Decided this was just too darn long to run as one post. To keep readers from having to scroll through a huge post, it’s the first one up underneath.
This is the end of them!
New York Trip Report: May 2-6-08 Part 3 of 3 Finale
Sun May 4: Lotuspath, I know you will cheer when I tell all that Sakura Matsuri won the day. The boyz were offered their choice of doing the actors of the LES Tenement Museum or going to this famous and huge Brooklyn Cherry Blossom festival. Having actually spent an April in Kyoto a few years ago, the boyz opted for the familiar. The blossoms won out, and so off we went to spend the day at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens. And how glorious a day it was. From another morning of cold and damp with low ceilings, a sudden switch to 70F and an exquisite crystal blue sky with nary a cloud in sight. The park was filled to capacity, and we were in our glory.
Sunday night was our show time night. Let me heartily endorse Fuerzabruta if you have not see it. This show was like Cirque meets Riverdance, with a side order of Stomp. What an extraordinary experience as the first NY show for our kids to see. My oldest son has been working stage crew all winter at school, we couldn’t possibly have chosen a more fascinating and crew-heavy production for him to witness. If ever you were gonna come away humming the scenery, this will be the one. And the younger one, who has music in his veins, could barely stand still throughout. If you haven’t seen it, oh, please go. I won’t ruin it by telling you how it works, just that if you love theatre, this is as cool an experience as anything you’ll ever see sitting in a seat. (My older one leaned over at one point and said, “Mom, this sure beats the snot outta that puppet show you were considering!”)
After the show, finally, REAL NY food – a Good Burger perfectly filled the required spot. Yum; gotta love real American burgers, just can’t beat ‘em.
Mon May 5: First time ever to the Statue of Liberty, another fantastic day for the weather. To fellow travellers: take the couple of minutes in the comfort of your own home to buy the tickets in advance and print out. The line up otherwise will use up another half day on you! You jump quite the lineup by being that little bit prepared.
How damn sad that 9/11 has turned every US icon into a security nightmare. Seems so hard for people to even smile, with all that security stuff they gotta put up with. Glad we finally did it, even though it used up so much of the day. But we’re not really shoppers, so it didn’t really matter.
Came back to the mainland, and off to the land of Mario, the Nintendo store (couldn’t miss that, now…) Everyone too tired to go Top of the Rock, especially since we planned to finally hit the ESB that night, so we just walked around, the Boyz bought some games and a Wii shirt (the envy of their friends); I got a chance to visit one of my favourite US stores (Anthropologie – ohhh, please Anthopologie, come up to Canada…).
Our last night in NYC was our special dinner for our 13 year old. In addition to celebrating my 50th, this was a celebration in lieu of a bar mitzvah for him. So the final night was to celebrate HIM.
Many thanks to whichever Mom in TA NY Forum who brought up Ninja Restaurant. What a hoot! We never told them we were going here, kept it as a surprise right up to the front door. The look on my son’s face was worth it. Ninja’s dropping from the ceiling, an elevator ride down to dark corridors, special effects with the food. And just when you’d expect that the food would be crap in a place geared to special F/X, it totally wasn’t!
Started THIS dinner with a Sake tasting. Five really stunning sakes to start the meal with…after that the mind dulls a bit. Nonetheless, the food served was lovingly presented, the quality MORE than adequate. No, it wasn’t Morimoto (which would have been the other choice), but it was totally fun for our 13 year old and his big bro, and frankly, that was more important. While the Sake tasting was wowing the elders, the boys were being charmed by the very Japanese bathroom system of heated toilet seats. What can I say? We’ve all got our priorities…
Tues May 6: only have the half day to see more of NYC; down to the Village and Soho, but at that hour, it hadn’t quite come to life yet. Was just starting to get really hopping by the time we were having to head back to the hotel to begin the journey home. At least the weather held with us, and it was a lovely day to just do window shopping.
ROUND UP:
All we hope to accomplish with these family trips is to try to build a sense of wonder and excitement in our children at the marvels of other countries and cultures. New York city has a place of its own in the “cultures” of the world, and they had a great little taste of what the future can hold. They are now old enough to remember much detail from these trips, and I know that NYC has not seen the last of us.
Thanks again, all TA buddies, you were a tremendous help, and we’ll try not to let another 18 years go by between trips!
New York Trip Report: May 2-6-08 Part 3 of 3 Finale
Thanks for your NYC experiences! Enjoyed reading.
-megs
Thanks for the interesting and detailed report and I%26#39;m happy that you all seemed to have a good time.
wow! sounds like a fabulous time. Happy :Flying: Birthday to you and a happy birthday to your son as well. What an amazing trip your family had. Thanks for sharing.
I love the description of your son%26#39;s special dinner, it%26#39;s great that the place hit the spot for him and his brother. Heated toilet seats--I%26#39;m with them!
It%26#39;s been great reading about your family trip. Your son%26#39;s are going to have such great memories of the special birthdays.
PS..I love Anthropologie too.
29 and counting.
That was an exceptionally good read - thank you for taking the time. 31 days and counting.
I always skim through the trip reports but savoured every second of yours. I only hope that I can provide my little girl with some amazing experiences like you are doing for your 2 boys.
Great report!
She flies through the air, with the greatest of ease,
that daring young gal on the flying trapeze, her movements are graceful...
What a fabulous trip. I know nothing about this Ninja restaurant. Will have to check it out! Y%26#39;all come back now, ya hear?
Flyinmom ...... glad you got to the BBG and set foot on my %26#39;motherland%26#39; ...... Brooklyn. I personally look forward to the cherry blossom festival every year. I once read that the Japanese love the cherry blossom because while it%26#39;s so beuatiful ..... and so fragile ..... it%26#39;s also so brief. Like life itself. Doubling down on a trip to Ninja was pure inspiration.
I honestly loved your writing style. ';Not OCD tendencies ..... funny.'; It was a very easy and fun read. Hope you will stick around the forum when your not too busy helping people discover Toronto. And least I forget ...... Happy Birthday my friend.
Thanks for the report. I have come very close in the past week to scolding you when I%26#39;ve seen you pop up on the forum, where was the d*mn trip report already!
Good things come to those that wait.
No comments:
Post a Comment