Snippets of…New York City

My son asks to visit the Statue of Liberty almost daily. So I set out to do a little research and found some great information here. Highlights include that there is a height requirement and tickets are usually bought six months in advance. Nothing worst than planning a visit, telling your child they will get to see a place they have been excited about and then they aren’t tall enough!

Until we can make it to see Lady Liberty, here are a few places we love to visit, when in the city:

Eat:

Capizzi Pizza in Hell’s Kitchen -They are great with the kids, it has that old school charm you rarely find in NYC anymore and the food is great!

Depending on the time of year, Madison Square Eats is amazing. It’s a month long pop up of some of the best restaurants in Manhattan and Brooklyn, all in one little food court of sorts. You can try a bunch of food or focus on one place, but everyone can get what they want, no wait for a table and it’s completely kid friendly. If you are only in NYC for a few days, this is the best way to try a bunch of places at once.

Burger Joint inside the Parker Meridien Hotel. It’s like down a dark hall, behind a curtain and it’s one of the best burgers around. Forget Shake Shack. This is better. It’s on the West side, so plan your visit after the Museum of Natural History.

Play:

Just across from Madison Square Eats in the Flatiron District, we love the play ground in Madison Square Park. It’s a local kids playground, with a flood of kids right around the time school gets out, so go early. It’s not fancy and there’s nothing that makes it stand out, other than you feel, for a moment, like you are a local. You and your children will get a feeling of blending in. We always try live like a local when we travel, so this is a great place to do that.

Bryant Park – We wake up early and head there before anyone else is there. We grab some croissants, milk, fruit and coffee on the way and have a morning picnic. It’s quiet on the lawn and it’s usually empty, so we have the lawn to ourselves to run around on. There’s also an old school carousel there that’s completely charming. The wait is half the time of the one in Central Park and so much easier to get to.

Minetta Playground in the West Village. This is a great spot to stop if you’ve been walking around the West Village all morning (or want to let your child run off steam, then sleep in the stroller while you wander the neighborhood in the afternoon). It’s another local spot, well contained with a high gate around it and very shady. It’s close to Washington Square Park too, which is a great park.

Do:

We don’t visit New York without a visit to the American Museum of Natural History. It’s just so fun to see the wonderment on the faces of all the children. It’s easy to spend a few hours here. Younger children might not take it all in, but seven and up will love all of it. Things to know before going… Buy your ticket early, so you don’t have to wait in line. If you get there before they open the doors, you will be faced with like five different lines because no one knows where to line up. They open the revolving door first, so line up there and have your stroller already collapsed and ready to walk in when they unlock the doors.

MOMA- This museum is my favorite. I love just wandering through, getting so inspired from the art. They offer a great list of things to do with kids and families here.

 

Three things to do in NYC with kids in June:

  1. The Lincoln Center has some great kids events planned.
  2. Museum Mile Festival
  3. Hudson River Nature Walk

 

Semi-touristy, but classic places on our list to visit next time we are in the City:

  1. Roosevelt Island
  2. Statue of Liberty
  3. Walking the Brooklyn Bridge
  4. The High Line
  5. The New York City Public Library 
  6. Circle Line Cruise