Spending Easter in New York has become one of our family traditions, and over the years our itinerary has modified as the kids have got older. There are some things that never change. There’s always a night at Madison Square Garden singing the goal song when the Rangers score,
returning there to cheer on the Knicks play the Cavs – not knowing that the real action would play out off the court the following day when Khloe Kardashian’s baby daddy’s playing away from home behaviour was exposed – but enjoying the chance to see LeBron James work his magic.
Stuart and Sam head to Yankee Stadium for Opening Day, but Sascha and I decided many years ago that Bergdorfs was more our thing, which seemed like an ever better idea this year when temps were close to freezing.
Easter always delivers some interesting additional options for the itinerary. The 5th Ave Easter Parade has long been part of my list of scheduled activities, and this year I’d found the perfect follow on activity online, The Amazing Easter Egg Scavenger Hunt, which kicked off a little further down 5th Ave. I’d registered us as Team Rascally Rabbits, and (much to the kids unbridled joy) we headed off in our ears to walk down 5th Ave and enjoy the weird and wonderful creations people had made to celebrate Easter and the arrival of Spring.
The scavenger hat was run on an app, with Easter themed locations to visit, items to find and activities to complete, all which had to be photographed with every team member present and uploaded to the app. No Ubers were allowed (which quickly ruled out Sascha’s number one contribution!), it was on foot or subway all the way. For the next 3 hours we raced around the city, enjoying each other’s company and the spring sunshine. Or maybe it was ripping each other’s heads off about misinterpreted clues, disagreements about where to head to next, and how to draw an Easter basket using your finger in the app on a moving subway train….
Which ever way you choose to remember it, team Rascally Rabbits claimed victory and won – the prize being vouchers for another scavenger hunt!!! I’m hoping by next Easter I will have convinced everyone to bunny up for another round….
Social media algorithms have been copping a bit of a pasting of late, and rightfully so, but there are times when their knowledge of your likes and dislikes can present you with great opportunities. I had no idea that Harry Potter and The Cursed Child was playing in New York until it popped up in one of my feeds, and with everyone keen to go I was able to source tickets for the following day via one of the ticket resellers. We had great seats and absolutely loved the show(s) – it’s a matinee, followed by an evening performance so be ready to commit to a big day! – and would highly recommend getting in early for tickets when it comes to Melbourne next year if you don’t have the chance to catch it in New York.
Another great find was the newly opened Spyscape Museum, just a few blocks away from where we were staying. Sascha and I had a great day at the Spy Museum in Washington a few years ago, so we all headed there to check out the New York version. We had a brilliant afternoon there, with loads of hi-tech interactive activities all contributing to the ultimate assessment of your spy-worthiness.
Sascha was crowned the victor as the only one to get selected as a special operative, which Stuart, Sam and I had to be content with our agent handler status. Never the less, we stopped on the way home for celebratory crazy shakes at Black Tap, which was an experience in it’s own right!
That’s the wrap on this year’s Easter, with a few new additions to our list of favourites previously covered in posts here and here. Let us know if there’s anything you think we should be adding to next years list!