Student trip to New York and Boston

At the end of May, our school counselor and I chaperoned 17 high school students on a trip to New York and Boston.  It was an American culture and college tour trip.  It was my first time to New York and Boston, so I had a great time soaking it all in!  First stop after our long flight was Times Square. Must admit - I did not like it.  Too many billboards flashing at me, I felt like I was on visual overload!

 Cool!  Didn't see a show, but here is the Ed Sullivan Theater.

 Stroll through Central Park.

 Recognize this building?  Can you say GHOSTBUSTERS!?!  My all time favorite movie.  Remember when they turned into dogs?  Yep, this is it!

 Carriage ride through central park.  Wish I was with my husband and not 17 high schoolers!  I would've jumped in!

 Children's Zoo.  MADAGASCAR!  Where are you, Alex the lion?

 The sky scrapers are incredible.

 The view from our bus in New Jersey.

 9/11 memorial with Freedom building in the background.  A very somber place.

 Brooklyn!

 This is our counselor, Kevin, in Chinatown.  At this time of year in Kazakhstan, there is a severe lack of fruit and vegetables.  We were in heaven.

 BOBA!  I was in food heaven. I did not realize how food deprived I was in Kazakhstan until I came back to the USA.

 Little Italy.  We had the most amazing pizza EVER on this street.  Yes, we folded it and ate it New York style.

 I took this picture for Keith because of the saxophone player.  I love street performers.  

 Street art.  :)

 First ride on a New York subway.

 Central Park as seen from Top of the Rock.  I still cannot believe how big it is.  No wonder it is called Central Park.

 Empire State Building. 

 Yale University in Connecticut has a Phelps Hall!  Good thing I married into that name!

 This guy brings his PIANO to the park to perform!  WOW!

 More awesome street performers.

 No New York trip would be complete without a crazy pigeon man.

 Street ball outside of the subway station.

 On our way to Boston, we stopped at the Plymouth Plantation.  It's a village with actors who live a pilgrim life, at least during their shift.  It was fascinating! They do not break character.  They actually tend the farm, cook, sew, and live like pilgrims while they are there.

 Kevin talks to a guy in the Native American village.  

 Actors making traditional tribal food.

 The Mayflower II!

 More time period actors were found at the Mayflower, pretending to be passengers and crew of the Mayflower.

 Anti-climatic for an American to discover that Plymouth Rock is really just a small rock with "1620" carved into it.  Really?!  Yes.

 One of the oldest streets in Boston with an original cobble stone street.

We were in Boston for Memorial Day.  I happened to catch this flag ceremony on the wharf. 

 Memorial Day in Boston.

 On the last day we headed back to New York to see the Statue of Liberty. 

 On the boat to the island.

 The view of Manhattan from Ellis Island.

It was a great trip.  Whirlwind and exhausting, but great.  I couldn't post pictures of our campus tours, because they all had students in them and I cannot post pictures of students.  We went to NYU, Harvard, Yale, MIT, Tufts, and Babson.   I am so happy that I had the opportunity to go.  Now I know the "must-sees" when we go back as a family.  It's always hard to travel without them, but I just kept thinking that it will make a family trip even better if we know where to go together.