit annoying, but kind of a good life lesson for my kids....they noticed without me telling them how much they were drinking and how obnoxious they became. We all enjoyed our food a lot. The calamari merits special attention, because it was the best I've ever had (beating out calamari in Italy and Barcelona).
My plan was to stop at one of the bakeries,probably Modern, for dessert...if they were still open. Not only were they still open, but each had an extraordinarily long line at 10:45 pm! (So, my advice is to experience the bakeries in the daytime!) There was no line for LuLu's, which is mostly a cupcake place. Maybe not the same as Modern, but my peanut butter chocolate cup cake was terrific.
Sunday, July 15th. We had not really walked within Boston Commons or the Public Garden, so that is where we headed first. We saw the ducks (real and bronze), the swan boats, walked over the bridge and photographed the statue. It was beautiful but pretty hot. From there we went back to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum...this time, at 11 am. We all really enjoyed the museum...the courtyard is fantastic. As Mrs. Gardner hoped, I did enjoy just looking at the art without having to read the descriptions at the side; enjoyment, with no pressure. I couldn't believe some of the paintings she owned! Amazing that such works of art were in private hands. I admit that I didn't know if my kids would enjoy this museum, but they all really did.
We went back to Trinity Church...not the most efficient way to tour the city, but it was Sunday, and when we were nearby earlier, services had been going on. We were sort of surprised that they charged admission. We walked around the area a bit more, then went to Clery's for a late lunch. The burgers were very good.
Next, we went to Cambridge and got off at Harvard. I had hoped everyone would enjoy seeing the campus, but once again, the kids wanted a "destnation." We found the natural history musee and, although it was late, we had time to see the glass flower collection. Sorry to everyone who loves it, but after one gets over the idea that "this stuff is made of glass", it's kind of dull. A lot of the plants look like plastic, but I believe they were made before there was plastic. Once we had seen that exhibit, DH and I set off to see a few things and the kids sat on a bench, bored. (It made me glad that we had not visited the Natural History museum NYC.) I saw some cool birds nests and some stuffed extinct birds. DH saw bones of some sort (dinosaurs). It was interesting but I didn't really regret that it was closing time.
We walked through Harvard Yard and a bit through the town, but everyone just wanted to go back to the hotel. The high point was a stop at Starbucks. Okay, so I didn't inspire anyone to do great in school to get into Harvard. Oh, well. Uban Outfitters is just down the street from our hotel, so the ladies shopped there a bit before going back.
