New York
New York City at a Slower Pace: The Best of the Big Apple
Program No. 23029RJ
Hear New Yorkers’ formidable stories and join art, architecture and history experts to explore New York at a slower pace.
Itinerary
While we make every effort to ensure the accuracy of our published materials, programs are typically advertised more than a year prior to their start date.
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While we make every effort to ensure the accuracy of our published materials, programs are typically advertised more than a year prior to their start date. As a result, some program activities, schedules, accommodations, personnel, and other logistics occasionally change due to local conditions or circumstances. Should a major change occur, we will make every effort to alert you. For less significant changes, we will update you during orientation. Thank you for your understanding.
Duration
6 days
5 nights
What's Included
11 meals (
5B, 2L, 4D
)
6 expert-led lectures
7 expert-led field trips
An experienced Group Leader
5 nights of accommodations
Taxes and customary gratuity
Road Scholar Assurance Plan
Day
1
Check-in, Registration, Orientation, Welcome Dinner
Location:
New York
Meals:
D
Stay:
New Yorker Hotel
Activity Note
Hotel check-in from 3:30 p.m.
Afternoon:
Program Registration: 4:00 p.m. Join us in the meeting room to register with the program staff and receive a final itinerary and any updated information. The location of our Road Scholar meeting room will be sent to you the week before in a welcome email from the program provider. Hotel security will also be able to direct you. Orientation: 4:30 p.m. In the same space, the Group Leader will greet everyone and lead introductions. We will review the up-to-date program schedule, discuss roles and responsibilities, logistics, safety guidelines, emergency procedures, and answer questions. We will learn from local experts who will give lectures and lead field trips. Periods in the daily schedule designated as “Free time” and “At leisure” offer opportunities to do what you like and make your experience even more meaningful and memorable according to your personal preferences. The Group Leader will be happy to offer suggestions. Program activities, schedules, personnel, and indicated distances or times may change due to local circumstances/conditions. In the event of changes, we will alert you as quickly as possible. Thank you for your understanding.
Dinner:
In one of the hotel's restaurants. This program is able to offer vegetarian and gluten free meal alternatives. The gluten free meals are not guaranteed against cross contamination. While modifications to accommodate other dietary restrictions might be possible on a case by case basis, they cannot be guaranteed. Participants requiring other alternatives should discuss with the group leader upon arrival, be prepared to self-select from the included menu choices and discuss modifications with the serving staff at the restaurants.
Evening:
Continue getting to know your fellow Road Scholars, settle in, and get a good night’s rest for the day ahead.
Day
2
NYC Intro, Rockefeller Center, St. Patrick’s Cathedral
Location:
New York
Meals:
B,L,D
Stay:
New Yorker Hotel
Activity Note
Getting on/off a motorcoach; city driving. Walking a few blocks in Rockefeller Center area, approximately an hour; urban terrain.
Breakfast:
In the hotel's diner.
Morning:
We’ll be joined by an historian for an introductory lecture on New York City, a city with its own unique personality. We’ll then board our motor coach for an overview of the city including an extended stop at the 9/11 Memorial with our Group Leader. Our visit will include the outdoor memorial and a walk around the larger site.You may choose to return to the site during your free time on Wednesday if you wish to visit the indoor, underground museum. Advance tickets are encouraged and they can be obtained by going to the museum's website.
Lunch:
At a neighborhood restaurant.
Afternoon:
After lunch, we will stop in at Radio City Music Hall for a private look behind the scenes. This visit requires about an hour of standing and some use of stairs. On our return to the hotel via motor coach, we'll travel through Times Square. The hotel is a short walk from the heart of this famous district, maybe return later during free time to explore on your own.
Dinner:
We'll walk to a neighborhood restaurant near the hotel.
Evening:
At leisure.
Day
3
Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island; Little Italy
Location:
New York
Meals:
B,D
Stay:
New Yorker Hotel
Activity Note
Getting on/off a motorcoach; city driving. Getting on/off New York harbor ferries. Walking at your own pace on Liberty & Ellis islands.
Breakfast:
In the hotel's diner.
Morning:
We will begin our day meeting a former National Parks Ranger for a historical look at Ellis Island and The Statue of Liberty. Then we'll board our coach and head downtown to the very bottom tip of Manhattan island where we'll board the ferry for our day on Liberty & Ellis Islands. We will explore both islands at our own pace to see and do what interests each of us most. Liberty Island features a wonderful state of the art museum dedicated to the statue. It is not to be missed. Additionally, you may choose to stroll around the island while listening to the included audio guide or join up with a NPS Ranger. The Statue of Liberty was an amazing gift to the people of America from the people of France — our oldest ally — celebrating freedom and democracy. We’ve seen this national monument in countless movies and TV shows and may even take it for granted, but at its unveiling on the Fourth of July 1884, it was the biggest event in the country. Years later, these words of poet Emma Lazarus were added: “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” With the opening of the new museum, the park service no longer includes entry into the pedestal or the statue as part of our admission. If this is something you would like to do, these tickets may be arranged separately, in advance of the program and at your own cost via the NPS exclusive ticket seller: www.statuecruises.com. Note: Choosing to arrange this for yourself will require a great deal more time on Liberty Island and will necessarily reduce your time on Ellis Island.
Lunch:
This meal has been excluded from the program cost and is on your own to have what you like. Both Liberty and Ellis Islands have cafeterias.
Afternoon:
Next, it’s on to Ellis Island. From 1892 when the immigration station opened until it closed in 1954, more than 12 million people coming to America passed through Ellis Island. This was their “golden door” to new lives. Today, the descendants of these immigrants make up almost half of all Americans. The Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration tells the story of where people came from and what their experience was like. Many went first from Ellis Island to the Lower East Side of Manhattan, at one time the most densely populated neighborhood on earth. The museum includes numerous exhibits, an included audio guide, NPS Ranger-led walks, a documentary film and the family research center where you may choose to look up the historical documents that pertain to your family’s history through Ellis Island. We’ll reconvene with our Group Leader mid-afternoon for the return trip uptown to the hotel.
Dinner:
We'll walk to a neighborhood restaurant near the hotel.
Evening:
The evening is at leisure.
Day
4
Broadway History, NY Public Library, Free Time
Location:
New York
Meals:
B,L
Stay:
New Yorker Hotel
Activity Note
Walking about 2 miles, not all at once; city streets. Extent of walking and other activities during free time according to personal choice.
Breakfast:
In the hotel's diner.
Morning:
We'll begin this morning with a talk about the Broadway theater. Broadway is a huge economic engine for the city, generating more income that all 10 of our major league sports teams, combined. Later, we'll stroll over the to the new Hudson Yards complex several blocks from the hotel to see how the city is ever evolving.
Lunch:
We’ll have a bag lunch at Hudson Yards.
Afternoon:
This afternoon is free time. From Hudson Yards, the subway is one-stop from Times Square if a Broadway matinee is on your agenda or maybe choose to stroll along the The High Line which begins at Hudson Yards. However you choose to spend it, this period has been set aside for independent exploration to see and do what interests you most. The Group Leader will be happy to offer suggestions. Please note that the period scheduled for free time is subject to change depending on local circumstances and opportunities for independent exploration.
Dinner:
On your own to enjoy what you like.
Evening:
At leisure.
Day
5
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Location:
New York
Meals:
B,D
Stay:
New Yorker Hotel
Activity Note
Getting on/off a motorcoach; city driving. Walking at your own pace through the museum.
Breakfast:
In the hotel's diner.
Morning:
Before heading up to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, we'll reconvene in our meeting room where an art historian will give us an overview of this expansive museum, covering some of its more notable collections and helping us plan our self-directed visit. We will then board our motor coach and ride up to The Gold Coast of 5th Avenue where The Met is located, nestled into Central Park.
Lunch:
On your own to enjoy what you like. The Metropolitan offers both a cafeteria on the lower level of the Lehman Wing offering a wide range of choices and a café in the American Wing offering soups, sandwiches, coffee and pastries. Or you might take the opportunity to grab a famous New York City hot dog from one of the vendors out on Fifth Avenue. Our badges allow re-entry to the museum.
Afternoon:
Including lunch, our visit to The Met will be about three hours total. The museum is vast and this visit will allow for just a taste. For some, this will be plenty of time for others, the surface won't even be scratched. We recommend looking at the museum website before visiting to determine one or two exhibits that appeal to you personally and visit those with some depth. Please consider our All Art Experience program if you would like a deeper dive into the museums of New York, featuring a full-day visit to The Metropolitan. During today's self-directed field trip, we’ll explore The Met each at our own pace. Bring your smart phone and ear buds. The Met’s audio guides are online for easy and free access in the galleries. The Met, founded in 1870, is one of the world’s greatest museums with a collection spanning more than 5,000 years of creativity. Its artistic treasury from every corner of the world includes paintings, arms and armor, costume, decorative arts, musical instruments, photography, works on paper, and much more. There are 26,000 objects from ancient Egypt, the largest collection outside Cairo; 2,500 European paintings, one of the most extensive collections anywhere; and the most comprehensive collection of American decorative arts, paintings, and sculpture in the American Wing. The Beaux-Arts façade and Great Hall of the flagship building — designed by architect and founding museum trustee Richard Morris Hunt — opened in 1902. Today, tens of thousands of objects are on view at any given time. We’ll regroup at 2:00pm and head down 5th Avenue to Rockefeller Center which we will explore with our Group Leader before heading up to Top of the Rock Observatory for a bird's eye view of NYC.
Dinner:
We will walk to a neighborhood restaurant. Share favorite experiences with new Road Scholar friends during our farewell dinner.
Evening:
Returning to the hotel, the remainder of the evening is at leisure. Prepare for check-out and departure after our closing session in the morning.
Day
6
Living in New York City, Program Concludes
Location:
New York
Meals:
B
Activity Note
Hotel check-out 12:00 Noon.
Breakfast:
In the hotel's diner.
Morning:
We'll reconvene one final time in our meeting room for a closing discussion about NYC and how we experienced it this week. We expect the session to end by 10:30 a.m. Hotel check-out is 11:00 a.m. This concludes our program.
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Please Note:
This program has itinerary variations on certain dates.