A final NYC entry

We arrived in Philadelphia on Tuesday night. Before moving on to Philly in the blog, however, we need to “finish” NYC. On the last day, we went with Marc to the Met, the Guggenheim (thanks to Marc), and a playground in Central Park. After saying goodbye to Marc, who had to go to work, we went to Harlem and had lunch. Freezing, because the temperature had dropped all day, we did a little shopping (“The shoes!” Matt says.) and headed back to our car (with a new pair of shoes for Matt).


At the Met—with a nod to Maggie’s Rodin pose on Matt Mullaney’s blog. C liked this statue because it’s how we was feeling.

The Guggenheim—that’s E high above


The E train

The C train

I make this final entry about NYC really to say how much the kids enjoyed NYC. The last day was not the best day. In fact, it was one of harder emotional days of the trip—the weather turned cold after we’d left our coats behind; Calvin didn’t want to go to an art museum, and really didn’t want to go to two; Calvin and I, at least, were really down about leaving—but we still managed fun. Calvin was able to rally and enjoy the “arms and amor” in the Met and the architecture of the Guggenheim. Eleanor, who enjoys art museums generally anyway, was excited to eat yummy food for lunch. And, unlike her brother, found a way to enjoy a sandy playground without taking off her shoes (it’s an obstacle course—don’t touch the sand!). “How can other children SURVIVE this?” asked Calvin. He also cried, “I’m crying because we’re leaving New York and you won’t even let me take my shoes off!” I think it was more the former than the latter.

Toward the end of the day as we were walking down the sidewalk, Calvin said with a smile on his face, “Goodbye, New York. I’ll move back here when I’m a grown-up, if I can afford it.” With more immediate hopes of getting back to NYC, Eleanor asked if we could stay at our New Jersey Hampton again sometime in the future.