Midtown Manhattan

With five travelers in my flight group (me, a mother named Lisa, her daughter Alyssa, and two students named Alexa and Jaci), we decided to take advantage of our 8.5 hour layover in Newark by taking a shuttle to Midtown Manhattan so we could see the sights for a few hours.

Thanks to my good friend and trusty substitute teacher, Marijo Hennagin-Mazur, a former Manhattan resident, we had a clear itinerary to follow that allowed us to make the most of our short time there. I don't have a lot of time (the tour continues and I am behind on blogging), so here's a quick list of all we saw and a few pictures:

• NYC skyline

• Grand Central Station

• New York City Public Library

I loved this library and especially this Great Reading Room on the 3rd floor.

• Fifth Avenue

Notice how the old blends with the new, the religious blends with the profane.

• Rockefeller Plaza

• St. Patrick's Cathedral

Important Note: The weather was beautiful for this fast visit to Manhattan. 

And, there was a wedding going on at the cathedral while we visited it.

• Bryant Park

This are my travel companions (L to R): Lisa, Alyssa, Jaci, and Alexa

(My fifth traveler, Thaïs, flew with another group, so missed seeing NYC with us)

• Broadway (alas, no picture for these last two --- I hate pictures from bus windows)
• Times Square

We stopped at a typical New York "by-the-slice" pizzeria for lunch. The pizza and a soda cost less than $5.00 and it was delicious! The girls were stunned by how goos the pizza tasted and how large the portion was. I think I've ruined them for Mazzio's for life. (Mission Accomplished)

That's pretty good for just a four-hour visit! The return to Newark and the flight thereafter was all very smooth. The Adventure has begun.