Hayden Planatarium

Saturday July 18, 2009
We wake up with sore feet and nearly empty wallets, but we know that there was so much in New York we did not see. Myles is very sad not to have seen the Planetarium, which Mama had promised, so we load back up and head back to the Big Apple! Today is Saturday so the traffic is more mellow. Logan elects to stay behind with Nana so it is a smaller party who journeys to Central Park West. But first we journey all the way to Battery Park to see the Statue of Liberty, from afar, and to drive by Ground Zero. We get snagged by NYPD for parking (with about 20 other cars) in a very poorly marked transit zone. But it is almost worth it. The Battery area has been transformed into a real park and NY has a definite West Coast vibe as tons of families are out enjoying the beautiful day. Flowers, fountains, and grass have transformed the area. We note that the line for visiting the Statue is at least as long as the one for the Empire State Building. It was just re-opened for visiting July 4th after 9/11. We head uptown past Ground Zero and toward Central Park. The van proves to be a problem here again, since we find no surface parking except on the street. After almost an hour of crusing the streets, Kim elects to stay outside and feed the parking meter which requires tending hourly. The kids and Mama head into the museum and while it is crowded we enjoy the exhibits. The Planetarium was still great and we all agreed that the Powers of 10 exhibit was the best. The teenagers cover more ground and see lots of the Museum of Natural History. We return to the car after 3+ hours to find that Kim has had an excellent afternoon browsing the shops on 79th street and sipping iced coffee while feeding the meter. We are all happy and pretty tired and we wave good bye to NYC and head back for our last night at Nana’s.