Tag Archives: Central Park

Christmas Time in NYC

informational, personal, photograph, scenic, travel, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

A Visit During the Holidays

This year we took a short trip to New York especially to see the holiday decorations. It’s a 750 mile drive from Grand Rapids, MI to New York.

Here’s a rather lengthy picture story of our early December visit to New York.

___________________________________________________________________________

Here is are driving in Ohio. This is the halfway point from Grand Rapids to New York City.
We arrived in Tarrytown, NY by crossing the Tappan Zee Bridge (actually the Mario Cuomo bridge). Locals refer to the bridge as the Tappan Zee. The bridge crosses the Hudson River about 30 miles north of New York City in Westchester county. I grew up in New Rochelle which is close to Tarrytown. During our visit we stayed in Tarrytown since the hotel rates are way lower than in New York City.
The easiest way to commute into the city is by commuter rail. The Hudson North line conveniently takes us from Tarrytown to Grand Central terminal in about an hour. This is the station in Tarrytown.
The commute from Tarrytown passes by several small villages and cities along the Hudson RIver. Here we are crossing the Harlem River between Bronx and Manattan.
Here is my wife Kris and tree of the grandkids in the iconic and spacious Grand Central terminal.
Our first stop was at nearby Bryant Park where the city sets up a skating rink for the winter.
In addition to the winter skating rink, Bryant Park is filled with dozens of small vendors selling holiday decorations and gifts.
While our granddaughters are past the doll stage, they wanted to visit the American Doll store.
Here are the skaters that braved the cold at the famed Rockefeller Center rink. Unfortunately we didn’t see the Christmas tee lighting that took place a few days after we visited.
Some of the nice holiday decorations at Rockefeller Center.
We visited St Thomas Church on 5th Ave
The peacefulness of the church is such contrast to the hustle and bustle of the city.
This “look” stopped us with curiosity. It’s the Louis Vuiton building being restored with a suitcase covering.
Here’s another striking storefront belonging to Louis Vuiton. Amazing showmansip.
This spiral staircase take you down from 5th Ave into the Apple Store. The store was crowded with holiday shoppers.
Outside of the Apple Store was a mirrored sculpture. Like many others, we wanted to get a selfie.
This colorful storefront is Dior. It seems like many of the stores are trying to outdo one another with creative and amazing designs.

Just a few blocks away is Central Park. It was filled with visitors and locals enjoying the sunny (but cold) weather.
This area in Central Park is known as Bethesda Fountain. As you can see from the crowds, it is a popular gathering place.
Across from the south entrance to Central Park is Columbus Circle and the Time Warner Building. This is photo from its wall-to-wall windows.
The Time Warner Building as many full service shops. Upsatairs is The Tintinary a nice lunchs spot which we often frequent.
You can find a cool gingerbread house in the building’s shopping area.
The next day we drove a few miles from our Tarrytown hotel to the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. This place is noted for the fictional story of the “Headless Horseman”. BTW, we didn’t catch a glimpse of the so-called person.
Sleepy Hollow was originally settlled by the Dutch. Many of the headstones date back to the 1600s and are difficult to read due to the aging.
The subway took us from midtown Manhattan to Chinatown.
The windows of Chinatown are filled with roast duck, chicken and pork ready for purchase.
We walked from Chinatown to Little Italy where we met family and friends for a small celebration. The food and service at Il Cortile was fantastic.
Outside of the restaurant was this wooden soldier to help decorate the holidays.
The MET is New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, which houses one of the largest art collections in the USA.
One of the Met’s many paintings from the 17th century
A statue in the Met’s Asian collection
The next day we crossed over from New York City to New Jersey. This is the George Washington Bridge.
We wanted to visit the Statue of Liberty and took the ferry from the New Jersey side to Liberty Island.
From the docks in Jersey City we had a great view of the Manhattan skyline.

One of our granddaughters plays for Stevens Institute in Hoboken, NJ. We finally were able to see her play that evening.
Here we are after her game saying goodbye before we were on our way home back to Grand Rapids.

It’s been a long time since I’ve been in New York during the Christmas Holiday Season and the first time for three of the granddaughters.

While the weather was cold, it was clear and sunny the whole time we were there. We had a short but enjoyable visit.

Written by:

Arnie Lee

A New York City Visit

informational, personal, photograph, presentation, recreation, travel, , , , , , , , , , , , ,


<br /> New York Visit<br />

Granddaughter’s First time in New York


While I’ve lived in Michigan since 1972, I still consider myself a New Yorker. I grew up just outside of the city in nearby Westchester County where I spent my formative years learning and enjoying the exhilarating pulse of the Big Apple.

One of our granddaughters wanted to travel to New York to see the sites that she’s heard about from her family for so many years.



We drove from Grand Rapids to the New York area about 750 miles. Here we are on the Ohio Turnpike about half way to our destination.


We’re crossing Hudson River over the Mario Cuomo Memorial Bridge where we will take up residence for a few days in Tarrytown, NY.

 

Tarrytown is a small village north of NYC along the Hudson River. Historically it’s famous as the setting for Washington Irving’s story about the headless horseman in “the Legend of Sleepy Hollow”. As a teenager I spent time exploring the cemetery in Sleepy Hollow.



We took a short drive from our hotel to Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.


The cemetery is filled with many interesting gravestones. Some of them date back to the 1600s.

 

The following day we took the commuter train from Tarrytown to New York City. The ride to the city takes about an hour with stops at towns in Westchester county and the Bronx with familiar names – Irvington, Dobbs Ferry, Hastings-on-Hudson, Glenwood, Yonkers, Riverdale, Spuyten Duyvill, University Heights, Yankee Stadium – before the final stop at Grand Central Station.



Here we are after getting off the train from Tarrytown. This is the iconic Grand Central Station.


We walked out to the street and found a bite to eat from one of the food vendors.

 

The walk from Grand Central to Central Park takes us through mid-town Manhattan. During the day the streets are filled with workers, pedestrians and visitors. It’s takes about 30 minutes to walk the mile to the park.


This is a popular section of Central Park known as Bethesda Terrace.

Here we have two locals having a chess match in Central Park

 


Across ftom Central Park is the Time Warner Building with its impressive window that looks out over Columbus Circle.

Walking a short distance south let us view the golden statue that adorns Rockefeller Center.

 

A cab ride to westside Manhattan took us to Hudson Yards.


Edge Building at Hudson Yard district

We enjoyed a fantastic dinner in the newer Hudson Yard district. This area is close to train yards and was recently redeveloped for residential, office and commercial use.

Afterwards we hopped on the subway to Grand Central and then the commuter train back to Tarrytown.

 
 

The next day we wanted to take in some culture. So it was a car ride into NYC to visit the MET – Metropolitan Museum of Art – which is adjacent to Central Park.


We drove to the city to visit to the MET – the well-known Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Here we see a wall sized artwork on Washington and soldiers crossing the Delaware.

 

One last visit before the long drive back to Michigan. We wanted to visit New Rochelle , the city where I grew up.


This is the house in New Rochelle where we lived for many years. We wanted to see how much it has changed since we lived there.

So then we’re on our way home with this sticker on the car.

 

It was a short visit to New York but our granddaughter finally was able to see some of the sites that we have told her about over the years.

Written by:

Arnie Lee