Pro: We have developed a morning routine that works well: the girls get ready while I fill out my expenses spreadsheet and tidy up, and then they go and line up for breakfast downstairs at the bakery while I get ready. Then we eat breakfast (juices, cappucino and croissants) in our room while we discuss the plans for the day, and then brush our teeth and head out to achieve activities on our long list!

Con: Belle wakes REALLY early and then I tell her to go back to sleep. Then I can’t get back to sleep, then Belle wakes again, and we both have to wait for Abi to wake up! Sleep is the one thing I would like more of.

Pro: the coffee downstairs is REALLY good, because the bakery is French, not American! And once I have that good real coffee in the morning, the day can happen without me having to think about it again or having to find good coffee somewhere in our travels.

Con: I’m tired from lack of sleep and we are all a little exhausted from all the steps each day! Belle’s knee locked up on her tonight and my knee aches from all the action, but Abi is holding up very well!

Belle is becoming a real New Yorker. She knows how to hail a cab, she asks taxi drivers how their day is going, and chats with tour operators. She also knows which way to look for oncoming traffic, and when to start crossing the road before the lights change. Our introverted baby is growing up! 😂

Our first event today was to visit the American Museum of Natural History, only a few blocks’ walk from our hotel. It did take us over half an hour to get in, but it was well worth visiting (especially since admission was included with my New York Pass).

From there we went down to Columbus Circle, and had lunch at the Whole Foods Market. Salads, sushi and a panini. We did some shopping in Williams-Sonoma (aside: they asked me to make a charitable donation to No Kids Hungry, which feeds at risk kids at school. I had read about this program and how students reliant on it suffered during Covid without it when schools were closed, and the Biden government made sure it returned, so was happy to donate, but they RANG A BELL and random STAFF MEMBERS CLAPPED WHEN THEY HEARD THE BELL. Abi and Belle thought it was hilarious, but I was so embarassed!) and then we walked to Carnegie Hall and two blocks further to Trump Tower. I couldn’t resist riding the gold escalator.

Returning to Fifth Avenue, we followed it back to Columbus Circle where we met our Central Park pedicab tour operator. That tour was an hour, informative and a good way to see part of the park. He took us to the Bethseda Fountain, Cherry Hill, Bow Bridge, Sheeps Meadow to name a few, and to not only Strawberry Fields and the Imagine memorial but also to the front door of John Lennon’s apartment building where he was shot by someone who had asked him to autograph a record for him five hours earlier 😢

We then returned to our hotel to change, walked back towards the Natural History Museum for dinner (Shake Shack again – Belle’s choice), and then hailed a taxi to take us downtown. We explored Hell’s Kitchen and Chelsea, and went on to the Flatiron District to visit the Harry Potter store. After spending some time examining all the paraphernalia and exhibits there, we shared a ButterBeer and wandered through Madison Square Park and up 5th Avenue to the Empire State Building. The sightseeing pass I purchased expires today so I booked a couple of extra activities on it to increase the value to us, one of which was visiting the Empire State Building at night. It was a good idea at 6.30 this morning, and we all enjoyed it, but we were yawning and ready to return to our hotel when we finished at the viewing platform!

It is now another night we are falling into bed after midnight, only because we were able to Facetime the boys at home. Belle has been desperate to video call because she misses…the dog 😉 Even Millie was in on the call! And we were able to congratulate Sam who was announced as a prefect for year 12 after we left, hear about Tim’s soccer game, and Zac gave me a tour of the laundry to update me on that. Laundry is one of very few reasons I am looking forward to leaving here – there is a laundry in our hotel at Anaheim, whereas here I would have had to use a laundry service on our block, but I haven’t had time with all our movements to book in a time for that!

After breakfast in our room from the French bakery downstairs again, we hailed a yellow cab over to the United Nations building, where we had booked a one hour tour starting at 10.45am. We had to be there at 9.45am to go through security, so had half an hour to wait between that process and the actual tour. That time was spent reviewing our NY itinerary which needs some revision now I’ve accepted the fact we are not going to fit everything in!

The tour was very interesting and informative. And it actually impressed us how much the United Nations has achieved since it’s inception in 1945. They have some ambitious goals that look difficult to achieve by 2030, but just the fact they have 193 member states that manage to agree on anything should be applauded!

After our tour we walked over to inspect the Chrysler Building, and then on to Grand Central Terminal, where we had lunch on their dining concourse and watched people running for their trains.

As that was right near Vanderbilt Ave, we followed the path up to Summit One, an observatory deck we planned to visit based on Facebook reviews. It cost $40pp to go up there! So we decided to move on to the Rockefeller Centre and FAO Schwarz toy store instead (where we purchased nothing but the girls did get to play the giant floor piano).

From there we visited Top of The Rock Observation Deck – also $40pp but free with my NY Pass. We may not do any other observation decks – it was fun to be up there, but because of the poor air quality, visibility wasn’t far anyway.

We then window shopped down 5th Avenue and walked on to the Disney Store, and a bookstore on W39th Street part-owned by Lin-Manuel Miranda. From there we caught a taxi back to our hotel to freshen up and change and get ready for our next musical! We returned to the Theatre District for a proper dinner at Applebee’s (steak and vegetables, and chicken salad!). Sitting at the table in the restaurant I realised it was probably the longest we had just sat, rested and chatted except for sleeping!! We then wandered two blocks over to the August Wilson Theatre to see ‘Funny Girl’, starring Lea Michele. She gave a great performance.

One thing that has amazed me at the theatres is the number of stairs and lack of obvious access for the disabled, and also the organisation of women during intermission to get them all in and out of the bathroom in time for the second half! In Sydney theatres you are on your own, but both nights here we have been ushered right up to the stall door!

After the show we walked up to Columbus Circle to have a look around, and caught a cab back to our hotel. We are pretty exhausted, so have decided not to book anything for tomorrow morning but just to have a leisurely day – Abi is in charge of what we will see so that she can choose the priorities for herself. This is her trip after all!