We kicked of VanKati wedding weekend with a nonstop flight from Midway to Newark. William fell asleep in the Uber on our way into Manhattan, and when he awoke in Midtown and saw all of these NYPD meter maid trucks I told him we were in Zootopia!
We stayed at the Redbury Hotel which was conveniently located for our sightseeing and for the wedding...that was in the hotel! It was within walking distance of many sights and smells of NYC! This was the first time my parents had been to the city and only William's second trip, so we did some fun tourist things in addition to the wedding events.
First up was lunch from a hot dog vendor as we walked our way to the Central Park Zoo! It was only 25 or 30 blocks.....but no complaining! You get to stop every minute for a stoplight. And hot dogs. And street meat. And ice cream. And gawking at the Lego store outside 30 Rock. (Which I totally never realized was there in all my trips to the Deloitte office! If I had known I would have brought William's birthday gift card along.)
Our only rush on the walk was to get to the zoo before last admission. It was a lovely little zoo and had some neat animals and beautiful scenery to enjoy. If I lived in NYC with a toddler I'd have a zoo pass to kill time in the shade. The two bears were my favorite.
For dinner we met in Astoria for dinner with our family and Tarek's sister and her fiancé from Beirut. We were a gang of tired travelers having just arrived from Kansas, Illinois and Lebanon, so we didn't stay out too late. But it was a great kick off to the festivities!
