{"id":1829,"date":"2014-06-01T07:00:22","date_gmt":"2014-06-01T14:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/?p=1829"},"modified":"2014-06-01T11:20:19","modified_gmt":"2014-06-01T18:20:19","slug":"new-york-city-offers-more-than-just-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/library\/1829\/new-york-city-offers-more-than-just-trip","title":{"rendered":"New York City Offers More Than Just a Trip"},"content":{"rendered":"

Catrine Medawar has been helping her jewelry customers grant wishes and make dreams come true at her Okemos, <\/span>Michigan<\/span> jewelry store for over 30 years. But when her 80-year-parents Camille and Aida asked her to take them to visit <\/span>New York<\/span> for the first time, she knew the opportunity was more priceless than any diamond or gem.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"New

New York City’s “Little Italy” thrives with colorful culture and food<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThey told me it was their dream, and I was going to make it happen,\u201d said Medawar, who flew her Lebanese immigrant parents to the Big Apple where she\u2019d arrived ahead of them to prepare for a whirlwind weekend. \u201cIn the days leading up to the trip, they kept telling me all the things they wanted to see and places they wanted to go. They\u2019d selected 30 restaurants for a two-and-a-half day trip!\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Most importantly, though, her parents were on a pilgrimage to see the Statue of Liberty and <\/span>Ellis Island<\/span>. \u201cI told my father, \u2018Dad you came from <\/span>Lebanon<\/span> in the 1970\u2019s on an airplane to <\/span>California<\/span>, not through <\/span>Ellis Island<\/span>,\u201d Medawar joked. \u201cBut when I saw their faces as the tour boat passed under the statue, I knew it was emotional for them. My mother kept looking up, with tears in her eyes, repeating, \u2018She\u2019s so beautiful.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Medawar\u2019s father verbalized his pride for <\/span>America<\/span>, not only during a somber visit to <\/span>Freedom <\/span>Tower<\/span>, but also to virtually everyone he met in <\/span>Manhattan<\/span>. \u201cHe questioned every cab driver how long they\u2019d been in the <\/span>United States<\/span> and how grateful they were to be here?\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Medawar said she\u2019d warned her parents that New Yorkers can be \u201churried and abrupt,\u201d but they reveled in walking the streets and taking in the authentic sights, sounds, and even the smells of <\/span>New York City<\/span>. \u201cBelieve me, we were packed in tight nose to nose with the crowds atop the <\/span>Empire <\/span>State <\/span>Building<\/span>, so there were plenty of smells,\u201d she joked, \u201cbut nothing bothered them.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

One requisite classic <\/span>New York<\/span> subway experience had the Nouni\u2019s astonished by how throngs of New Yorkers didn\u2019t get lost streaming through the tunnel. The rest of the time they used an Uber Cab smart phone app to navigate the canyons of skyscrapers and traffic.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

They took in a horse-drawn carriage ride through Central Park; The Met; a meal in Little Italy; and even caught singer Carly Rae Jepsen play Cinderella on Broadway with comic actress Fran Drescher performing on stage as the evil stepmother.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t imagine the speed at which we did things. <\/span>New York<\/span> did not disappoint in any way for one single second,\u201d said Medawar. \u201cFor a break, I recommend the Blue Fin Bar in <\/span>Times Square<\/span> as a place you can sit and watch the world go by.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In the \u201cCity that Never Sleeps,\u201d they almost didn\u2019t either. They closed each day in a room at the Marriott Marquis Hotel with a room overlooking the colorful lights and action of <\/span>Times Square<\/span>. Medawar\u2019s parents believed in the \u201cAmerican dream,\u201d and she made their <\/span>New York<\/span> travel dream come true. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Michigan-based travel writer Michael Patrick Shiels may be contacted at <\/span>InviteYourself@aol.com<\/span><\/a> or via <\/span>www.TravelTattler.com<\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>He may be heard and seen weekday mornings in <\/span>Lansing<\/span> on<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>92.1 FM and Fox 47 TV.<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Catrine Medawar has been helping her jewelry customers grant wishes and make dreams come true at her Okemos, Michigan jewelry… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":1830,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3665,19164],"tags":[976734,976735,976736,6304,817,976728,976729,976730,976731,976732,976733],"class_list":["post-1829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-library","category-offcourse","tag-cenral-park","tag-little-italy","tag-marriott-marquis-hotel","tag-marriott","tag-new-york","tag-empire-state-building","tag-statue-of-liberty","tag-freedom-tower","tag-catrine-medawar","tag-ellis-island","tag-uber"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/34\/2014\/06\/ny-075.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1829"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1829\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1832,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1829\/revisions\/1832"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}