farlands | traveling near and far

Day 2: Midtown Central Park - Our hotel was close to the park, so we walked up there. The last time we had been there as a family we didn't give ourselves nearly enough time, so this was an open-ended experience. The guys threw a frisbee around while I people-watched and admired the skyline. Soon John found some of the big rocks jutting up and we spent some time sitting and taking pictures.  Central selfie We then rented bikes and rode around a little half of the park, which was a great way to get a sense of the scale and to see numerous different parts of the park. Rest stop MoMA  - There was an exhibition that I had read about in Time  and later in this  Village Voice article  and it was definitely a delight. What wasn't a delight was the constant jackhammer going on installing a new floor in an exhibition hall - but my handy earplugs dampened it somewhat. Also, the number of people in the museum was surprisingly full to me - any other muse...

In a whirlwind 4 day, 3-night trip to New York City, Jeff, John and I saw, did and ate more than we ever expected. Here is an overview of our family vacation, bullet-point style: Day 1:  Lower East Side and Financial District Flight from MSN to LGA - this is one of the easier and direct flights out of our local airport. For this trip, we flew out early in the morning, and by 10:30 a.m., we were in Manhattan, having dropped our bags at the hotel and we were ready to go! TKTS - This discount booth for Broadway tickets has an outlet near the Staten Island Ferry that opens earlier than the Times Square location. Online reviews had indicated it could be a long wait in line, but we waited all of 5 minutes, and there were so many choices it was hard to decide (we weren't the only ones hemming and hawing). We went with Avenue Q, which I had seen before but the boys hadn't. Tenement Museum  -a real treat on the Lower East Side. Much of the building itself was still decrepit with...