LaGuardia, New York (LGA)
Happy to be in the Big Apple. Well technically we are still on the plane.
1st official NY picture.
Kathy, Lisa and I flew from Kalamazoo to New York's LaGuardia by way of Detroit.
Three days in New York before Christmas. The first full day was the harbour: the ferry down, the Statue of Liberty from the pedestal and from inside the structure, and Ellis Island afterwards - the original torch, and the plaster face in the museum hall. Then uptown for a matinee of Wicked at the Gershwin, and F.A.O. Schwarz in the evening.
The last morning was the Empire State Building, up the express lift to the observatory, with Manhattan under snow and Times Square laid out directly below. Checked out at half past ten and went home.
Day by day
The Empire Hotel, New York
Getting ready to board the ferry to the Statue of Liberty. It's cold!!
An absolutely gorgeous day. Cold but clear blue skies.
New York skyline.
Best traveler ever. She walked all the way up to the pedestal.
Wicked was in a word, AMAZING. We loved it.
2nd row center seats. Wow!
Dinner after an awesome Broadway show.
Oh boy. FAO Schwarz. She is in heaven.
Minion madness.
My happy place.
We stayed the week before Christmas at The Empire Hotel, with its zebra-print couches and gold curtains in the lobby. In the morning we caught the Statue Cruises ferry out to Liberty Island, past lower Manhattan and the new World Trade Center tower going up.
At the statue we went through the pedestal museum, where the original 1886 torch is on display alongside oversized casts of Lady Liberty's face and hand. We climbed up inside the structure too, looking through the ironwork that holds the copper skin in place, then went back outside to see her from the ground and from the observation deck.
From there the ferry continued to Ellis Island, past the old immigration building with its red roof and twin towers. In the afternoon we went uptown to the Gershwin Theatre, where a map of the Land of Oz glowed on the curtain before Kathy, Lisa and I watched a matinee of Wicked.
In the evening we walked over to F.A.O. Schwarz, lit up for Christmas with a sign reading F.A.O. Schweetz over its candy counter, and stopped by the Apple Store's glass cube on Fifth Avenue on the way back to the hotel.
I love the combination of technology and big city airports. Checked us in via the Delta app at dinner last night and today I just show the TSA agent my phone and picture IDs for Michael and I. No paper boarding passes. Scan the phone at the gate and proceed onto the plane. Easy!
She is mesmerized.
On our way home. Farewell New York. We'll be back soon.
Our last morning we went up to the observatory at the Empire State Building, riding the express elevator to the 86th floor. Manhattan was under a fresh layer of snow, with Macy's visible on a rooftop below and the harbor beyond. On the way out we passed through the golden Art Deco lobby, decorated with its own Christmas tree.
Lisa watched the city from the observatory window while we made a circuit of the deck. We packed up back at the hotel and checked out around half past ten, then flew from New York's LaGuardia to Kalamazoo by way of Detroit.
