New York City

by

2026 Spring Break in NYC: Part One

A beautiful view of the gardens at the MET Cloisters

I cannot quite pinpoint when New York City became the plan for Spring Break this year. With everything that happened last year—and 2026 not exactly starting off on an easier note—I did not plan this trip as early as I normally would. For a while, I was not even sure we would go anywhere at all. The idea of staying home, though, was not all that appealing to either me or my now 14-year-old daughter C. I needed something to look forward to, something to plan. A return trip to New York City seemed to fit the bill. It may not have been the best bang for the buck—NYC is not cheap!—but it felt like the kind of place where we could fill a few days with the mix of things we both love, without needing to plan something overly complicated.

To keep this trip more affordable and less complicated, I opted for four days and chose to take the train. I had no interest in dealing with stressful driving in Manhattan or paying city-center parking costs. I have always enjoyed train travel; it feels far more relaxing than driving or flying. We had not taken a train trip since our journey from Chicago to Los Angeles, and I was more than ready for another.

Our itty-bitty, centrally-located high-rise room just off Times Square

We boarded Amtrak’s Northeast Regional at Union Station in Washington, D.C. The 3.5-hour journey was comfortable, and the time passed quickly. Before long, we were arriving at Moynihan Train Hall in central Manhattan. We gathered up our belongings and made our way along the crowded city streets. Weaving through the steady flow of people as we walked the 20 minutes to our boutique hotel just around the corner from Times Square. I wanted us to be in the center of the action. On our last trip, C had been ready to turn around immediately after we witnessed a bloody assault within minutes of our arrival. This time, as a teenager, she declared she was much more prepared to take on the city.

Soon after getting our things into our hotel room, we were off. We headed down to the subway just off Times Square, catching a glimpse of the No Kings protest as it was making its way down Broadway. We then took the subway north to Upper Manhattan to visit The Cloisters. Part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art system, The Cloisters sits in Fort Tryon Park and is dedicated solely to the art and architecture of medieval Europe—the only museum of its kind in the United States. Opened in 1938, the building itself is as much a part of the experience as the collection, constructed using architectural elements brought over from five French monasteries, including windows, doorways, and columns. Until a few years ago, when I read the thriller The Cloisters by Katy Hays, I had no idea this museum even existed. Since then, a visit to the Cloisters has been on my must-do list for New York City.

Beautiful sights from the MET Cloisters, including my favorite piece, an ivory knight chess piece

I really enjoyed our visit to The Cloisters. Many of the pieces on display are absolutely exquisite, including the seven extraordinary Belgian tapestries known as The Hunt of the Unicorn, created between 1495 and 1505. It is remarkable to see these works still intact more than 500 years later. Even C seemed at least mildly interested in parts of the collection, which I took as a small win. Still, it is not just the artwork that makes this place special. The building itself—its chapels, stained glass windows, long halls, cloisters, courtyard, and gardens—is very much part of the museum’s collection and ambiance.

Though the day was sunny and clear, it was still quite cold. The season felt just a bit too early for the gardens, with little in bloom. There is a beautiful view of the Hudson River from the grounds, but C had no interest in lingering outside for long in the chill. Even so, we spent about two and a half hours exploring before making our way back to the hotel.

The cute Jellycat Diner

We had a nice dinner near the hotel, then headed over to the FAO Schwarz toy store. C had made it through several hours of medieval art, so it felt like the right time to shift to one of her main interests: Jellycat. These are high-quality plush toys from London, many featuring whimsical designs, including a food and drink line called Amuseables. They are incredibly popular right now and can be surprisingly difficult to find in the United States, often limited to specialty shops, quick to sell out, and sometimes have long waitlists. At FAO Schwarz, there is something called the Jellycat Diner (the only one in the world!), which is not actually a diner but a small, ticketed experience within the Jellycat section. I had to log on four weeks in advance to secure our spot. The experience itself lasted about ten minutes, with an employee “cooking” C’s chosen Amuseable. She picked out a plush pancake. I did not entirely understand the appeal, but C was all smiles during and after. As she walked the streets of Manhattan carrying her Jellycat bag, she looked like she had just won the lottery.

On our second day, we took a bus from the Port Authority Bus Terminal to the American Dream mall in East Rutherford. At approximately 3 million square feet, American Dream is the second-largest mall in the United States, with the Mall of America holding the top spot. The mall offers far more than shopping. It includes an indoor amusement park, a water park, an aquarium, an indoor skiing center, mini golf, a LEGOLAND Discovery Center, and much more, alongside the usual mix of retail stores.

That weekend was my niece NH’s 18th birthday. She is currently a student at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, so it worked out well to meet up and celebrate together. My sister, brother-in-law, and nephew had driven up, and we made plans to meet all of them at the mall.

The aquarium was quite a good one. It featured a great touch pool, a large central tank with rays and sharks, and several displays of seahorses. Seahorses are one of my favorite sea animals, and they are not found in many aquariums since they require specialized care. Afterwards, C, my sister, my nephew, and I made a beeline for the riding mechanical animals. My sister and I are still very much kids at heart, and we thoroughly enjoyed our ten minutes zipping around with our teens. We could not convince my brother-in-law and my niece of the joy they were missing. Boo. Their loss.

SeaLife Aquarium at American Dream, including C taking a break in front of the large tank

Following our lunch at the mall food court, we headed to Nickelodeon Universe. C and I have visited our fair share of theme parks, including every Disney park around the world. I have been to two other indoor amusement parks – Lotte World in Seoul, South Korea, and Trans Studio in Makassar, Indonesia. The Nickelodeon park at American Dream is the largest indoor amusement park in the Western Hemisphere.

I had purchased our tickets ahead of time and just needed to print our wristbands at a kiosk. Getting inside, however, did not go quite as smoothly as I had planned, because I had purchased C and my tickets for the wrong park! I bought ours for the Mall of America in Minneapolis! That was a costly mistake, but I had to shrug it off so we could all get in and have some fun.

The park itself is bright and colorful, with natural light coming in through overhead windows and reflecting off the white interior. The layout lets visitors see much of it at once, with roller coasters and other rides weaving through the space in a visually appealing way. I quickly realized, though, that my sister and her family are far more enthusiastic about thrill rides than I expected. Since it was my niece’s birthday, she set the plan: start with the easiest rides and work our way up. There are some rides that I just want nothing to do with — like rocking rides, especially ones that go up too high, spin, or go upside down. And while I will consent to take on some roller coasters, others are not for me. But my sister and family wanted us ALL to get on everything.

Bright, airy, and colorful Nickelodeon Universe Theme Park

I managed to dodge two of the rides, but my sister dragged me, unhappily, to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Shellraiser coaster. And the front row. I never, ever ride in the front row of a coaster. The Shellraiser has the world’s steepest coaster drop, at 121.5 degrees. It makes the climb excruciatingly slow, then hangs at the top for the longest 15 seconds of one’s life, before plunging down. I might not have hated it so much had it not whipped my head around repeatedly. I closed my eyes and wished for it to be over.

After working our way through the major rides, we said our goodbyes to my sister and her family and shifted gears to something C and I had been looking forward to—shopping. That had been our agreement all along. We spent some time exploring the stores before eventually making our way back to the bus and returning to New York City. It had been a full day and a great way to spend time together as a family.

It had been a full couple of days. We were tired, but in the best possible way, and looking forward to what the second half of the trip would bring.

by

New York City Visit on a Long Weekend

View from the 80th floor of the Empire State Building

I have long wanted to go to New York.

Well, what I mean is I have long wanted to spend more than a day in the Big Apple. Throughout my life, I have visited the city three times, but each time for only a day. In high school, probably my junior year, our class took a trip from the Northern Virginia area to New York City. We left around 6:30 AM and returned at 10:30 PM. I do not remember much from the trip — we went to Wall Street to see the New York Stock Exchange, we visited the FAO Schwartz toy store (the movie Big had come out the year before), and we sat on the floor of the Trump Tower lobby and were scolded by guards. In college, I went home one Thanksgiving with my roommate to Connecticut, and the Friday after the holiday we took the train into the city. We visited the Macy’s flagship store and goofed around at the Museum of Modern Art. Later, when I started working in Washington, DC, after graduate school, I took the train up for the day to visit that former roommate who was spending the summer in the city. I visited the Tenement Museum and we walked around Central Park.

In addition to wanting to spend enough time in New York City to require a hotel stay, I wanted to bring C to see it too. Initially, I had hoped our 2021 Home Leave would include as much as a week in the city, but with COVID-19 still going strong, it was not feasible. NYC restrictions on the unvaccinated (which included kids like C) kept it off our list and as French training grew in intensity in the Spring of 2022, I did not feel I could getaway for a whole weekend.

I knew as soon as we were back in the Washington, DC area that we were going to take a trip to New York for Memorial Day weekend. After reviewing all the planes, trains, and automobile options, I decided the easiest and most economical would be to take one of the bus companies that ply the DC to NYC route.

We had a view of the Empire State Building from our hotel room!

Early on the Saturday, we took the Vamoose bus from Rosslyn, Virginia to New York City. It was a good, comfortable trip. C said she was excited to see the view from the bus on the way; she was not quite blown away by the Jersey Turnpike as she had hoped, but once we began to approach the city and the Lincoln Tunnel, she perked up.

We excitedly disembarked from the bus at Penn Station; only a ten minute walk from our hotel. Unfortunately, within five minutes of our arrival, at the first corner, while waiting for the crosswalk, we witnessed one man assaulting another man. We heard yelling, then a bottle breaking, and a man ran to the street, blood running down his face, before he turned and ran down 7th Avenue. It was pretty shocking, though being New York, there were crowds of people standing around with little to no reaction. But I turned to C to find tears in her eyes and she told me, “Mom, I want to go home.”

Oh man, that was hard. For all the places we have been, all the unfamiliar, exciting, unpredictable, and even dicey situations we have been in, sometimes one does not expect it at “home.” C has had limited experience in the U.S. and most of it has been on vacation. Not that I want her to experience the negative! It is only that she has not been exposed to it so much until recently. I hugged her and asked if maybe we could just get to the hotel and see how we felt from there. She agreed.

We walked the seven and a half blocks to our hotel. It was too early to check in, so we stored our bags, and I took C to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch to cheer her up. We have been into eating at Hard Rocks over the past year – in DC, Lisbon, Grand Cayman, and now New York. C and I enjoyed our favorites and then we were ready for the next part of our New York adventure.

We headed over to the New Amsterdam Theater on West 42nd Street, stopping at the Hard Rock Cafe gift shop (C loves her Hard Rock Cafe t-shirts) and MINISO (C also loves her Japanese cute stuff). C and I were catching the matinee of Disney’s Aladdin on Broadway!

I had originally planned for us to see Chicago as it is one of C’s favorite movies and she knows all the songs. But I had heard the current New York production, though the longest running Broadway show, has little in the way of set and costume glamour. C and I also really know Aladdin and it seemed a natural second choice. I knew it would really have the Broadway pizzazz. And boy did it deliver! Disney changed up some of the storyline for the stage and added in a few extra songs and the singing, set, and costumes were fantastic. C and I both loved it!

After the show and a quick meal and rest at the hotel, we headed to Nintendo New York at Rockefeller Plaza. C had long wanted to visit this iconic store, the only one outside of Japan. She loves Nintendo and Pokémon and the Nintendo New York store has a Pokémon section with plush characters not available anywhere else for retail in the U.S. The place was packed, with a roped line for the cashier register as if we were at an amusement park. C had been saving up her allowance for just such an occasion and she did not leave that store empty handed.

On Sunday morning, our second day, we headed to Madame Tussauds. This stop had not been on my original agenda, but the location is just a few doors down from the New Amsterdam Theater, and C had asked me what it was. After I explained it was a famous wax museum with wax replicas of celebrities with some 20 locations around the world, she begged me to go. With all my travels, I had never actually been to a Madame Tussauds, and though London is supposed to have the largest, the New York location is probably considered the best, so it seemed a fitting place for us to both visit for the first time. I imagine the place can get pretty packed, but we arrived very soon after opening and the crowds were not bad. I am not sure I could go out of my way to visit another Madame Tussauds, but C and I had a fun time.

C and I then walked the 17 blocks from Madame Tussauds to Central Park. We grabbed some lunch and then walked an additional 18 blocks through the park to the American Museum of Natural History. Another of C’s favorite movies is Night at the Museum. We have been to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC multiple times, but we had long planned to visit the one in New York, featured in the original Night at the Museum movie. C and I were a little disappointed to learn that we could not find the Theodore Roosevelt statue at the museum (there is still a seated one though we could not locate it; the famous one in front of the museum was removed in January 2022 as it was culturally insensitive); we would also find no Sacagawea, no Genghis Khan, no small display of American cowboys or Romans or Pompeii. But we did find the Moai head from Easter Island, the capuchin monkey, the blue whale, and Rexy. And so many other amazing displays. We spent over three hours at the museum and just scratched the surface of all it had to offer.

The Theodore Roosevelt Rotunda at the American Museum of Natural History

Having already more than met our step count for the day, C and I braved the New York subway to return to 42nd Street. With the ability to pay for up to four riders with a single credit card direct at the turnstile (no need to buy physical tickets!) we managed quite nicely.

I have to admit that even with all my travel all over the world, I was a bit nervous to ride the New York City subway! That assault we witnessed upon arrival had also rattled me. Come on, I told myself, you have been on plenty of public transportation options in countries all over and in plenty I did not speak the language. Just to make sure I understood the ease of paying for the subway, I approached a guard at the museum to ask him. “Yeah, sure, you can totally ride the subway!” he said jovially. “Yep, just scan your card twice at the turnstile and make sure you wait until it turns green.” But then his voice dropped an octave and turned serious, “But be careful. Have your daughter go through first. Stay close to one another. Do not let anyone else get close too close to you. Keep a tight grip on all your belongings,” he added with an air of danger. And then he smiled, “You will be fine! Have a great night.” I was not sure how to feel. I felt both buoyed and wary. We only had to go three stops! I pumped myself up. And we did it.

Before heading back to the hotel we stopped at one more New York megastore (It’s Sugar – another of C’s favorites) for C to indulge in some more retail therapy.

On our final morning in New York, we headed over to the Empire State Building for a visit to the exhibits on the first floor and then views on the 80th, 86th, and 102nd floors. We truly lucked out with our timing. Only the day before, I purchased our tickets for the first available visit at 9 AM. We arrived maybe ten minutes early, but we were let in anyway. There was no line and we whizzed past all the stanchions setup for when there are crowds.

C gets “carried away” at the Empire State Building

The exhibits on the history and national and international cultural phenomenon of the building are amazing. So many movies, television shows, and advertisements have featured the world-famous iconic building. I could have taken C to Top of the Rock or the One World Observatory, but I had to go with the Empire State. Though it has not been the tallest building since 1970 (it is still the 54th tallest), it is by far the most famous building in the world.

I think C really enjoyed the exhibition and the views from the enclosed 80th floor, but once we went out on the 86th floor outdoor viewing platform, she was less enthused with the height. She does not remember that I took her to the Burj Khalifa (the world’s tallest building) when she was just 14 months old. She does not remember so well staying at the Intercontinental Hotel Nanjing in a room on the 77th floor of the Zifeng Tower (the 25th tallest building in the world), or staying in a hotel room on the 66th floor of the Jin Mao Tower (the 37th tallest building in the world) while visiting the top of the Shanghai Tower (the second tallest building in the world). Heck, we have lived on the 19th floor (in Shanghai) and the 23rd floor (in Guinea), and again on the 19th floor (Virginia). I have been taking C to tall buildings all her life.

We not only had little in the way of crowds, but we also had gorgeous weather, at least for the views from inside. Outside on the 86th floor platform, it was very windy. I did not want to rush, but I will admit that my legs too feel a bit wobbly when I look out from a high height. We walked the whole way around, took some photos, and then I gave in to C’s entreaties to get inside to safety! I got a good ole preteen death laser stare when I said we had one more elevator to board to the 102nd floor. I expect C was afraid that I was next going to make her hang on the side of the building. Luckily, the top observation floor is all enclosed, though its floor to ceiling windows can still give one the willies when standing too close to them. C perked up again though with the views of all of Manhattan and beyond. It was truly spectacular.

It was time then to pack up and take the bus back to Virginia. We packed a lot into our little weekend though the Big Apple has far too much to see in such a short time. Despite the rough start, C declared it fantastic, giving the Aladdin show and New York City shopping two thumbs up for her favorite things about the trip. I think I will be able to convince her to go back.