No pictures of our hotel! What a mistake. Well, we stayed at the Skyline Hotel because it was one of the very few in Manhattan with a pool. It was very nice and we were at the pool every morning and evening. It is located in Hell's Kitchen (now they're trying to call it Clinton, but really, its much cooler to call it Hell's Kitchen) The area seems very residential with lots of apartments, restaurants and small grocery shops. It seemed safe. It was half a mile from the subway, which was kind of a bummer, but we got pretty good at walking.
My goal this trip was to take it easy and not try to fit every single museum and attraction into our 3 NYC days. I tried to do way too much when we went to Chicago in March (again, because Jim would be there for work) and quite frankly, it was no fun at all. But this time worked out better. We left many things out, but they can go back when they grow up and see what is important to them. It will still be there. We took one main destination each day and fit in other things depending on how we all felt and how much time we had. Flexibility!!
Our first day, after a swim, we ventured to Staten Island. Trust me, getting there and back was an all day adventure. Walk to the subway, wait for it, ride it halfway down Manhattan, wait for the ferry, ride the ferry...
Ellis Island and Liberty Island were closed due to damage from Hurricane Sandy. Liberty Island opened the day after we left and Ellis Island won't open until 2014. But the ferry is a great, free way to get a pretty good view. Laura was so impressed by her. It is cool that Laura really "got it".
Once we were on each mode of transportation, everyone did quite well. Waiting for the subway, bus or ferry was a whole new experience for the kids. What a bunch of whiners the first day!! But it was cool to see them get accustomed to the waits and the walking by the time we came home. It reminded me how very nice it is that our life includes a car and relatively very little traffic, but it was good for us all to see how most of the world lives: with tight quarters and public transportation. By the time we came home, the crowds didn't overwhelm them so much either, and they were much more comfortable sitting by someone on the subway.
Once on the island, we took the bus to Snug Harbor. It is a cute park with different museums and gardens. We stopped for a snack by a pond with a friendly duck...
and then went to the Staten Island Children's Museum. (our MN Science Museum membership gave us free entrance!).
It was small, but well done and a good place for them to explore.
See, they don't always fight!
The Bug Room was my favorite.
Then we headed home, bus to ferry to subway to feet. I considered stopping at the 9-11 Memorial on the way home, but it looked to be quite a walk from the subway stop and it was already late afternoon. I guess it was the right decision, but we never did make it down that direction again.
Today's food was weird. We had yogurt in the hotel room in the early morning, second breakfast at Olympic Diner after swimming, then just a series of snacks, ice cream, and street pretzels until dinner at 7pm when Jim brought home yummy pizza.
