NYC Day 1: Pizza, Brooklyn Bridge, Vessel

We have just returned from a whirlwind family vacay week in NYC! I’m so thankful that in the midst of some stress & mess, God gave us the initiative to book this family trip with airfare & hotel points back last December, even before the house came into the picture. It was such a positive, exciting focus that God knew we needed, & it’s definitely something we never would’ve booked later, had we known this year’s circumstances. I used to come every other year throughout high school & college in the 90’s, but my last time was 2000!!! TIME TO ENJOY!

We arrived Sunday night, June 30th around 10 PM - of course NYC was wide awake! Placating Will first seemed wisest, so we present M&M'S World:
(Jalapeño M&Ms are officially THE BEST FLAVOR EVER!) And then - truly unplanned!!! - we just happened by the Hamilton theatre on the way back to our hotel:

NYC Day 1, Monday, July 1st: Scott’s Pizza Tour! We saw this on the Travel Channel years ago & thought it would actually be great for our teens in the throes of ennui. :-P Our little tour group even included a team from a local pizza school - serious pizza lovers. All 3 styles we tried = delish!

Lombardi's Coal Oven Pizza: the *first* pizzeria in the United States = legendary:

Fiore's Pizza - Staten Island style (loveloveloved the reduced raw sauce!)

Famous Ben’s Pizza of Soho - Sicilian style

After meandering down through Little Italy & Chinatown, (with shockingly blah bubble tea, but also happy tingsha cymbals for my yoga teaching!) we found the Brooklyn Bridge - I’d never walked across it before! The views are amazing, and the weather = perfection!
(Will does *NOT* enjoy heights, and the fact that you could see the East River if you really looked through the wooden slats (I refused!) freaked him out!!! But he persevered & made it the 1.1 miles!)

We took the subway (our new BFF, BTW! we got unlimited 7-day metro cards & are total subway experts now - I actually miss it!) back to the hotel to rest our feet before one last adventure Monday evening: The Vessel - this amazing structure just opened this March! Tickets are free, but you should get them ahead of time (2 weeks in advance.) The morning we originally wanted instantly filled, so we took an evening slot = thank goodness: literal sunset glory!!! Will & I also continued to momentarily conquer some fear (him, heights; me, edges & ledges) “A soaring new landmark meant to be climbed, comprised of 154 intricately interconnecting flights of stairs - almost 2,500 individual steps and 80 landings – the vertical climb offers remarkable views”

Sunset on the way up, captured by my love

Inside, about 1/3rd up

Taken by JB at the very top, looking down at Will & Susie (literally hand on heart) momentarily conquering their fears before the last staircase

From the top! (JB’s shot! I could NEVEREVEREVER reach the ledge to snap this!!!)

All four at the tippy top for real!

Fearless...

From the blue light at the very bottom

Times Square post-Vessel before turning in...

Missed any of our amazing NYC trip?
Day 1: Pizza, Brooklyn Bridge, Vessel
Day 2: Hamilton, Baohaus, Mood, Puffs
Day 3: 9/11 Tribute Tour, Statue of Liberty
Day 4: Coney, Treats, Central Park, Fireworks
Day 5: Doughnuts, Spyscape, Empire, Mean Girls
Day 6: National 9/11 Museum & Bailey

Comments

  1. SO, SO glad y'all got to take this trip!!! We were last in NYC in December - truly no place like it.

    Glad y'all had nice weather! Trip before last we ended up walking the Brooklyn Bridge with our girls in a torrential downpour. NOT the highlight of the trip, but it's a memory we all talk about now!! Look forward to hearing more about the trip!

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