Thursday morning we woke up and went straight to Manhattan via the Newark airport shuttle, the airport air-train, and the rail-link to Penn-station.
All the kid played so sweetly while we waited for the rail-link.
https://youtube.com/shorts/FcFqs7R5w3s?feature=share
When we got out at Penn Station, I realized we were close to the SAP Hudson yard office where I just worked two weeks ago when I was in New York. I emailed the receptionist to see if I could take my family to the 52nd floor observation deck, and she immediately arranged it. I was so grateful. It was an incredible view and also free!
We then walked to our boat tour of New York. I helped Clarissa who still has a hard time walking long distances, well actually short distances sometimes too. Someday she might be too big for me to be carrying her……well, ok, maybe that day has already happened….but I’m still doing it……
The boat tour was amazing. I think we were most amazed by how beautiful the statue of liberty is. It’s so big, and the green is just stunning. We also loved the French connection since we were to leave to France the next day and the French gave the statue to the United States as a gift.
I also loved getting a great view of the One World Trace Center building. The tallest building in the Western Hemisphere (though I feel like it’s cheating a bit with that massive spire). It’s so neat that it’s height is 1,776 feet.
After the boat tour we ate pizza and rainbow cake at Carlo’s bakery. Then Lily got us tickets to the Rise exhibit and ride all about New York. we learned so much and the ride was soooo fun. The kids reported that the Rise ride was their favorite thing for the whole New York day.
After Rise, we went to Central Park and rented bicycles. We biked all around Central Park as a family. That was my favorite part of the whole day. At first, Clarissa was really scared and uncomfortable on the bike and refused to pedal (she just clutched the handle-bars tightly and said she was scared). But you will see in the videos below that she soon warmed up to the whole idea.
We got sweaty, thirsty and hungry from our ride so we had dinner at Pret-a-manger and then got ice cream from a street vendor.
We then made it to the airport to catch our red eye flight. It boarded later than expected and we spent a long time waiting in line. The kids dropped like flies.
But we eventually made it on and slept (some more deeply than others) our way to Paris.