New York – New York City

Dear NEXT TRAVELER to New York!
Highlights/Recommendations:
1. Statue of Liberty
2. 9/11 Memorial
3. The Brooklyn Bridge
4. Ride the Subway
5. Times Square
6. M&Ms New York
7. Ellens Stardust Diner
8. St. Patrick’s Cathedral
9. Manhattan New York Temple
10. Central Park
11. Broadway Show – Aladdin
12. Yankees Baseball Game
13. New York Pizza

New York City was as incredible as we hoped it would be. It’s a big, busy city full of people everywhere but we saw a police presence frequently and felt very safe. People were friendly, kind and helpful. It’s a great place! We can’t wait to go back and add to our list of must dos.

The Statue of Liberty was the first destination on our New York list. We were all so excited to see her. The Statue of Liberty was as overwhelming as we hoped it would be. As we rode the ferry, we could feel the emotion of so many that looked to her as a symbol of hope for a better life.

The 9/11 memorial area was so somber. It took me forever to even take a picture. It felt like sacred ground. We felt like we should whisper while we were there.

The Brooklyn Bridge. Such an awesome bridge. We loved walking on the waterfront. The water was rough and splashing over the wall. We ended up rerouting so we could drive over the bridge on the way to the hotel. There were such great views.

We were excited to experience the New York subway. On our first ride, we took the subway the wrong way so we had a nice little ride out to Jamaica. We quickly got our bearings and made it to Times Square.

Times Square did not disappoint. It was full of people, billboards & energy. We loved seeing where the New Years Eve ball would drop each year. The kids were glad to have a place to sit and rest for awhile.
We even saw The Naked Cowboy, who is a regular attraction in Times Square.

The kids loved visiting M&M World in New York City – close to Times Square. They have a two-story color wall packed with THOUSANDS of milk chocolate, peanut and other M&M’S.

Ellen’s Stardust Diner is a retro 1950s theme restaurant located on the southeast corner of 51st Street in Theater District, Manhattan. We loved it. It was so much fun to have your waiter suddenly pop up on top of a table singing.

St. Patrick’s Cathedral was a must see for us. We had heard how beautiful the building and stained glassed windows were. It was indeed beautiful but even more beautiful was the sacred feeling you could feel inside. We felt honored to be there.

We took the subway from Central Park and walked to several of the New York City sites. We were so excited to find the Manhattan Temple. We were only able to go into the foyer but we felt so special to be there.

We LOVED Central Park! It was a highlight of our trip. We didn’t realize how many things there were to do in the Park. You could spend several days in the park. It was beautiful, full of great things to do and a fantastic place to enjoy nature.

We were able to get tickets to see Aladdin on Broadway. We didn’t plan to see a Broadway show but we decided to try and see what tickets were available. We went to the ticket window of the theatre and the lady recommended our seats which were classified as a potential view obstruction so the tickets were a little less in price. When we got to our seats, we couldn’t believe how perfect they were. The musical and cast were incredible. We had the best time!

Yankees Game in Yankees Stadium! We also didn’t plan to attend a game and purchased tickets a few hours prior to the start of the game. The guys took the subway to the stadium.