New York, New York!

Not our first time in NYC, but our first time as a family in NYC! JC,Nino & Euan.

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Just moving #ireland down in to the warmer waters of the #caribbean, pretty sure no-one will notice as long as my socks distract them. #world #map #fromwhereistand (at Islandbridge)

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Happy 1st birthdayEuan! Thanks to everyone that came to his party-weekend. Especially Uncle Craig who's really old (he turned 40yrs) :^) (at St Stephen's Green)

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#skydeck #willistower #searstower #chicago #igerschicago #il #usa #fromwhereistand repost with correct height this time: 1,451ft (442m) once the tallest in the world, now 7th tallest. (at Skydeck Chicago)

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Looking down from the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. #skydeck #chicago #igerschicago #willistower #usa #fromwhereistand (at Skydeck Chicago)

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Looking down from the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. #skydeck #chicago #igerschicago #willistower #usa #fromwhereistand (at Skydeck Chicago)

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#airplane #airport #frankfurt #FRA #sunset #ANA #fromwhereitravel #fromwhereifly (at Frankfurt Airport Leisure Zone)

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Don’t know if this idea is clever or simply unappetizing…

“Anti-Theft Lunch Bags are zipper bags that have green splotches printed on both sides, making your freshly prepared lunch look spoiled. Don’t let a sticky-fingered coworker or schoolyard bully get away with lunch theft again!”

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Time Up New York (Taken with Instagram at JFK->DUB)

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Day 11: One belongs to New York instantly, one belongs to it as much in five minutes as in five years. Thomas Wolfe

Time Up New York.

Squeezed out our last hours with what we liked best, breakfast from Gregory’s Coffee, walks in mid-town and picnic from Le Pain Quotidien in Bryant Park. Meet the birds, giant Jenga, accordion by a random lady, boules, humongous table football. Need I say more…?

Walked over the Grand Central Station for one last fix, nice bookstore and great bakeries, maybe next time we’ll get that triple layer chocolate cheesecake.

What we need to do next time: - Governor’s Island & boat tour to Statue of Liberty - Pack fully for the current season as all stores have next season stuff (thanks NY but we didn’t need to buy a sweater yet) - More picnics in the park - Explore Brooklyn & other areas around NYC - Spend more time at the Met Museum of Art & revisit The High Line - Hug a New Yorker

thanks NY’ers you were the right blend of ‘super friendly’ and ‘completely bonkers’. We love NY.

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Day 10: oh man! wonder if he'll ever know, he's in the best selling show,

As our vacation draws to a close, our pace slows right down to savour every minute possible! Also, we’re completely pooped and the sun and searing heat is taking its toll on our pale N. European skin.

So, we head out to catch a bus on Madison Ave. up towards 67th St. Our bus driver was a rude ignorant bitter old man, thanks #MTA but to be fair he was outweighed by the nice New Yorkers on the bus and the other two nice bus drivers we came across so, forgettaboutit.

Walked across from Madison to Central Park Zoo. It’s a great zoo but quite small. It was good for us to spend a few hours but it might be worth checking out The Bronx or Queens if you need a full-on zoo fix. The pengiun/ puffin section was nice to cool down from the summer heat (thanks for the tip nice New Yorker Lady) and look for discount coupons online (we found 20% easily).

Walked out of Central Park and couldn’t resist another visit to FAO Schwarz, such a great toy store. Refuelled by the fruit, iced coffee and cheesecake flavoured iced yoghurt we headed to the ‘Big’ piano and toys upstairs for a while. Then we saw the biggest Gummy Bear in the world. A major lifetime achievement.

Monday night is Film Fest Night in Bryant Park so after stopping in St Patrick’s Cathedral we headed down to soak in the atmosphere. Finally retiring to a Qdoba take-out (Chipotle had a long queue), we battled with NBC to catch some Olympics coverage and realised that today NASA landed an unmanned rover on Mars. Two major achievements in one day!

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There are roughly three New Yorks. There is, first, the New York of the man or woman who was born here, who takes the city for granted and accepts its size and its turbulence as natural and inevitable. Second, there is the New York of the commuter — the city that is devoured by locusts each day and spat out each night. Third, there is the New York of the person who was born somewhere else and came to New York in quest of something. […] Commuters give the city its tidal restlessness; natives give it solidity and continuity; but the settlers give it passion.

E.B. White, Here is New York

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Day 9: when you get caught between the moon and New York city..

Lazy Sunday spent wandering the stores for gifts, avoiding the searing heat and trying o locate a nice bar to watch the Athletics at the London Olympics.

Enjoyed a mojito in the Sheraton bar whilst Euan discovered a new combination of standing on a couch and flirting with other bar goers.

Braved the Times Sq. crowd to get to Toys-R-Us, manic. Iced coffee and iced chai from Gregory’s soon cured the stress.

Had a nice meal in the Mansfield Hotel Bar, overall a lazy smooth Sunday.

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Great bakery/ cafe with killer chocolate brownies and fig & ricotta tartine.

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Lunch time #giant #jenga #nyc #ny #manhattan (Taken with Instagram at Bryant Park)

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in love with the buildings but not necessarily what they stand for (bank wealth). #buildingporn #cloudporn #nyc #ny #boa #bryantpark (Taken with Instagram at Bryant Park)

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#bryantpark #filmfest #nyc #ny #euancormac #monday (Taken with Instagram at Bryant Park)

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:-) #faoschwarz #toystore (Taken with Instagram at FAO Schwarz)