PLEASE NOTE: The following was the itinerary for the May 2008 (last year's)
trip to New York City. This year's (May 2009) will be very similar. The
price for this three day trip will be approximately $700. per student; this
trip is open to all grade 7 and 8 Spanish students. I will be sending home
information about this trip in late September. Any questions, just email me
at: tsferes@biddschools.org. ´!Gracias!
The COMPLETE itinerary for this year's New York City trip is now available!
(SEE BELOW!) This year's itinerary will include visits to a Cuban
restaurant, New York's most famous Mexican restaurant- Gonzalez y Gonzalez
in Greenwich Village, the Hispanic Society of America which contains
paintings by Goya, El Greco and Velazquez, Medieval Times, Central Park,
Ground Zero, the Empire State Building Observatory (on 86th floor of this
102 story building!),the Skyscraper Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of
Art,the Cloisters, a 12th century European monastery built with stone from
churches throughout Spain and France, the Hayden Planetarium, and the
Museum of Natural History, plus a tour of uptown and downtown Manhatten,
including the major Latino neighborhoods!
(Note; The $700. fee includes two nights at a secure, nationally recognized
hotel in the New York City area, round-trip private motor coach transportation
(Biddeford Middle School-New York City, )breakfast(except on first day) and
dinner daily, one beverage at each meal, a full-time EF Tour Director,
professional overnight hotel security on student floor, entrance fees,
guided tours, and activities listed in itinerary. NOT included in the fee
are lunches, gratuities for tour director, local guide, and motor coach
driver, and porterage(we will ask for $10. per student to cover ALL
gratuities!.
Any questions? Just email me (Señor Sferes) by clicking on the email icon
on my homepage! Pase un buen dia!
OUR COMPLETE ITINERARY:
DAY 1 - FRIDAY, MAY 18, 2007
Depart School for New York at 7:00a.m.
ARRIVAL IN NYC
Arrival in New York City: The Big Apple!
WALKING TOUR OF MIDTOWN
Your tour director will take you on a short orientation tour that will begin
at the world-famous lower plaza, where one of your classmates can take your
picture in front of the guilded bstatue of Prometheus. Next, you will walk
into the lobby of the 70-story General Electric Building for an introduction
to the magnificent murals of Spanish artists José María Sert, and your Tour
Director will tell you why the Rockerfellers commissioned Sert, in 1932, to
paint over the original mural painted by Mexican artists Diego Rivera.
Afterwards, proceed through the Channel Gardens and across Fifth Avenue, to
the 150 year-old Saint Patrick's Cathedral. Though it is located at the
center of midtown manhatten, and is now dwarfed by nearby skyscarpers, it
was thought by its parishioners, when construction began before the Civil
War, to be too far out in the country.
3:15 PM HISPANIC SOCIETY OF AMERICA
¡Bienvenidos a España! This is a museum and research library founded in 1904
and dedicated to the the study of the art, history and literature of the
Iberian Peninsula. Upon arrival, you will begin your visit in the Spanish
Renaissance style Main Court, where you will view a significant collection
of 14th-19th century Spanish Masters including Goya, Velazquez and El
Greco. Before you leave the Hispanic Society, you will visit the Sorolla
Room where your guide will tell you about the costumes, events and
activities of all the regions of Spain depicted in the unforgettable murals
of Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida.
4:15 PM FREE TIME IN CENTRAL PARK
Enjoy free time in New York's famous Central Park!
5:30 PM DINNER AT GONZALEZ Y GONZALEZ
Enjoy a visit to Greenwich Village where you will have dinner at Gonzalez y
Gonzalez, a popular Mexican Cantina that is well known for its authentic
food and its extensive collection of traditional Mexican folk art. There,
upon arrival, you will have a three-course Mexican dinner beginning with
dopa de tortilla (corn and onion bisque baked with tortillas and cheese), a
fajita platter and dessert.
7:00 PM EMPIRE STATE BUILDING AND OBSERVATORY
This evening, view the city from the Empire State Building's observation
deck on the 86th floor of this 102 story, 1,250 ft. tall building! Once the
world's tallest building, the Empire State Building remains one of
Manhatten's most elegant symbols. Built in just over a year during the
depths of the Depression, this limestone beauty's iconic status was sealed
in 1933, when the building starred in "KingKong." Since the 1976
bicentennial celebration, the building's top stories have glowed at night
with seasonal colors.
10:00 PM ARRIVAL AT OUR HOTEL: RADDISON HOTEL SADDLE BROOK NJ
Arrive at your hotel, only minutes across the Hudson River from midtown
Manhatten, check in, and get some well-deserved rest.
DAY 2 SATURDAY, MAY 19, 2007
8:30 AM BREAKFAST AT LA FLORIDITA
Enjoy a typical Cuban breakfast of panqueques and fried plantain at La
Floridita, a modern Cuban restaurant on Broadway.
10:00 AM GUIDED CLOISTERS TOUR
Arrive at the Cloisters: a 12th century European monastery built with stone
from churches throughout France and Spain. The Cloisters' hilltop location,
in a park overlooking the Hudson River, is said to be the closest
approximation of a European setting anywhere in North America. Your visit
will begin in the Cuxa Cloister, a much-photograohed courtyard,
reconstructed from a monastery in the northeastern Pyrenees that had, at
various times, been in both France and Spain as the border moved back and
forth during the periods of hostilities between the two countries. Among
other things, you will visit the Fuenteduena Chapel, which had been
painstakingly dismantled, stone-by-stone, in the Spanish village of
Fuenteduena, and reconstructed at the Cloisters as a permanent loan from the
government of Spain. Lastly, do not miss the maignificent Unicorn
Tapestries. After your tour, you will have a few minutes to browse in the
museum's gift shop.
12:00 PM LUNCH AT YOUR OWN EXPENSE
Walk through the IBM Atrium and into the beautiful lobby of the Trump
Tower. There, you can have lunch at your own expense on the lower level, or
you can walk to other inexpensive options on 57th Street. Afterwards, you
will be free for 1/2 hour to explore 5th Avenue!
3:00 PM HAYDEN PLANETARIUM
Visit the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History
7:00 PM DINNER/SHOW AT MEDIEVAL TIMES
Tonight you will experience an evening of soccery, pageantry and
horsemanship. Begin your visit at the Spanish castle of Count Don Raimundo
II, and take a journey back to 11th century Spain, in the time of ElCid,
where chivalry and knights in shining armor still exist. You will enjoy a
dinner (no silverware!) of: garlic bread, fresh vegetable soup, 1/2 roasted
chicken, spare-ribs, herb-basted potato, and pastries of the Castle for
dessert. The evening will begin in the Grand Arena where your knight will
compete on horseback with five other knights from the various regions of
Spain in medieval games of skill and accuracy.
10:00 PM ARRIVAL BACK AT YOUR HOTEL
DAY 3 SUNDAY, MAY 20, 2007
7:30 AM BREAKFAST
Enjoy an expanded continental breakfast at your hotel, including at least
one hot item such as eggs or pancakes. Cereal, fruit, juices, as well as
bread and pastry assortments are also included.
9:00 AM SKYCSRAPER MUSEUM
Located in New York City, the world's first and foremost vertical
metropolis, the Skycraper Museum celebrates the city's rich architectural
hertiage and examines the historical forces and individuals that have shaped
its successive skylines. Through exhibitions, programs, and publications,
the museum explores tall buildings as objects od design, products of
technology, sites of construction, investments in real estate, and places of
work and residence.
11:00 AM METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART (UNGUIDED)
Arrive at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where your visit will begin with a
brief orientation in the 16th century Velez Blanco Patio, then you will
visit the permanent exhibit of the Spanish Masters from the Met's collection
of 3,000 European paintings. Following your viewing of the magnificient
works of Goya, El Greco, and Velazquez, your group will be free for an hour
to view some of the icons of the American Wing, including "George Washington
crossing the Delaware," and a number of other very familiar works by Grant
Wood, Edward Hoppera and Georgia O'Keefe. In short, there will be something
here to inspire every member of the group.
1:00p.m. WE WILL BEGIN OUR JOURNEY HOME FROM THE BIG APPLE ("LA MANZANA
GRANDE)!
Need more information? See or email Sr. Sferes or Srta. Brazier!
