One of the perils of visiting someplace you used to live is a certain cockiness. You think, “Yeah, I know this town. I used to own this town. I don’t need no stinking guidebook.”
Of course, that attitude doesn’t take into account — at least in this case — that I last lived in New York as a young, single and ready-to-mingle gal back at the turn of the century. This time, I’m arriving with kids in tow who have their own ideas of fun and the city has moved on.
I’ve just come to terms with this and thus have hurriedly spent the past few days putting together some kind of plan so we don’t end up dragging exhausted children all around the island. Here are some of the highlights we’re planning:
- Going to the top of the Empire State Building — Truly iconic, and we’ve found what looks like a good little hotel 2 blocks away, Hotel Grand Union. We’ve booked a family room with a double and two twins, and it’s easy walking distance to the building itself, the 6 train, Penn Station and Koreatown, in case we fancy Korean barbecue.
- Eating food you can’t get in London — Pizza by the slice, honest-to-god bagels (boiled, people, they must be boiled) with cream cheese, American burgers. Milkshakes. Maybe even some vegetables. Maybe.
- Taking a Levy’s Unique New York graffiti tour of Brooklyn — This was recommended by a friend of a friend as a family-friendly tour outfit. It’s no wonder: the operation is run by the Levy family, who take visitors around the city personally (along with a few helpers). We’ll be taking the Brooklyn Represent tour, seeing graffiti, street art, gentrifying areas of the borough, ending at an artisanal pizza joint. Levy brother Matt is showing us round and I have a feeling my 14-year-old is going to love it. (Note: The Levy’s have kindly comp’ed our tour. I’ll let you know how it is.)
- Fighting the crowds in Chinatown — Crowded, busy, and distinctly different from the rest of Manhattan. We’ll be eating noodles (one of my daughter’s favourites) and duck pancakes.
- Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge — Traversing the iconic bridge to Brooklyn Heights is one of the best experiences in the city. I’m crossing my fingers for a clear day. We may stop at Jane’s Carousel in DUMBO for a quick go-round. We’ll do this end of the week to hit the Thursday – Sunday winter opening hours for the carousel.
- Messing around at Sony Wonder Technology Lab — My friend Stephanie Dolgoff (her book My Formerly Hot Life perfectly captures that feeling of moving from single hottie to married mommy) raves about this place. It’s one of the destinations that would never had made the list of the old me. From what I can tell, it’s a cross between the Apple Store and a science museum and looks mind-boggling. I’ll let you know.
- Hitting the MOMA, American Museum of Natural History, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Guggenheim Museum — Yes, yes, everyone goes there. But there’s a reason. No trip to NYC is complete without them.
I’ll be blogging about the trip more on Jenography and on the BritMums site, so keep your eyes peeled.
Got suggestions for places to eat that kids will like? I’d love your suggestions.
I’ve created a trip guide on Gogobot. Check it out to see more of the things we’re planning and what other people say about them.
Can’t wait to hear all about your trip x
Last time, in fact the only time, I was in NY with hubby, he was on business and we ate salad niçoise at the top of the World Trade Centre. That makes me so unbeleivably sad.
I hope you made incredible new memories with your children. Boiled bagels sound fab 🙂
Love it! ‘I used to OWN this town.’ I’ll bet you would have been a hoot to hang out with back then. I have no words of wisdom I’m afriad but I shall be checking back for any tips as I’m curious too!
Great guide! I copied it into my gogobot account, tnx!!!