Our first glimpse of New York City was through the glass at the airport.
We started with a couple of days in New York City staying at the Lexington Hotel which is a Marriott property at the corner of Lexington Ave and 48th.
Hotel rooms in New York are expensive. Fortunately, I bookedthisone well in advance, because some of the downtown hotels were bought out by the city to house immigrants being bussed from the Mexican border, and this caused the prices to become even more inflated than usual.
I asked the hotel’s concierge to recommend a good way to spend a few hours to see some of the sites nearby, and she suggested that we walk. She gave us a map and circled some of the sites we would see along that route. It turned out to be a great suggestion.
And see the sites, we did!
Below is a close-up of Rockefeller Center. The Christmas tree will be placed at street level behind those flags in a few weeks.
Then on to Central Park. I had a terrible misconception of Central Park. Growing up in the 60’s – 70’s and then being a young adult in the 80’s, Central Park was known as a dangerous area. News focused on murders and muggings in Central Park, and the movie industry sensationalized it even more. Today, Central Park is a thriving park with millions of visitors each year. We decided to have the most absolute, tourist experience.
First, we walked around a bit and enjoyed a hot dog from one of the many hot dog stands and were captivated by the lake views.
We checked out the prices of the Nathan’s hot dogs and opted for one of the no-name hot dogs instead. It was just “ok.” Looking back, we should have sprung for Nathan’s.
One great option would be the romantic horse and carriage ride.
But we opted for the motorized tuk tuk. It was a longer tour and seemed like a unique way to tour the park. Our driver gave great commentary and offered to take our photo at several stops along the way.
After our tour, our driver/guide dropped us near Time’s Square where we spent a good chunk of the afternoon and purchased tickets for Aladdan later that night. We also discovered that the subway entrance for Times Square/ 42nd street was right beside that theater. (Good to know for later when it was time to go back to our hotel.)
Times Square was busy but not packed for the afternoon.
After spending some time walking around and getting our Times Square photos, we figured out the subway and went back to our hotel to freshen up a bit and then found Paul’s Pizza for dinner.
We went back to Times Square to grab a coffee and pastry before heading to Aladdin.
Aladdin is playing at the historic Alhambra Theater. Of course, I could not take photos during the show, but I did grab some shots of the theater before the show. We got two seats in the very back of the main level. They were great seats.
The whole show was GREAT!! I highly recommend it.
On Day 2, we spent the morning at the MET (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
I didn’t even take pictures of paintings as I just stood in awe of the masterpieces. I could have spent several days in there but here are just a few photos.
On our final morning in New York, we left the hotel and boarded the Emerald Princess for a Canada/New England Cruise with Lady Liberty wishing us well from the distance.
For my review of the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal. Watch this YouTube video. And if you are interested, there are videos about all the ports on that cruise.