New York, New York, no other city on earth
has a buzz like it! The vertical architecture, the smells of hot dogs and
pretzels, the stifling heat and bitter dry cold, the theatres and shops, the
restaurants and bars….. but why on earth would one take children to ruin your
fun? The answer is that New York always serves up something new, and with
children you will see an entirely different city to what you saw before.
New York has such a wealth of attractions
and diversions that its never the same between different people and different
visits. The broad range of restaurants caters for all from down and outs to
glamorous and trendy; from very old to very… young. As ever in America, finding food that
children eat is not difficult. One
deservedly well-rated venue we headed to on our first night was the Ellen
Stardust Diner, famous for its waiters cum dancers putting on regular singing
and dancing routines throughout the evening. As cheesy as it sounds, the
America-style enthusiasm for this even encouraged the cynical boys in our corner
to release a smile.
And talking of cynical boys – the comic
book shops of New York are where the tables were turned. The various branches
of mid-town comics dragged us straight into scenes from the Big Bang Theory!
The boys were delighted, here was nerd heaven on a massive scale. Staff could
assist with the most abstract and specific questions, delightedly running round
the shop servicing their various requests.
New York, or Manhattan at least, is compact
enough to walk around, with the occasional jump onto a bus or subway when
little legs get too tired. But the buzz of the streets and the new sights on
every block can keep the energy levels high, topped up with the occasional
sugar-fuelled diner stop. It takes a couple of hours at child pace to walk from
Central Park at one end, via the High-Line, to Battery Park at the other,
before getting the Staten Island ferry for the best and cheapest views of the
Statue of Liberty and the skyscrapers of lower Manhattan. The option is there
to join the queue for the Statue of Liberty itself, however this didn’t seem to
be a great way to experience the city, so we skirted it.
The highlight of our trip for the boys (we
had an extra one in tow) was a visit to the incredible USS Intrepid Sea Air
Space Museum. A vast aircraft carrier moored on the Hudson river. Intrepid
suffered major Kamikaze damage during the second world war, events which are
vividly demonstrated on the impacted decks through lighting effects and film
footage from the time. Numerous real life exhibits bring reality to war stories
– lying in a bed in the cramped sleeping quarters was particularly graphic was
me. The information boards were
informative and more honest about the reasons for going to various wars,
including Vietnam, than I was expecting. And its not just the aircraft carrier
itself, the museum includes a submarine, the Space Shuttle “Enterprise”, a
Concorde, a collection of aircraft. This is the one unmissable venue to let
kids lead you around.
A more poignant experience comes from the
World Trade Centre site. By the time we visited, the new buildings were largely
complete, demonstrating the pragmatism and optimism demonstrated by New
Yorkers. However the impact of the memorial to the events of 9/11 was moving
for all 3 of our children. The foundations of the twin towers have been
excavated into a pair of vast empty square holes, with water running down the
walls of each one. The names of those killed are all carved in the stone
surrounds. Its an immensely calming experience after the hectic buzz of the
city. As the children read through some of the names, the enormity of the
events that had occurred 15 years earlier came through to them.
Despite my dismissal of queueing for the
Statue of Liberty (and the same goes for the Empire State Building), a trip to
New York should include taking in a view somehow. An exciting but costly and
brief way to do this is by helicopter, but any tall building will do. We went
to the “Top of the Rock” in the Rockefeller centre. The views across Central
Park one way, and the mid-town to lower Manhattan the other were incredible. As
we stood there (in April – this was an Easter break) snow began to fall, it was
jolly romantic – and the children were jumping with excitement!
And excitement, after all, is what New York
is about, and what travelling is about, and what children are about. New York
will always be exciting, and with the infectious excitement of children it
becomes even more so!
