USA East Coast

New York 2

May 2012

New York, New Yooooooooork!

Times Square

The neighborhood where it's daylight in the middle of the night! Wherever you go in New York, you feel like you're in a movie. Even more so in Times Square.

We're there by 8 a.m. and take our time lounging around Times Square, sitting on the famous red steps of TKTS (that's where you buy last-minute show tickets), sipping American coffee (no espresso???) and tasting the famous chocolate donuts.

So much fun: Mag and the kids get to be stars on the big screen. A camera films the square and the footage is projected live onto the front of a building! It turns out it's actually a game. New Yorkers sign up on Facebook and then come play in the square with a virtual ball. In the middle of the day, there can be 50 people watching their feats on the big screen, jumping in the air to keep that famous virtual ball from touching the ground.
It's impressive. That's American marketing for you, too.

And then we walk, and walk some more. "I'm sick of it! Every day we get up, we eat breakfast, we shower and then we walk all day long!" says Alice, who has also crowned herself the expert limo spotter: "A white limo! A black limo!"

It's true, Manhattan is big. Subway, taxi, walking — it wears out the grown-ups, and the brave kids even more! Honestly, we're proud of them!
To "reward" them for all the long walks around the Big Apple, we step into the temple of consumerism for bambinos: the Toys"R"Us store.
Here we find 4 floors devoted to the world of toys. A gigantic store. Of course — this is the US.
A Ferris wheel towers in the middle of the store. Price: $5.
Then we turn into truly responsible parents (yes, it does happen).
"Alex, Juju, Alice, you've each got $5 in your pocket. You choose! A toy or a ride."
The 2 girls jump into a gondola. Alex spends 30 minutes hunting for a bargain. A motorcycle originally priced at $15, marked down to $5. Yay! That's my boy :)!
Outside, Disney characters liven up Times Square. They're not store employees, just ordinary New Yorkers working inside their costumes in 86°F heat...
In NYC, everything costs money. A photo... That's $1. It works once and it's fun. The kids will learn to say "No, thanks!" next time.

Next stop, the M&M'S store, a huge world entirely devoted to the little chocolate-coated peanut. In front of the dispensers, we don't have time to hold the kids back.
Hey kids, you're not allowed, you have to pay! Too late — they turn around with their cheeks stuffed like chipmunks!
Here again, there's no business like show business, American-style. Music cranked all the way up, the employees dance with the customers!
The truth is, you spend 3 days in NYC and you go home to France all fired up to work your tail off.
It's impressive. That's American business for you, too.

Brooklyn Bridge

We take the (super safe) subway to the foot of the famous bridge, on the Brooklyn side.
We cross the Brooklyn Bridge on foot (1.2 miles, after all!) or piggyback (on Mag, for Alice...!)
We're on one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States, opened to traffic in 1883.
Its architect died on the job only a few days after construction began. His son saw the project through. American family!
A quick physics lesson on forces for the kids. I hope they understood something...
The view of Manhattan is breathtaking. We walk on the pedestrian part of the bridge, above the traffic lanes.

Live TV Show and Rockefeller Center

We head out on foot at 8:00, and 2 blocks from our apartment we stumble onto All American Summer, a Fox TV show being shot right in the street.
Here they shoot early in the morning too, and to draw a crowd they hand out free, all-you-can-eat grilled ribs, rice and red beans, with neon-pink sodas.
And it works!
The line is looooong, really looooooooong! Dozens of New Yorkers are digging into this lunch... Uh... this breakfast. It's true, it's 8 a.m.!
A chance for Alex to pose for photos with some NYPD officers!
We walk to Rockefeller Center, a commercial complex built by the Rockefeller family, made up of nineteen buildings full of shops and theaters, whose fame — like that of Radio City Music Hall — has spread far beyond the city and the country.
On the roof of the GE Building is a panoramic floor, the Top of the Rock, built in 1933. On the 70th floor is the observation deck that towers over the city and offers a 360° panoramic view of New York.
Once again, the view is spectacular.

After lunch at Carmine's (a giant salad and a huge bowl of pasta), we head back to "rest" at the apartment. Except we don't rest! The kids turn the apartment upside down. They're all wound up, waiting to see the big New York Mets baseball game!