Every Kid's Dream!: Day Eleven: New York Snowed Under

Today began with a rush to open the blind to see what had happened overnight. We were amazed to see how much snow had fallen! Apparently there were record falls here, a foot of snow in the city and up to 19 inches in New Jersey. The kids were really impressed to see it all. Snow plows were going up and down Broadway and people were out on the sidewalks madly shovelling snow. There were caution tapes around a lot of buildings as snow was falling off buildings and crashing to the ground!

We had a phone call from our new friend Chafin to move to plan B for today. He told us to hop on the subway and go one stop past Wall St to the Clark St stop. We were headed to Brooklyn! We easily managed to get there and waited for Chafin. He took us for a walk through Brooklyn Heights and it was simply stunning. The beautiful old buildings and trees covered in snow were realloy something to look at. Then he took us down to the promenade and we looked out over the East River for an incredible view back into Manhattan and over to the Statue of Liberty.

We were then treated to another surprise, and something Chafin isn't allowed to do. He got us onto a bus and we headed through downtown Brooklyn and to his apartment. We were stunned with the view from his 18th floor apartment. He looks right out over Manhattan on one side and over Brooklyn the other. He had an incredible view of what happened on 9/11 and saw everything happen right out his window. It must have been a shocking day for him and his wife. We were also privileged to meet his lovely wife. She is a beautiful lady. In her young days she looked just like Michele Obama (he showed us photos of them in the 1960s). Sadly she is in a wheelchair and can barely do anything for herself anymore due to crippling arthritis. But she was a delight to meet. She's clearly very proud of her husband. Chafin also showed us the award he won in 2005 for Greeter of the Year. It's a beautiful piece from Tiffany in the shape of an apple.

Chafin then took us to the subway station and gave me directions on how to get to the Rockefeller Centre. A quick hug and a kiss and we were on our own!

We caught one train, then switched to another, switched to another and then another and managed to get our way to the right stop. Then the fun started as we tried to work out which way to go to get to the Nintendo Store. Eventually we found it with help from some friendly locals. The Nintendo store in NY is the only one in the world and it's awesome! The kids had so much fun there. You can play DS games, play Wii games and there are merchandise and games galore! The kids started going through the store and all I heard from Sofie was "oh my god! look at this!" over and over.... The kids ended up with a shopping basket each and they filled them both... I very nearly passed out when we checked out and the total was $550!! Eek!

So we left there loaded with bags, went downstairs to the Rockefeller Centre and found the bathrooms, and then tried to figure out which way Times Square was. It's very easy to get turned about in NYC, but we figured out the way to go and when the neon became more prominent we knew we were headed the right way.

We stopped in a little souvenir shop to get Joe his Statue of Liberty, and he also found a mask of the same. It's actually kind of scary to look at! We also picked up a new suitcase because our arms were tired from carrying around the Nintendo stuff and I knew it wouldn't fit in the bags we had.

We were headed to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch, but it was on the other side of the road. By this stage we were walking in soaked shoes from getting around all the slush on the ground and the prospect of walking through more slush was too much for Sofie, so we went into Planet Hollywood instead. The kids enjoyed all the props and costumes there and were really excited that we were sitting at the booth in front of the Star Wars display.

So we then realised it was 4.15pm and we'd done hardly anything! And the kids feet were freezing off. So we stopped in a couple of stores and grabbed some boots, and hit the subway to get back home so we could rest before our night at The Lion King.

On the way back to the hotel, I fell ass over, and I am typing this with wet knees... I hope noone notices tonight! I've done no clothes shopping yet, so all I have are these jeans!! There will be no classy people in our group tonight on Broadway....

Anyway - have to run and get myself cleaned up. here are the pics from today!!