Day 5 - Took train from Boston to NYC; I think this train ride was perhaps the most suprising aspect of this trip! I'd heard that the train passed through seaside villages and towns en route but I didn't realize how charming and picturesque the ride would be. Our 16 year old son, in fact, counted this train trip as one of his favorite parts of the trip! The train ride was about four hours and then we had to figure out how to get from Penn Station to our hotel in Jersey City, New Jersey, located right across from Manhattan! We went to John's Pizza in Jersey City and my husband and both boys agreed it was some of the best pizza they'd ever had. As I'm Gluten-Free, I had the GF pizza and it was also pretty good, possibly one of the top three GF pizzas I've had. We stayed at the Hyatt House in Jersey City and the view from their lobby, lounge, breakfast area was spectacular because you looked across the Hudson River to the Manhattan skyline.
Day 6 - Museum Day! In the morning, we went to the New York Historical Society because I'd heard about an exhibit there featuring Bob Hope's activities during WWII to entertain the troops. For lunch, we decided to get a hot dog from the ubuiquitous hot dog carts lining the streets. We then walked through Central Park to the Metropolitan Museum. What a lovely walk through Central Park! The Metropolitan Museum was as impressive as everyone says. My great interest was in American paintings so we split up to go see the sections of most interest to us. It took some persistence to find the American art wing which was on the third floor but it was well worth the effort to get there! I was simply overwhelmed by the breadth of 18th and 19th century works that were on display. As a history teacher, many of the paintings on their walls have been in textbooks that I've used. #metmuseum
Day 7 - In the morning we went to Ellis Island by ferry. That was an educational and revealing look into the immigrant experience. The amount of artifacts was impressive. This same ferry takes you past the Statue of Liberty. However, because we took the ferry from Liberty Park in NJ and then decided to take the ferry back to Manhattan/Battery Park, we actually didn't get to get close to the Statue of Liberty but could see it from the distance. We then had lunch at Battery Park and then walked over to the World Trade Center Memorial. #worldtradecenter
Day 8 - See the neighborhoods of NYC! We got a late start on this day and headed over the Manhattan and walked along the waterfront promenade near the World Trade Center. We could see Jersey City, the Statue of Liberty and more from this vantage point. On this day we decided to visit Chinatown and Little Italy as they were next to one another. But first, we had to have lunch at a NY deli. After our deli lunch we walked over to Chinatown and enjoyed the sights and sounds of a bustling and complex neighborhood. At a park in Chinatown, groups of older men were playing games of Go. We picked up some milk tea as there were many from which to choose. We then walked over to Little Italy and ate dinner outdoors at the curbside patio garden of a restaurant that had GF options for me.
Wow!!