The LONG Way Around the World: New York City - We're Country Mice, not City Mice

How do you travel the world without a stint in New York City? Without fail, when we spoke with folks around the world, if they were fortunate to make it to the states, it was almost undoubtedly to see the Big Apple. Our last visit to NYC was before Autumn and Zane could cement their memories of this unique and vibrant town, so we figured we had to spend some quality time there to compare and contrast with the marquee cities around the world. As we have come to expect, our children (it's entirely our fault), are not city folk. We packed our six days with as much as the mercurial weather would allow (felt more like late winter than early summer). Without going in to much detail, I'll use the photos to tell the story (and delve a little deeper in to things that really left an impression). [Autumn took most of these shots]

Before I hit the pics, I wanted to touch on our accommodations. Traveling for an entire year with zero income requires a combination of frugality, budgeting, and a strong will to stick to the plan. Our plan set a target of less than $150/nt for accommodations. While it varied from country to country, city to city, by in large we always managed to find at least a two bedroom apartment within a convenient distance to the main attractions. We generally avoided hotels as they don't have the space to relax or prepare a home cooked meal (another cost savings strategy). We knew New York would pose a particular threat to our housing goal seeing as it is the most expensive place on the planet to live. Our paltry goal of $150/nt was laughably out of wack and through an exhaustive search, we had to nearly double our target and settle on a quaint place in Brighton Beach - the outer, outer, outskirts of Brooklyn. We found ourselves in an old brownstone with a curious funhouse effect with floors noticeably slanted inward like a 30yr old mattress that has lost it's will to live. The neighborhood was eclectic, and we certainly didn't doddle between the apartment and the subway (a 15 minute walk).

Second floor penthouse suite

> The Subway - We spent a significant amount of time on the Subway. It's a bit worn out, but at least it is effective, ubiquitous, and relatively cheap (cheaper than $50 uber rides!).

Our stop, Brighton Beach. I loved the peeling paint revealing the years and years of wear and tear.

The wall tile work is really great - assuming you can imagine what it would be like behind the grime.

> Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges - In the rain...

Autumn having a little fun in post production.

> Staten Island Ferry - If you're too late to book the actual tour of Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, the Staten Island Ferry becomes the poor man's alternative.

Nine years ago, we still "missed the boat" and took the same free ferry ride.

> The Girl and the Bull

A sign of the times. Nine years ago and this place was nearly empty

> 9/11 Memorial - This was such a moving place to visit. The respect and reverence that every patron paid to the fallen heroes and innocent victims was overwhelming. It was hard not to be immediately taken back to the moment we first heard of the terrible attack and relive the anxiety and grief of the moment. The museum is so incredibly well done. Even the kids felt the weight of this day and left speechless.

Cool building next to the Freedom Tower

> Manhattan - Spent the day just going from Downtown up to Times Square. We popped in and out of the Subway and hit the highlights.

Wonderful lunch hosted by a Hawaiian neighbor friend of my parents. (Also feeling the anxiety of the current eruption in Leilani Estates)

Do (Pronounced "Dough") - an "ice cream" shop that sold a dozen flavors of raw cookie dough. It was a bit much for my taste, but Autumn was in heaven. Only in America!

Autumn asked the security guard: "Is Walter Hobbs in?". The guard casually replied with a modest smile, "I'm afraid he is in a bad mood today and doesn't want to see anyone."

Couldn't resist re-enacting a movie moment on the nation's only wooden escalator (in Macy's)

Time Square

Just a typical street scene Autumn caught.

We sat on the steps above the ticket booth for a good 30 minutes just taking it all in. Among-st the hustle and bustle, there was a touching moment of a wedding proposal that inspired a round of applause by the crowd.

Upper left - The street carts are delicious, Upper Right - Nicole's favorite late night show.

Central Station is a hive of activity.

> Chores - Sometimes the Brooklyn Laundromat is the only solution...

> Museum of Natural History - Zane recently saw "Night at the Museum" so we had to spend a day wandering around this icon of a museum.

So here's the thing, when you have just completed a trip around the world seeing most of the exhibits in real life, it was hard to get excited about most of this museum. I mean, geez, we actually stood on ostrich eggs and rode on the birds. We were within 10 feet of actual warthogs in the Ngorongoro Crater. This diorama was...underwhelming.

> Central Park in the rain - We visited the Museum because it was raining most of the day. We had a pause in the weather to walk through the park to have dinner and dessert at "Milk" before taking the long journey back home.

Autumn hid a little gift under the rock she is standing on (Lower Left pic) for a friend that is visiting Manhattan later this month. Hopefully it won't sprout legs and wander off. The clouds made for a really cool effect of the tall buildings getting lost to the distance.

Milk Bar - A small confectionery made famous for it's affiliation with Momofuku (A David Chang restaurant), and it's signature soft serve ice cream, Cereal Milk. Didn't much care for the Cereal Milk, but the Crack Pie was yummy.

> Coney Island - We were fortunate to steal a day of great weather (we thought it was going to rain all day) and hung out on the beach and riding some rides. This was a boys adventure as Nicole and Autumn ventured off to the Bronx for a street hip hop class. It was crazy how similar Coney Island was to our Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. BTW, the Famous Nathan's Hot Dogs were underwhelming. They snapped when bitten, which was off-putting to Bryce.

What started out as a sand castle morphed in to a beach chair.

> Bronx Hip Hop - Nicole and Autumn couldn't pass up an opportunity to take a Hip Hop dance class in the birthplace of Hip Hop, the Bronx.

They also walked a bit to see some great street art.

Their instructor... Wiildkard.

> Jamba Juice - Only notable because Autumn finally got her first Strawberry Surfrider in a year. It really is a great and refreshing beverage.

> Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) - Our primary goal was to see the "other" Starry Night. We saw the "happy" version in the d'Orsay in Paris, and New York has the "solemn" version he painted after he was institutionalized. Ask me a year ago, and I probably wouldn't have had much opinion about famous artists, but having visited our fair share of museums and seen some masterpieces, Van Gogh is definitely at the top of my list. Apart from the wonderful collection of impressionist paintings, MoMAs are a bit of fun for our family as we tend to take a very cynical approach to the art, questioning why certain things find their way on to the walls and hanging from the ceilings. It's the only kind of art where we might be one nervous breakdown away from accidentally creating a masterpiece.

This was a particularly curious "work of art". It's a snow shovel hanging from the ceiling with fishing line. I had no idea that we had a whole collection of masterpieces in our garage in Serene Lakes.

I think I could make this. I wouldn't want to, but I'm pretty sure I could make it.

A giant empty wall to hang two clippings in Target quality frames.

The smaller frame housed a post it note advertisement for a Cat Sitter. Hmmmmm, art?

We're not sure if the movers accidentally left this box behind, and it became art.

> Rockefeller Park & Brooklyn Bridge Park - We had had enough hustle and bustle and opted to visit a couple of parks to round out our NYC adventure.

Rockefeller Park (near the Freedom Tower) has really cute bronze figures everywhere.

Sometimes a simple game of catch is all you need. City folk sure love their patches of grass. Even during a normal workday, there were plenty of people soaking up the rays.