We began our European tour with a long weekend stopover in New York.  Still in the U.S., but like a foreign land in many ways.   I lived in New York in the mid 90s before Lisa and I got married, and Lisa came out to visit a lot.  So for us this was a trip to revisit old haunts (wow – it has changed a lot since then!).  But this was a totally new experience for Mallory and Connor.  I enjoyed watching their expressions as they took in the sheer audacity of New York, especially the controlled chaos of Times Square on a Friday night. 

In the course of about 48 hours we tried to take in as many sights as we could: Times Square, Grand Central, the Statue of Liberty, The Empire State Building, China Town, and Ground Zero.  We spent the afternoon in Central Park, then took in the Upper West Side and Harlem via the double-decker tour buses.  We visited the Met and MOMA, and of course sample some great pizza and bagels.  We must have walked the entire length of the island by the end of the weekend.  We couldn’t see it all but we tried.  

We got special tickets to climb 360 steps to visit the very crown of Lady Liberty.  Here we are inside the crown:

Connor “volunteered” to join in this amazing street performance:

Mallory at the Metropolitan Museum of Fine Art.  

Connor really liked the pizza!

On our last morning, I got up early to make a pilgrimage to Apple’s flagship store on 5th Avenue.  The  only Apple store open 24 hours a day.  I got there just after 5 am.  Very cool.

Next stop: Madrid!

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