tierneytravels

New York City x 2, Part I

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

It seems like my blog should be called “tierneytravels” instead of “tierneycreates” as it feels like I’ve been doing a lot of traveling over the past several months, especially since leaving my job of 16 years and taking a break.

Over the past 2 months, I’ve been to New York City (NYC) twice: at the end of July while visiting my brother and his family; and just this past weekend with my sister during New York Fashion Week. In this post I will share my adventures and photos from the visit in July with my brother and his family. Part II will be about my more recent visit.

I was born in Pennsylvania but grew up in Long Island and Upstate New York. I spent a lot of my youth traveling to New York City (we would go to Rockefeller Center around Christmas time to see the tree, ice skating rink and Radio City Music Hall to see the Rockettes). I remember as a teenager (I think I was 14 the first time), my parents let me travel with my friend to NYC for the day on the Long Island train (things were different then and you could actually be okay letting your teen travel without an adult to the city).

When I lived in Upstate NY, NYC was only a couple hour train or bus ride away. When I moved to the Pacific NW, I would take the JetBlue “red eye” flight from Portland to JFK Airport/NYC to meet up with my sister for a long weekend a couple times a year. NYC holds a special place in my heart and I have lots of fun memories tied to NYC.

However when the COVID Pandemic hit (and it hit NYC hard), I figured it would be 5 years before I would be able to visit NYC again. I think the last time pre-pandemic I visited NYC was October 2018. I’ve shared posts about previous visits to NYC such as: Mood Fabrics NYC, New York City in Black and White, Behind the Scenes at the Antonio Ratti Textile Center – QTM 2017, The “Dance Partner” – Michael Cummings at QTM 2017, and Wrap Up of QTM 2017 Weekend. I did not visit NYC in 2019 as I was in the process of moving to and starting my new life in Denver, Colorado after my husband suddenly died in December 2018.

So until July 2021, it had been the longest period in my life that I had not been to NYC.

Since taking a break from my job of 16 years at the start of July 2021 (see post News) I’ve been doing a bit of traveling (staying safe, I am vaccinated and always wearing a mask and social distancing) which included reconnecting with my family who lives on the Eastern Coast of the U.S.

My brother and his family live outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and I’d not seen my darling now 9-year old nephew since 2019 (they came to visit me in Denver when I first moved here) and it was definitely time for a visit. My brother surprised me as I was about to arrive, that I would be going with them to NYC for an overnight because he had a client meeting in NYC he needed to attend.

They picked me up from the Philadelphia airport and we headed to NYC (couple hour drive) to stay at a nice hotel in Times Square for the night and have breakfast with his client in the morning.

NYC has not recovered from the pandemic yet and tourism is still down. It was surreal to wander around a fairly empty feeling Times Square with my brother and nephew after we got to our hotel.

Usually there are throngs of people wandering around Times Square.

The next morning we had a wonderful breakfast with his client, a television actor and author with a current television show. (A side note about my brother – he has his own Public Relations/PR and Branding company. He is quite the entrepreneur and started his company while at university in his undergraduate studies. By the time he was in graduate school he had his company up and running which at the time found speakers for colleges. It has grown since then quite a bit).

It was fun dining with a celebrity at a hip eating establishment in NYC! A very unexpected experience.

After the client meeting, we headed to the “spy museum” in NYC called SpyScape. My brother and nephew love movies focused around espionage, covert organizations and intrigue such as The Bourne movies and James Bond movies. We had a blast at the museum on simulated espionage adventures.

I did through the “spy training” academy and the “spychology” assessment I participated in at the museum with my brother, his wife and son, that I was not cutthroat enough to be a spy and that my best position would be an Analyst that works in the background of a covert organization.

Here are some photos from our visit to SpyScape, including the history of espionage, more than you wanted to know about “government surveillance; and the amazing James Bond Exhibit they had:

If you weren’t already paranoid about the government listening in when you arrived, you were definitely by the time you finished going through the museum! But it was really cool to see the James Bond Aston Martin up close!

After the museum we headed to the Central Park area to wander around.

Here I am in Central Park, just absolutely amazed to be there (but a little jet lagged and sleep deprived as I never sleep well in hotels):

We could not help ourselves, we had to stop for some yummy ice cream from the Ice Cream Truck parked in the area (it reminded me of the Ice Cream Trucks that would come around our neighborhood as a kid). My brother and his son have red arrows next to them:

I posted this photo on Instagram around the time of my visit and we had a little laugh that everyone seems to have gotten the memo that is was “blue t-shirt day” that day!

My brother had the idea that we should do a bicycle carriage ride (where you are transported by someone driving/riding a bike carriage) through Central Park. Here are some photos from that adventure:

But the best part of the bicycle carriage ride through Central Park was on one of the many “photo breaks” the driver gave us I discovered “Open Air Salsa” in the middle of Central Park! I spent my entire photo break watching people dance and took this little video which I will use to close this post:

Published by tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Quilter, crafter, obsessive tea drinker and lover of all furry creatures (especially dogs and cats) - join me on my tierneycreates blog as I share stories from "A Crafter's Life".

34 thoughts on “New York City x 2, Part I”

  2. Ugh, stop it, you evil woman, you’re making my Travel Loving heart so jealous!! I’ve never been to New York and really want to go…especially now that I know about that spy museum!! But really, I’d just be glad to go ANYWHERE after nearly two years of going nowhere. Can’t wait to see trip report #2 (even though I’v already seen most of the photos on Instagram : )

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  6. What a wonderful trip! It must have been strange seeing Times Square so empty. It was always so bustling! The spy museum sounds really interesting 🙂 There is one is Washington DC that is a lot of fun, but the one you were at has a lot of different exhibits. Thank you for sharing your adventures 🙂

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  7. Pingback: New York City x 2, Part II – tierneycreates

  8. i either didn’t know, or forgot, that you grew up on LI. me too! seaford, south shore of nassau county. how about you? thanks for the post!

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  9. Wow, thanks for sharing all that great info about fashion week and the Spy museum which is now on my”to do list” next time I go home and visit the family. I was also so impressed with the Fashion week which sparked my creative interest and look forward to diving into.:)

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  10. Wow, awesome pictures. I love the open air salsa dancing!! I wonder if I can get Matt to bust a move there sometime. Looks like a blast. Your pictures got me a little homesick and that Spy museum, intriguing.

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  14. Still smiling at the memo about blue t-shirt day!
    That happened to us one Sunday where everyone had tan bottoms (shorts- skirt or pants) and black shirts !
    —
    The carriage ride photos and salsa in the park really show NYC beauty and variety – well
    Both of your posts do!
    And the bike rider of the carriage likely uses the photo opp to refresh (and what a cool job to ride a bike like that – they must be super fit)

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  15. Pingback: New York City x 2, Part III – tierneycreates

  16. A not busy New York, now that sounds weird. I can imagine though that tourism (from abroad) is still down a lot. That spymuseum sounds really cool, I’d never heard of it.

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