Taking a bite out of the Big Apple in 24 Hours (7/25 to 7/26/17)

We had a 24-hour layover in New York City on our way to Dublin, which isn't much time to see the city, so we opted to eat our way through NYC in 24 hours (with a lot of  walking around between our eating breaks).  We flew into Newark and took a car into the city, which offered us great views of the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building (check both of those off of the list!).  After checking into our hotel in Manhattan, we took the subway out to Brooklyn to see Dan's sister Jodie.  We made it to her apartment before the sun set, so we were able to enjoy the great views from her balcony.  

She made us a reservation at a French and Mexican fusion restaurant in Brooklyn for dinner.  It was tres delicioso!  (Do you see what I did there?  French-Mexican fusion!?!)

After a nice visit, we rode the subway back into Manhattan and turned in for the night.  

The next morning, Jodie rode into Manhattan to meet us and we developed a plan for the day, which required a bit of necessary shopping.  A little explanation needed -- We decided to greatly pare back on our packing this trip so that we all would only bring a rolling carry-on sized suitcase and a personal bag (backpack, messenger bag, etc.).  We only had three bags at home that met the carry-on requirements, so some generous friends loaned us three from their recent trip to Europe.  I used the oldest of our bags (~15 years old), and it almost bit the dust by the time we got to our hotel in NYC.  Jodie suggested a TJ Maxx near the hotel for replacement luggage, so we knew our day's itinerary included that stop.  Also, Dan and I discovered on the plane to Newark that we both left our headphone connectors for our cell phones at home.  Without them, Jack, Dan and I wouldn't be able to listen to music or podcasts on our entire trip, so a trip to the Apple Store was also added to the list. We began with an early lunch at one of our favorite Manhattan restaurants, La Bonne Soupe.  Our friends, the Timberlakes, introduced us to this restaurant years ago.  Dan and I eat there every time we visit NYC, but we have never taken Jodie or the kids there.  

Let the shopping commence!  We headed over to 5th Avenue to the Apple Store, the American Girl Store for Hadley and the Lego Store in Rockefeller Center for Jack.  At this point, we needed an afternoon snack, and we knew we needed to make it across to 8th Avenue for TJ Maxx and a Broadway store for Lyndon (across very LONG city blocks), so I suggested Schmackary's.  It is an amazing cookie shop that is frequented by Broadway actors/actresses at 45th and 9th Ave, so we hiked to it through the theatre distict. We were able to see the outside of lots of shows' theatres, such as Dear Evan Hansen, The Great Comet and Come From Away, which made the kids very happy.  Schmackary's did not disappoint, though we didn't see any Broadway stars. It was packed the entire time we were there.

We headed up 9th Ave to TJ Maxx, procured a new suitcase, and headed back to the hotel to get ready for our departure to Europe.  We were flying out of JFK, so we decided to take the subway to Queens to catch the Air Train to the airport.  At this point it was subway rush hour, so it was a bit of a challenge to get 6 people and all of our luggage on the subway.  We had to let a few trains pass us by because they were too crowded, but we (well, most of us) enjoyed the adventure.  I didn't take a pic on the crowded subway train because we were all too busy making sure we didn't lose any luggage in the crowd.  We had several hours at the airport after we got through security, and it was a beautiful, unseasonably cool summer day, so we spent the entire time on the open-air Delta Sky Deck, watching the planes take off and land. Jack thought this was the best thing ever!  

After an overnight plane, next stop is Dublin!