Some free/inexpensive things to do with kids in New York City this holiday season

NYC gets many tourists during the holiday season.

Some kid-friendly ideas for free inexpensive options:

Belvedere Castle in Central Park is a fun destination for kids.
– Do a walking tour of holiday windows
– Check out the Christmas Tree at Rockefeller Center
– Walk up the Highline from the Meatpacking district to Hudson Yards. The entrance is at Washington St and Gansevoort St.
– Go out to Queens and eat at the many inexpensive ethnic restaurants such as in Jackson Heights.
– Check out the view from the waterfront of Long Island City. It’s only one stop from Grand Central Terminal on the 7 train. There are some cool playgrounds in Gantry State Park also. Have a hot chocolate at Coffeed and then take the ferry back to Manhattan for the cost of a subway ride.
– Visit the Temple of Dendur at the Metropolitan Museum of Art which grants admittance with a suggested donation (you could pay what you want) or visit the Natural History Museum.

– There’s an indoor carousal in Battery Park City called SeaGlass Carousel
Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge

Riverside Drive

Riverside Drive is a scenic winding tree-laden street that goes from midtown Manhattan up the West side to the George Washington Bridge. It is not as fast as either of the highways can be with no traffic but we often drive down it because it is sooo much more pleasurable.

The most beautiful part of the thoroughfare is bounded by views of Riverside Park and the Hudson River to the West and several parks and the rich architecture of buildings on the Upper West Side, and Morning Side Heights to the East. The street meanders up and down and side to side and at times dividing and then coming back together.   Frederick Law Olmsted, arguably the pre-eminent landscape architect of his day, designed Riverside Park as well as Riverside Drive.

There are grand historic structures such as the towering neo-gothic Riverside Church, the tallest church in the United States with the largest tuned bell in the world in its carillon. John D. Rockefeller Jr was one of the original patrons. The Ulysses S. Grant National Monument, the victorious Civil War General and former President’s final resting place, is just across and one block South from the cathedral. Some of the buildings on the street are uniquely shaped to follow the outlines of their blocks, which are often curved to follow the street. We often see groups of cyclists riding here on the way to the George Washington Bridge and onward to the Palisades Park in New Jersey.
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The cool fresh air invigorates you as you walk among the fallen leaves piled up in the parks while the low winter sun backlights the trees displaying a mix of greens, orange, yellows and reds. A rainbow colored school bus was parked on the street and it just added to the vibrancy of the scene.
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Riverside Church

There are stately townhouses and brownstones on the side streets especially as you get closer to midtown. Not all is idyllic however. There are often stark contrasts one sees in the city. On one corner we noticed a French Chateau-style home similar to something the Vanderbilt family may have built in another era albeit a fraction of the size. In front of it was a shopping cart filled with black garbage bags waiting to be collected by its owner. It reminded me of a homeless lady I used to see in Hells Kitchen who had all of her possessions in shopping carts. A wealthy homeowner lives in close proximity to the destitute. As we pass by, we are reminded of the range of different lives lived here and know that it also has everything in between.

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A Tale of Two Cities

By Grant’s Tomb there are multiple large cannons and 400ft of colorful tile-covered seating areas for rest and, in our case, contemplation. The first one states “City Arts” and dates from the early 1970s.  Who put this here I wondered. What do the various whimsical scenes mean? I later found out CityArts was a non-profit organization that had put up murals and mosaics throughout the city and had restored these curving benches not too long ago. Known as the “Rolling Bench,” it was claimed to be the at-the-time largest public works project in the nation. Neo-classical historic monuments combined with modern public art in a meticulously planned urban park that doesn’t seem to be frequented by many tourists yet is accessible to all New Yorkers. It makes you feel better just traversing through it.

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Grant’s Tomb
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“Rolling Bench”

Hello World!

Today is Black Friday 2017!  I, like many others shopping for gifts today, bought myself something.  It happens to be a domain name.  And this is my blog.

But why should I have a blog?  Why not? Many others do.  And I want to try something new.

So the name of this blog is Gotham Bon Vivant.  Living the good life in the big city.

Why Gotham?  Because I was born and raised in New York City.  And I don’t like it here.  I LOVE it!  And I believe one can live a good life here and it doesn’t need to cost a fortune. But New York City is SO expensive.  It certainly can be.  Money can easily be spent here. But one of the things I would like to show is that one can live here well without spending a lot of money.

Now one may ask, how could someone who has lived in NYC all his life know what the good life is?  Luckily for you, dear reader, I was an avid traveler for many years.  I worked and studied in other American cities, as well as abroad, and had the opportunity to travel to many cities in the US, Europe, the Caribbean and Latin America.  I cannot claim I have been to Asia even if I crossed the Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul which straddles the European and Asian sides of the city.  But I definitely plan to go there! I was gone for a total of 7 years.

Every place I have been to has had it’s good points and it’s bad points.  What I found is that you could focus on the negative or the positive.  I have always been a positive person so I had a great time everywhere I went. I learned that some things are better in other cities.  Gotham doesn’t have it all.  It doesn’t have the history and antiquities of Europe.  It doesn’t have the beautiful beaches of the Caribbean.  Or the natural beauty  found in many parts of Latin America.  But I learned to appreciate what was great about NYC.  The energy, the diversity, the conveniences, the seemingly endless things to do and so much more. I look forward to sharing past and future travel experiences.

I was fortunate to learn multiple languages both at home and through my studies and travels.  French was the first foreign language I studied and a Bon Vivant seems to me to be my most apt description.  “One who lives well.”  I think we should all aspire to live well, no matter where we live or how much we make.

I look forward to conversing with you and sharing ideas, tips, tricks, experiences and knowledge on this great city, travel ideas both near and far, and a variety of other topics which may be of interest.  I hope you will become part of the community.  Thanks for stopping by!

-Rico