We drove around seeing what there was around Buffalo. We stopped at a Farmer’s Market in Clarence and picked up some buttermilk biscuits. We also explored Antique World, which was advertised at Western New York’s largest antique/flea market. There were a few indoor buildings, but most of the booths were located outside. We had fun looking, but didn’t buy anything.
After driving around downtown Buffalo and seeing some sites, we decided to stop in at Hofbrauhaus for lunch.
It was pretty empty while we were there, but everyone was nice and service was fast. They had live music going on, which is always nice. We tried the currywurst, schlachtplatte, and of course the large pretzel with beer cheese.
Our waitress Jordan was nice to talk to and we discovered she is saving with the hopes of traveling the US too!
Someone recommended the Anchor Bar as a place to try while near Buffalo, as it is the home of the original chicken wings.
After riding Maid of the Mist and walking to see Horseshoe Falls, we were hungry and there just happened to be an Anchor Bar nearby. Of course we needed to go, as Will loves chicken wings!
We got a few different items to share: wings, burger and fries, and a salad.
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The food was really good and Will loved the wings.
We did have to wait quite awhile for a hostess to come to the stand and for our food to arrive. It wasn’t that busy and they seem adequately staffed. It could have been because this location was located at a local hotel.
One of the things that had been on Ben’s bucket list, was to ride the Maid of the Mist. He has wanted to ride it since he saw then on a trip to Niagara Falls when he was a kid.
We bought our tickets online the night before and headed over the Niagara Falls State Park when Ben was done with work. The ride lasts about 20 minutes, so even though there was a line, we didn’t have to wait long.
It was a pretty warm out, so we didn’t wear the poncho (per the recommendation of the staff). We did get wet, but it felt nice in the sun. We saw a couple of rainbows in the mist. The American Falls were easy to see from the boat and to get some pictures. The Horseshoe Falls had a lot of mist! If you wear glasses/contacts, I would wear contacts if you go so you can see better. I had my glasses on and they quickly became hard to see out of.
The boat did have speakers, but we couldn’t hear any of the recorded message being played.
Canada still had its borders closed, so we didn’t get to walk over the bridge to see the Falls from their perspective. I bet they are pretty amazing from there, although they were still great from the US side.
After the boat ride, we walked over to Goat Island and and saw the Horseshoe Falls from the top.
We stopped at Junior’s for a late lunch. They had several locations around the city, but we ate at the 45th St. location near Times Square.
We had a nice seat on the outdoor patio and an amazing waiter. We ordered the Something Else, a Ruben sandwich, and the Brownie and Strawberry Cake Shakes.
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We ate dessert first. The Cake Shakes were huge and we all shared them. Our waiter brought out plates, so we took the cheesecake off of the shake glass to eat. Everything was so good. The other cheesecakes on the menu looked amazing as well. Our sandwiches were also good. The Ruben was a big surprise because we are not normally Ruben lovers. However, our waiter recommended it so we gave it a try. It was the best sandwich we had eaten in a while! Their dressing on the side was delicious and really brightened up the sandwich.
If you have a chance to stop at Junior’s, try their cheesecake and a Ruben!
We spent a couple of hours walking around Central Park. It is so much bigger than I thought it would be. It is 843 acres! There are several bridges, a playground, a zoo, a fountain, a lake, and a castle. We didn’t even see all of it. If we had more time, we would have taken the Blue Line bus tour around the park to hear all of the different tidbits about it.
We didn’t really have a plan in mind, just wandered through the park enjoying the beautiful weather.
There was a large open field in the park where we saw people throwing the Frisbee, picnicking, reading, and sunbathing. We saw a lot of Speedos.
Ben brought us to Belvedere Castle and Turtle Pond. Nick enjoyed seeing all the turtles; they were swimming and lounging on the rocks. Belvedere Castle was open, but there was really only one room open. The stairs to go up were closed off.
It was an amazing park in the middle of a huge city.
One of the best ways we spent our money in New York was the Big Bus hop on/hop off tickets (we bought the Classic ticket). It was a double-decker bus (open air on the top). The tour was prerecorded, but they gave you headphones that you plugged in to the bus. You also had some volume control. This worked out great for me because I sometimes have trouble hearing on the tours.
The tour bus has an app where you can track where the buses currently are, so you can find one to hop onto. There is a red line and a blue line. The blue line really only circles Central Park, while the Red line goes through different spots in the city. Their audio portion contains a lot of fun facts and trivia about the sights along the way.
During our trip, the Red Line had stops at the Empire State Building/Korea Town, SoHo, Chinatown/Little Italy, Brooklyn Bridge, Statue of Liberty/Battery Park, Circle Line Sightseeing, and M&M World (Times Square). The Blue Line stopped at Times Square.
The experience of sitting on the top floor of the bus was really neat. We had to duck under a few trees, could (but didn’t) touch the stop lights as we drove under them, and had a good view of things near street level (we could see over the other cars).
Views of the High Line (old railroad track made into walking path), Little IslandWall Street, Chinatown, library (Ghost Busters was here), Flat Iron Building), Empire State Building
DETAILS:*
TICKETS: $47.20/adults online price ($59 on-street), $39.20/child online ($49 on-street) (ages 3-12). COVID Restrictions: masks required. They have a few options, these prices were for the Classic Ticket.
HOURS: Red Line: first bus is at 9:30 am at the M&M stop, last bus 4:30 pm at the M&M stop. Blue Line had stops at 10:00 am, 12:00 pm, and 2:00.
PARKING: No
BATHROOM: No
TIME RECOMMENDED: Min 90 tour per line (tour time without getting off)
*Details correct at the time of posting, but please double check before you go.
Once we got off the ferry at the Brookfield terminal, we walked around New York City to see some of the sites before our tour bus was due down at Battery Park.
We stopped by the 9/11 memorial. The area was gated off and the museum wasn’t open yet for the day. We could still see the fountains/pools that were made in the footprints of the towers. Ben and I both remember hearing the live broadcasts over the radio. The boys have learned about it in school, but it is something else to see it in person.
We walked to see Wall Street and the Charging Bull statue. There was only 1 other person there, so we didn’t have to wait in line long at all. I will say the backside of the bull had some very shiny parts.
We made our way down to Battery Park and got to see the Statue of Liberty! Ben and I saw it on the ferry coming in (the boys had fallen asleep), but we still enjoyed seeing it. We did not take the ferry over to the Statue of Liberty island, as you could not walk up to the crown (COVID restrictions). NOTE: Currently, the ferry is only available from the New York side at Battery Park. The New Jersey terminal should open May 29.
Will liked seeing Castle Clinton, although it seems like this battery is now used mostly for tickets to the Statue of Liberty. There were not a lot of informational signs available, as the only two we saw were hidden behind construction items. It looks like they are doing renovations. The restrooms were open, which were a big plus as many others were closed (COVID).
Battery Park had some nice green space and a fun looking carousel (Seaglass Carousel). There was a Starbucks across the street, so we got a coffee and a bagel to enjoy while we waited for our bus tour.
Later in the day, we visited Times Square and explored the M&M Store. Nick found a pressed penny machine and added two new ones to his collection. Will got a large warm pretzel from a street food vendor. The Krispy Kreme had the Hot Now light on, so we stopped in to get a warm donut. There was a little bit of a line, but it moved pretty fast. We got to see the donuts getting glazed on the conveyor belt. There was one cool looking donut, The Big Apple, but it was $11.99! The kids loved being able to finally try the hot glazed donuts (it only took us 10 months to have the right timing!).
At the end of the day, we had over 25,300 steps from walking. We were all exhausted, tired, and sore. The city was incredibly empty compared to what it used to be. It did get a little busier in the afternoon, but was still really down from what the city was pre-COVID. It did make for easier sightseeing though.
While we were in Pennsylvania, Ben really wanted to show the kids New York City. The city had just recently opened back up from COVID travel restrictions. We were worried about traffic and parking in NYC, so we parked in New Jersey and took the ferry over. We woke up about 4:30 am for the almost 2 hour drive to the ferry station. We wanted to get on one of the first ferries and make the most of our day in New York.
We bought our ferry tickets online and had our route all planned out. (It was as $104 for all of us. It was $52 each way.) We were boarding at Port Imperial (NJ) and debarking at Pier 11/Wall Street (NY) to see the Statue of Liberty and Battery Park.
The ferry station had a screen showing what slip each stop’s ferry would be in. However, after not seeing the boat move or anyone going to our slip, I asked one of employees and discovered that Pier 11 was not running due to COVID. We took the ferry to the next closest stop to Brookfield Place. The ferry was pretty empty, as it was 7:30 am.
You have to be at the ferry slip on time, probably a little early to catch the ferry. They move fast! They dock, unload, reload, and they are off again. There is no waiting around.
The ferry was a little bouncy going through the river, but the boys managed to fall asleep on the half hour ride.
There is an app to buy and show your tickets, or you can buy at the ferry terminals. However, as we discovered, the app was not updated with locations being closed due to COVID.
