One Week In (at least for me): Reflections

A year or two ago, Tyler and I decided we needed to do something big to celebrate the 10^th anniversary of our round the world trip.  An extended time off.  More exotic locales.  Something that would help us reflect on and revisit our past experience of being on the road. 

First we picked Thailand.  But Thailand in July/August?  Too wet and hot.  We looked further west:  Laos, Nepal. Still too wet and too hot.  After hearing about a friend’s trip to Portugal, we thought we might have hit on something.  Still Europe, but smaller, more manageable, and, hey, why not tack on a trip to Morocco while we’re in the neighborhood.  But the desert in July/August?  Likely unbearable for our temperate Northwest selves (not to mention children).  So we finally agreed on Portugal and the Azores, figured out how to line up our work obligations and time off and wound up with a week in New York, two weeks in Portugal, and one week in the Azores.

So, here we are, two weeks in (though for me, it’s really one week of vacation—the week in New York was quite work-filled for me).  Tyler’s doing an awesome job of keeping up with our different adventures and activities.  I thought I’d share a few thoughts from the road.

Changing Pace

Over our seven-month trip, we typically moved from one location to the next every two to three days.  Even since then, most of our vacations have been of the 7-9 day variety.   We decided to give a longer stay in one place a go.  It was partly practical—because of adding on the Sao Miguel in the Azores, it would mean a lot of chopped up days to arrive in Lisbon, head somewhere else, only to need to fly out of Lisbon again.  It also meant we could probably get a slightly nicer place by saving on cleaning and booking fees.  And we thought more stability would be easier on the kids.

So we have nearly two weeks in a small two-bedroom apartment in the oldest portion of the city.  It has felt like a luxury to be in one place.  We could have a day or so of fighting jetlag and still feel like we had lots of time to check out things of interest.  We’ve made friends with our neighborhood market guy and tend to buy our produce from the same little place around the corner and are becoming regulars at the gelato place around the way.  We’re figuring out how to find our way around and get better at figuring out what’s a reasonable walking distance.  And I do think the kids appreciate having one “home” to get accustomed to.

View from out the building front door--I love the colors

Walking right from our apartment, for evening gelato--you can see the narrow street and tram lines

At the same time, there are tradeoffs.  Staying in Lisbon has meant we’ve been in a city for most of our time, and cities are often where we have the hardest time finding things that make all of us happy.  If Tyler and I were here on our own, we’d likely wander different neighborhoods, try more restaurants, check out more museums—things that aren’t so exciting to Stella and Otto.  Staying in the Alfama neighborhood—picturesque, quaint, historic—also means any excursions involves climbing up and down hills, and we’re surrounded by buildings and stone walkways and roads.  It wasn’t until our daytrip to Sintra that I realized how much I was missing seeing more green and nature on a daily basis.

Map of Alfama--note the curvy streets.  We're near Igreja de Sao Vicente de Fore

We fondly call navigating around Portugal "echo-locating"--one advantage of being on a hill is we at least know whether we should be heading up or down....

Beautiful!  But not much green....

Sintra--Moorish castle on the hill, lots of green!

Over the past eight years, I’ve also come to appreciate the slowing pace that having the kids have brought to our lives.  We typically try and tackle one big “thing” a day.  The aquarium.  The castle.  A longer out-of-town excursion day followed by a day closer to home.   While we normally have more of a go-go-go pace of life, I have come to enjoy (and somewhat rely on) a pace that means after finishing the tile museum, we hang out at the garden while the kids play with rocks and look at fish and turtles.  (Doesn’t hurt that you can get a good and cheap half bottle of wine almost anywhere…)  It also means we can live out Tyler’s dream of waking up without alarm clocks most mornings, have leisurely starts to our days, and not wear ourselves out trying to squeeze in every single site or experience the city might have to offer, but which we might otherwise under-appreciate in the effort to see so much.

This isn't apropos of anything, but there's amazing graffiti around town.  These are two of my favorites

Traveling with Kids

I’d seen in one of our guidebooks that the Portuguese see children as a gift and enjoy their presence.  I’m happy to say that is true!  Our kids get good natured rubs on the head and are treated with kindness and good humor everywhere we got (by the Portuguese at least;  I can’t say the same for other European visitors necessarily).  And, while Tyler shared some of the challenges of being in transit with jetlagged kiddos, I have to say that the kids are actually doing awesome.  We walk.  A lot.  It’s hot.  We drag them to things that probably wouldn’t be their first choice.  And I think they by and large enjoy themselves, keep up good spirits, and are good sports about figuring out trains, subways, buses and the rest.  I also enjoy seeing how Otto and Stella are being good playmates for each other.  They are good at keeping themselves entertained with books and drawings, even in less than ideal circumstances.  And they really have only had each other to rely on.  We haven’t come across many other kids.

Waiting for a bus

On an extremely crowded train to the beach

Not sure why Stella started carrying Otto on her back, but this happens regularly

And they do have their moments.  One dinner we went to eat at a place that was Stella’s least favorite place, and at some point near the end of dinner she sat unhappily with tears streaming down her face.  Otto regularly drags his feet at heading out when he’s not 100% sold on the idea (though manages to forget his bad feelings by the time we get out the front door 9 times out of 10).  And there are times when Tyler and I are less than sanguine about making compromises in their best interests (like calling it a day and having dinner in when we really would have loved to head back downtown for a wine tasting, but it would require another 30 minute hot walk to a place the kids really don’t want to go after an already full day).  But, by and large, this has definitely felt easier and more fun than our prior overseas trips when they were younger.

One of the less stellar moments--post-dinner after a long, hot, tiring day before our 20 minute walk home.  Otto wasn't having so much of it.

Eating

I’d feel remiss to have an entry that didn’t at least talk a little bit about food.  Every cheese I’ve had here is amazing.  You can get entire bottles of tasty wine for 9-12 euros.  Amazing seafood.  (Of course, Stella is largely living on grilled cheese, and Otto on ham and cheese sandwiches, but, you know, they won’t get scurvy in two weeks.)

Homemade lunch--we typically have lunch at home but are increasingly having a second meal at home just for ease.  Also a little glimpse at our cute and cozy temporary home.

We have found that we do a little better if we go a bit afield of our neighborhood.  For our first few days, we’d wander through the alleys to find something that looked good, but we kept having the feeling that all the menus were basically focused on the kind of Portuguese food that tourists are looking for and expect—sardines, bacalau, octopus, cabbage soup.  That’s one thing that’s stayed true over 10 years—it doesn’t take much to find better and cheaper food, but it usually isn’t in the heart of the tourist section of town.

A small neighborhood restaurant in the Graca neighborhood.  That little dog is balancing on the tiny window pane unassisted.

My least favorite thing here is that if you have water, they always give you a plastic bottle.  It seems no one serves tap water!  And there is some recycling in the city, but not enough for all the bottles that are out everywhere.  We brought a Nalgene bottle with to have water on the go, but I’ve rarely found anywhere to refill it.  And we have taken to bringing bottles back and freezing them so we have colder water to drink for part of the trip, but it’s kind of crazy making to see so much waste.

Even artists agree!  A whale art piece made from empty plastic water bottles

A Few Final Thoughts

One thing that’s quite different than 10 years ago is how connected we are—how we are so used to being online, keeping up with political developments, seeing what others are up to.  Facebook was just starting to be a broader thing while we were away (we joined after we got home at a friend’s urging), and I didn’t have a smart phone until a few years after our return.  With all the developments around healthcare reform and other goings-on in the States, it’s been hard to want to get away from current events.  So we really haven’t disconnected, and I haven’t decided if that is a good or bad thing yet.  Ten years ago, we sparingly used internet cafes every few days to check emails and blog.  I think twice during the trip we found call centers to call home.  By and large, we were off the grid.  I’m toying with the idea of a break from devices and being online….we’ll see.

With all that staying connected we also ran into a new problem—one outlet converter is tough going when we have two phones, two tables, one laptop, and a few other sundry electronics!  It’s a regular game to figure out who gets to charge what and when.  On our big trip we had one camera, which we shared.  One converter was just fine.

I’ve also been a long user of hard copy travel guides.  I like to have it to carry, read through, look at maps, consider possibilities.  I’m now used to the internet at my fingertips, and having sparse descriptions so a small book can cover an entire country has not been enough.  Online research gives us so much more—more options, more info, more clarity on how to navigate the public transport options….  I don’t know that I’ll completely abandon the Lonely Planet books, but I’ll likely never solely rely on them again.

Onward

It’s funny how your sense of time changes—we have four more days in Portugal, and suddenly the time feels short.  I’m very excited about going to the Azores—I’m looking forward to the smaller populace, the sense of being on a small speck in the middle of the ocean, and still having two weeks of time to be with my family, take time to recharge and reflect, and soak in the rest of this precious time away from the daily grind.

Wisely taking the bus home rather than walking the full 25 minutes uphill.  Photo courtesy of Stella.

Day 7 & 8: Marathon to Lisbon

What to write about what was almost two non-stop days of travel? Well, actually, it was basically one really long day, but it was also a long haul, and definitely knocked us for a loop.

On the morning of our departure, Otto and I slept in a little, had some breakfast at the hotel and then got started packing while Sarah and Stella ran to Mood, the fabric store famously depicted on Project Runway. (I'm sure they can provide you with more details, mom!) Maybe Sarah will chime in with more details, but the one thing I do know is that they didn't see Swatch (I asked).

They returned to the room, and Sarah and I finished packing, then it was out front, to hail a cab, and off to JFK. Despite some minor hiccups getting our baggage checked, we boarded without issue, and -since I sat next to Stella on the flight to New York- it was Otto's turn to sit next to me. This was the first time (that he can remember, at least) that he had an in-flight screen imbedded in the seat in front of him, and, well, he was thrilled.

Awaiting our flight at JFK. Everyone in tip-top shape!

Our flight departed JFK after 4pm, so we were flying through a truncated night, and landing in Paris around dawn. After a few hours of TV and video games, I started suggesting to him that he try to sleep a little... but he wasn't having it. So, after a few more attempts at arm twisting, I basically shrugged: "Well, we don't have anything planned in Lisbon, so he can be tired, I guess."

We landed in Paris, and went through immigration smoothly enough and had a little over an hour till our flight to Lisbon. And that's when Otto started to fall apart, rapidly shifting from playing an app on Sarah's iPad to listlessly complaining about his legs hurting (he's telltale sign of being overtired). I basically carried him onto the plane, where he proceeded to crash against Sarah (who was trapped between both now-sleeping kids) and "awoke" only once or twice to cry, complain about being uncomfortable, and then crash again.

Awaiting our flight to Lisbon... Otto looking a little rough. Sarah holding in there. Stella in overtired spaz mode.

On our flight... Otto is definitely looking rough.

At this point, in addition to the kids being asleep, Sarah and I were both moving from "punchy" to "exhausted."

We arrived in Lisbon, and while Sarah led a bleary-eyed Stella, I carried a sleeping Otto (in addition to both our carry-ons), and deposited like a corpse on the airport floor, while we collected out luggage from the baggage claim.

Otto, sleeping on the Lisbon airport floor. Perhaps not our proudest parenting moment. But, he's here, and alive.

We emerged from the airport, and began searching for the driver we'd arranged to take us to our apartment, but he was not to be found. Thankfully, after 10 minutes of increasingly panicked searching, he arrived, and helped us load our stuff.

Next thing we knew we were zipping into town, with two kids trying to blink themselves awake. "Your spot for our apartment is a good one" Our driver assured us, "easy to see things and get around." Winding into the Alfama old town, he pulled into a narrow street, and unceremoniously deposited our baggage on the curb.

"Your apartment is here. The woman will come. Just wait for her here."

And then he was gone.

We stood swaying on the narrow street, watching Lisbon's famous street cars miraculously squeeze down it, and past us.

After about 10 minutes a woman came walking down the street. When she got within a couple paces of us, she stopped, surprised. "Are you the people renting the apartment?" We nodded. "They were supposed to call me." Too tired to feel put out, we shrugged, and she led us in.

Our apartment on the 2nd (read: Amerian 3rd) floor was happily what the pictures led us to believe, and she gave us a quick tour, punctuating he comments with a quick "click, click" out of the side of her mouth like a noir film gumshoe. (Or, maybe the Fantastic Mr. Fox.) Then, like that, she was gone and we all promptly collapsed from exhaustion.

I forget which of us napped, or for how long, but the rest of the day was a daze. It was before 10 when we arrived. So, at some point, we made our way over to a view point, and had a overly large meal at a touristic restaurant there. (I ordered a pork dish that was easily enough for 2, plus we had a whole bevy of side, appetizers and food for the kids.)

A first view of our neighborhood in Lisbon. Seen from a viewpoint 5 minutes from our apartment.

At another point Stella and I made our way down to the little corner grocery store to grab some basic provisions to get us through the afternoon and next morning. While this store was far from what you'd call a quaint corner market, the owner has (a week on) probably become our best friend in Lisbon: Cutting us deals on food, giving us advice on services and introducing us to his wife who just arrived from Bangladesh a week ago herself.

Then, finally, we made our way down into the maze-like roads and staircases of the Aflama district. I'm sure Sarah or I will go into more detail about the Alfama, but it definitely makes a surreal experience trying to navigate the warren of pathways while seriously jetlagged.

Wandering the Alfama neighborhood... oh no, I think we are loosing Otto again.

Eventually, we chose a restaurant (more of out of fatigue then anything) and set down for dinner... only to have Otto curl up and fall asleep before we even ordered. Sweetly, the ladies running the restaurant brought out an extra cushion for him, and we continued on with out meal.

...and he's out again. (Don't worry folks, by the next morning he was back to his normal self, as were the rest of us.)

Finally, still exhausted, but at least full, and close to what one would call a reasonable bed time, we made our way back to the apartment, me carrying a crashed out Otto uphill the whole way. Safely in our apartment, we all followed Otto's lead and slept.

Hard.

(As always, a little caveat here: Describing the difficulties of travel, and the difficulties of having kids always seems a little self-serving, and -I imagine- is easily met with the world's smallest fiddle because, ultimately, they are both decisions Sarah and I made. Navigating travel and navigating parenting are both things we chose to do. And both are things we love. So, hopefully, an entry like this is seen not as a "woe as me" but with humor and self-depreciation. Because, with both parenting and travel, the worse it gets, often the better the story is after the fact.)

Days 5 & 6: Solo Daddy, Natural History and Laundry

Day 5
On our fifth day, Sarah had work related meetings for effectively the whole day, so it was solo daddy duty with the kids in New York. Sarah woke early and headed out, but the rest of us lingers, playing cards, eating cereal from cups and taking our time before heading out to the day's site to see: The Natural History Museum.

Eventually leaving the hotel we hoofed out way through the heat of the day, to the Subway station that would take us to the museum, grabbing pastries for most, and an obligatory pretzel for Otto. We hiked down the stairs to the subway platform, jumped on a train, and promptly discovered what an express train was. We'd hoped to get off at 81st St, but ended up getting off at 125th. Luckily, the kids (never quite knowing what is going on, anyhow) were fairly in-phased by the situation, and we all quickly boarded the train back.

Outside of the Natural History Museum, it became apparent that the kids (and I) would need food before venturing in, so we grabbed some food from the food carts across the street, and ducked into central park to enjoy a quick lunch...

...actually, wait, this is probably a good time to talk about how these sorts of situations play out. "Grabbed some food, and ducked into the park" actually played out more like this.

- Otto and Stella get whiney. I get irritable. I realize we need food. And, it's hot.
- I propose we get food at food carts.
- Otto agrees. Stella maintains that's an awful idea.
- Cross street with moping Stella in tow.
- Order food for Otto and I. Stella maintains she is starving. And, whines about hotness.
- I convince Stella to suffer through a grilled cheese from a food cart.
- Both kids have food. But now claim to be dying from heat.
- Offer to buy kids a smoothie from stand, let Stella pick type, since she didn't want to do food carts.
- Without tasting it, Otto announces Stella's smoothie choice is gross, though he likes each ingredient individually.
- Proceed into park with moping Otto in tow.
- Listen to kids argue over which side of path to sit on.
- Stella wins. Otto mopes and refuses to touch smoothie. But, at least he eats his hot dog.

Sarah and I repeat some variation of this, several times a day. So, when you see a sentence like "so we grabbed some food from the food carts across the street, and ducked into central park to enjoy a quick lunch" just presume that there is a lot of bickering and moping going on, but I'm bypassing it for brevity.

Onward! Entering the museum, and weaving our way through a surprisingly thick crowd, we begin to explore -as one ex-coworker put it- "the dead things zoo." I'm sure that a large portion of you reading this have been there, and those of you who haven't have likely seen it in movies or on TV. Room after room of amazingly taxidermied or otherwise realistically recreated animals placed into life-size dioramas, beautifully staged, and gorgeously painted. Other rooms do the same with various indigenous cultures (presumably not taxidermy) or rooms and rooms of gems and rare stones, cultural artifacts and other flotsam and jetsam of cultural history. Apparently, somewhere in there, there's some bits about space and astronomy... but, in over 3 hours of exploring we never found it.

The kids next to some giant, illuminated gem. Stella loves looking at rocks and crystals, so of course Otto is completely bored by the idea. The gems and minerals sections was A LOT bigger than he would have liked.

Stella and Otto looking at a couple of sea lions that haven't been alive for the better part of a century. Still amazing attention to detail. Incidentally, they spent most of their visiting fighting over who got to take pictures with that camera.

Totes not real, but stunning. 

The volume of stuff is incredible. This is, like, the "diversity of life" section, and it's just a giant wall like this. This is probably a 6th of that wall, and there's rooms and rooms of this stuff. I'm sure we missed the majority. 

Frankly, it's amazing. The type of place I'd love to revisit, if we lived in Manhattan. Sprawling, informative and with a certain old-world charm that can't be recreated. Could you imagine a museum effectively sending big game hunters to Africa today, to score a new exhibit?

Happy, but overwhelmed, we made out way back to the hotel to meet up with Sarah. Reunited for dinner, she suggested we go to Todd English's Food Court under the Plaza Hotel. The Plaza is an amazingly fancy hotel on Central Park, with the food court being a high-end recreation of a European food court. Fancy? Yes. Tasty? Also, yes.

No story here. Just Sarah and Stella talking at dinner. Just thought the entry needed more pictures of Sarah and the kids.

After dinner, we'd planned on catching a taxi home, to spare the kids a walk; but we were cornered by a Pedi-cab. A bicycle taxi wouldn't have been something Sarah and I would normally do, but we could see the kids eye grow wide at the idea, so we all piled in. And, admittedly, it was fun, rolling down 3rd, late in the evening, with our driver-cum-tour guide shouting out sites to us.

Touristy? Yes. But part of what Sarah and I have learned is that what the kids want to do is often the touristy thing. And, if they have fun, ultimately we do to. And, maybe, just maybe, riding a bike cab through Manhattan is a *little* fun.

Day 6
Honestly, in comparison, Day 6 of the trip was pretty quite. The kids had begun to run a little ragged from being drug around NY for the better part of a week, and Sarah had some last work to get done in the AM hours. In addition, we were rapidly running out of clean clothes, and needed to do some shopping to prepare for the next leg.

So, after Sarah returned, I stuffed our dirty laundry in our backpack, and rode the subway two stops north to a public laundromat. The stuffy two hours I spent there were definitely not the most fun, but possibly the most authentic, as I sat next to a straining fan, pretending to read while listening to some twenty-something tell her friend how much her running shoes stank ("so, I just need to wash them before the photoshoot, so I can get something athletic, y'know") and another man sang along loudly to whatever he was listening to over his phone.

Beyond that, it was a couple random errands (Post Office, drug store, H&M for a couple more short-sleeve button up shirts for me), and then dinner.

Dinner, on our final evening in NY, was at a multi-tiered Korean BBQ place in the shadow of the Empire State Building. Sarah had gotten in touch with an old High School friend, Chris, who she hadn't seen in the better part of 20 years, and he'd recommended meeting there. The food was good, and after several days of only talking with each other, or the kids, I think we were both grateful for someone to talk to, and it didn't hurt that Chris made a thoughtful and funny dinner partner.

Having the power go out, albeit momentarily, added a nice night-cap to our final evening.

Days 3 & 4: Coney Island, Magic and Ghosts

Day 3
So, our second full day in NY was Otto's 6th Birthday. So, thought we'd had a little birthday party before departing, we decided that it would be his day to choose what to do. His immediate answer was "the beach!" (AKA: Coney Island)

Now, honestly, making the hour-long subway ride out to Coney Island wouldn't have been Sarah or mine's first choice for how to spend the day but, again, it was Otto's day. So, onward to Coney Island! And, while the hour long trip on the subway seemed daunting, it actually went smoother than I would have imagined. The kids only squabbled a little bit, and it was actually neat to see how the underground tunnels of Manhattan gave way to above ground suburbs of Brooklyn and eventually the beach town vibe of Coney Island.

Departing for Coney Island, via Grand Central Station. 

Approaching the final stop: Coney Island!

This was my first experience with a East Coast, boardwalk-style beach and -honestly- it wasn't exactly what I was expecting. It feels like, in the movies, you only see beaches like this during the blustery and abandoned winter months, but in comparison, the spectacle that confronted us, as we exited the train station, was much more crowded, chaotic and fun. Kitschy, yes, with it's hotdog stands souvenir shops and midway games, but it quickly became apparent that it would be the perfect place for a 6-year-old to ring in his Birthday.

But, first, the beach!

Making out way through the crowd, down to the waters edge, Sarah stacked out a space on the beach with our stuff, while the kids and I wade out way into the crowded water. If New York is the worlds melting pot, Coney Island might be the stew, and I'm fairly positive I've never heard as many languages at the same time while standing hip deep in the ocean.

A Birthday Boy getting buried in the beach!

The kids still, unfortunately, don't really know how to swim (both a byproduct of their blustery Northwest upbringing, and Sarah and I failing to get them into regular lessons), so they limited themselves to jumping waves and building sandcastles. But, that was more than enough to keep them happy for several hours.

Board Walk fun for everyone!

After that, it was time for a quick lunch at Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs on the boardwalk, and then on to some rides! The amusement park we chose features mainly mild ride for younger kids, but still enough to keep the kids happy, and a couple -like the Tilt-A-Whirl and a small rollercoaster- challenged their bravery. In fact, while Otto deemed the rollercoaster "epic," Stella bowed out.

 Tilt-A-Whirl action! The kids laughed for the first three of four go arounds... then fell silent.

Otto on a rocketship... a little more representative of the rides. 

After each "winning" a small stuffed animal at a fishing game, and then enjoying a snow cone, it was back on the subway to Manhattan. Our initial plan was to head back to our room, clean-up, and head out to dinner; but it quickly became apparently that we were all tired enough that any trip to the room would stall us out completely, so we decided to head straight to dinner, covered in sand and smelling of the ocean. And where did Otto want to go to dinner?

"Otto Pizza!"

The previous night, while considering dinner options, I'd noticed that Mario Betali had a pizza place in the Greenwich Village area, and had jokingly mentioned it to Otto. So, to Otto, of course that was the place to go for his Birthday dinner. Honestly, after the chaos of Coney Island, and Midtown before that, Greenwich Village seemed downright sleepy. And, the pizza place was good. Obvious not "New York-style" but a tasty, more traditional fare.

"Otto Pizza!"

After dinner, as we left the restaurant, we were approached by a pan-handler, who approached us with hand extended and asked "can you help me?" Sarah and I, jaded to urban living, brushed past him, but Otto turned to us and asked "can we help that man?" So, since it was his Birthday, Sarah handed him a dollar and he ran back to gave it to the panhandler. Otto's compassion is always one of his sweetest qualities.

Day 4
The next morning, Sarah would have to work for the afternoon, but the plan was to head to Central Park for a bit, before she had to get to work and send us out on our own. After circling a block in the sweltering heat, looking for a crepes restaurant that never materialized, we settled on some croissants and similar pastries and enter the southern end of the park to have our breakfast.

Sitting on a boulder, overlooking a playground, it quickly became apparent that we'd be spending most of our time there. There was an elaborate spray-park, as part of the playground, and while the kids were initially hesitant, they were soon running around soggy and happy. I was eager to explore more, but Sarah remaindered me that it was the kids vacation too, and I resigned myself to watching them continue to find new ways to get wet, then dry off, then get wet again.

Soggy kids at Central Park. Inside those structures, there's running water. There's also a more traditional spray structure to the left. 

Wandering back through the park , we passed another amusement park, that Otto was bummed not to get to participating in, and then grabbed popsicles for the ride back to the hotel.

After regrouping, and dropping Sarah off, it was time for the kids and I to venture out alone. Stella and I formulated a plan to visit an ornate network of sites and shops scattered across Downtown. That plan quickly fell apart when -walking to the first location- we fully realized how oppressively hot it was.

The first location, Tannen's Magic Store, was roughly ten blocks south of our hotel, but finding it proved to be tricky. We had an address, but when we reached that location, there was no store front. Did you need to be a magician to gain entrance? As we stared blinking at where it should be, Stella announced "I think someone with a 'Tannen's' short just walked out of that door."

So, we peaked inside the anonymous door. At the end of the long hallway that greeted us stood three men, chatting. After we all stood staring at each other for an awkward minute, one of the men asked: "Magic shop?" We nodded. He gestured over his shoulder at an elevator. "Third floor."

Climbing into the cramped elevator, and riding it to the third floor, we emerged into a network of equally anonymous hallways, and made out way to the magic store, directed only by a single hand-painted sign. Entering into the magic shop, I worried that I'd made a mistake bringing the kids there. It was a single, cramped room, filled with a half dozen teenagers, making loud in-jokes with each other, and -instead of wondrous, magic paraphernalia, the room was largely filled with guide books and instructional DVDs. But, just when I was worried the magic store would be a bust, one of the shop employees emerged and engaged the kids with a string of simple, yet effective magic tricks. The kids were in awe, and he seemed to enjoy the audience, but also punctuated each trick with a glance to me and a "that one is $12" or "you can learn that for $15."

With each of the kids clutching a newly purchased magic trick, we made out way back out to the oven-hot street. My second destination was a board game shop several stops south on the subway, but that seemed daunting. Fortunately, while we made our way to the station, we passed another game shop, and popped inside there instead. Claustrophobic and obviously geared toward a regular clientele of hardcore gamers, we still were able to purchase a couple of decks of Magic: the Gathering cards ("first we buy some magic, then some Magic" we joked) to play for the rest of our trip, and the store provided another quick A/C break.

The third destination (of, like, 6 planned) was the Ghostbusters' firehouse. The kids are big fans of the original Ghostbusters (we still haven't had a chance to see the new one), so it was something they had initially seemed interested in seeing (and frankly I wanted to check out too), but in the heat, they soon equated finding it with a forced death march; and my encouragement quickly changed from "c'mon, it'll be fun" to "if you just make it to this one, last place, we'll be done sight-seeing and get some food and drink."

Unfortunately, we initially walked past it, because it was hidden in scaffolding and being restored. Still, I managed to get some photos of some very beleaguered kids posing in front of a Ghostbuster's mural on the sidewalk. Then, it was backtracking to a nearby brewpub, where the kids got some cold drinks (and I a cold beer) and we all got a little food.

 Some exhausted kids, posing in front of the Ghostbuster's mural on the sidewalk. Because...

...this is what the Firehouse currently looks like. You can see it buried in there, somewhere.

At this point it was apparent we were done for the day, so we made our way back to the subway entrance, and then (after a quick stop for a hand fan and fidget spinner, and then by Midtown Comics) the hotel. A challenging, but still satisfying day.

A final side note...
After a few days in the city, it was fun to see the kids start to become comfortable with both New York and with travelling. Initially, with Otto, Sarah and I were worried that his lack of understanding about what was going on, and his stubbornness when he didn't want to do something was going to lead to some problems and difficult traveling. But, once we realized that he was going to spend his time sitting on dirty sidewalks and subway station floors, and that he would be touching every dirty surface he came close to, things became more manageable. Keep him fed with petzels, hot dogs and ice cream cones, and he was good to go.

Otto Style: Leaning against a dirty pipe, gnawing on a pretzel. 

Meanwhile, Stella seemed a natural in the city. As Sarah noted, she quickly developed an easy-going, almost languid stride that would be the envy of any of the characters of Sex in the City; and her DIY, devil-may-care fashion sense would be at home on any episode of Girls. In short, we seemed to be a natural for the city.

Stella, a natural, easy-going city girl at heart. 

Anyhow, this was still "early days" on this trip, but we were all slowly shifting speeds. Switching from being a "school and work"family to a "travelling" family. More to come!

Days 1 & 2: New York and the Statue of Liberty

I'd really hoped to keep a day-by-day account of our travels with the kids to New York and beyond, but a combination of the heat and the small living quarters didn't lend itself to leisurely blogging in New York, so it never really came together. But, now that we've made it to our second destination, Lisbon, we are hoping things decompress a little bit, so -with Sarah and the kids sleeping off their jet-lag- I thought I'd get caught up on our adventures in the Big Apple.

But, first, a little context. It was 10 years ago that Sarah and I did our big Round the World Trip (and started this blog!), so we thought it was time for another, more ambitious trip. Now, obviously, between the kids school and our work, it wasn't going to be possible to wrangle another 7 months, but after making some arrangements, we were able to secure a month free from work, during the kids Summer break, to do at least a slightly longer than normal adventure.

Initially, our plan was to take the kids to Southeast Asia, a part of the world both Sarah and I really enjoy and have been wanting to return to, but since Summer in Southeast Asia is hot and monsoon-y, that didn't seem like a good option for this trip. Next we considered Portugal and Morocco, but -again- July and August in North African deserts seemed oppressive. So, we replaced that leg with the Azores, a Portuguese island chain in the Atlantic. New York was then added when Sarah had a work meeting she wasn't able to shift. She's been to New York dozens of times (mainly for work), but I've only been once before and it would be the kids first trip.

So, the plan was set: 1 week in New York. 2 weeks in Lisbon. 1 week in the Azores. And, we were off!

Day 1
Getting up at 4 in the morning is always awesome. As is getting two small kids up by 5 am. But, my memories of that morning, while blurry were more ones of muted excitement. Likewise, while it has gotten better with each year, flying with kids is never a relaxing affair, and ends up being more about micromanaging them then anything else. Still we arrived in New York in one piece, and made it to our hotel, despite the  best attempts of a cab drive who seemed to be trying to recreate one of our cab experiences from Egypt years ago.

Still it was fun to both see the New York streets again, and watch the kids responses to them (or, rather, Stella's, since Otto fell asleep as soon as we climbed into the cab).

After checking in to our room, we grabbed dinner at what turned out to likely be the fanciest restaurant the kids had ever eaten at, a tiny Italian place with good food and a homemade grappa bar(!). Otto, still disoriented from the flight, initially was Fighting the Power™, but a little food later, he was running around the restaurant like a crazy man.

Homemade grappa!

After dinner, we took a quick walk over to the library, where we spent most of our time looking for a public restroom, because Otto had drank about six cups of water during dinner ("I am winning the Most Water Drank Race!"), and also buying him a pretzel. Before leaving on our trip, the kids and I had watched a "50 Things to Do in New York" video on YouTube, and there were only two things that Otto seems to have taken away from it: 1) "the beach" (read: Coney Island, more on that later) and 2) "big pretzels."

A happy boy, with his giant pretzel. Otto would average a pretzel a day for the duration of our NY stay.

Anyhow, with a giant pretzel happily in hand, Otto and the rest of us made our way back to the room, calling it a night.

Day 2
Aside from Sarah's work responsibilities, the only thing we had scheduled for the week was a trip to see the Statue of Liberty. With the kids in tow, it seemed like a good excuse to do some of the more touristy things that we'd probably otherwise avoid in our attempts to seem like more sophisticated travelers. So, we woke up early the next morning, bought week-long metro passes (Stella was chagrined to discover she didn't get a pass, and would have to -literally- stoop to slipping under the turnstiles like other kids), and headed down to Battery Park to catch our boat out to Liberty Island.

First subway ride! The kids had ridden the metro, back in Paris, year ago, but neither remembers it. The subway would go from "super cool" to "super boring" in both their opinions, in about 2 days time.

Before climbing onto the boat, we go we had to queue up to get on the boat. And, before queuing up to get on the boat, we had to queue up to get through security. And, before queueing up to get through security, we had to queue up to, well, get into the queue for security. The National Queue Museum.

The boat ride across was quick, and surprisingly uncrowded given the lines we'd just navigated, and soon enough we were standing at the feet (or, rather pedestal) of the statue. The Statue of Liberty is one of those monuments, like the Eiffel Tower or Pyramids, that is so universally known, and so well documented that -when there- you both have trouble getting your head around the fact that you are actually there, but -at the same time- you sort of feel like you've been there before. A sort of socialized deja vu. Her scale is truly monumental, and if you can mentally push past the crowds and their cameras and selfie sticks, it's inspiring to stand in its presence.

 Stella, in front of the Manhattan skyline. 

Kids of Liberty! ...with some random statue in the background.

After circling around her base, it was time to go inside. The tickets we had didn't allow us to make the long hike up to her crown (which certainly would have been amazing), but it did allow us to climb high up into her pedestal, for a view of the island around, the city skyline and a view up into the statues interior. The break from the crowds (and the air conditioning) were also both appreciated.

Probably the most representative photo of our day: The kids play fighting... or maybe just fighting... while on the viewing platform of the pedestal.

After a snack break, and a couple of large lemonades, it was time to get back in the boat to the mainland. We were sorely tempted to also check out Ellis Island, but the kids were running thin, and we were afraid that while Stella might be able to grock the historical importance, that Otto would find it boring. So, it was back to Manhattan, and back on the subway to our hotel.

Ice cream cone of liberty!

Back at base camp, we regrouped and took the rest of the evening off, venturing out only for large bowls of udon noodles (and large beers), then a leisurely evening stroll down passed the UN Headquarters and home.