New York for The Three Generations: a Friday-to-Monday weekend
Steel, steam, and a harbour that never sleeps.
A weekend everyone can keep up with. Flat routes and places to sit, a boat or a funicular for the view, one highlight a day that works at eight and at eighty, and dinners with a long table.
Friday: The terrace and the tavern
- Bethesda Terrace and the Mall
A flat walk down the elm-lined Mall to the fountain and the lake, with benches all the way; the most civilised stretch of the park.
- Central Park Carousel
The 1908 carousel is a gentle ride for every generation, with a bench alongside for those who prefer to watch.
- Tavern on the Green
A grand room in the park with long tables and a menu that suits a multigenerational table; the garden is lit at night.
Saturday: Dinosaurs and a diner
- American Museum of Natural History
Lifts, benches and wheelchair access throughout; go to the dinosaurs on the fourth floor and the blue whale and call it done.
- Jacob's Pickles
A lively Upper West Side restaurant with a family atmosphere and buttermilk biscuits; long tables and a menu for every age.
- Strawberry Fields
A flat memorial garden with the Imagine mosaic and benches; a short, sunny walk from the restaurant.
Sunday: The orange ferry
- Staten Island Ferry
Free, with seats indoors and a deck outside: twenty-five minutes across the harbour past the Statue of Liberty, and back.
- Fraunces Tavern
A 1762 tavern with long wooden tables where Washington said farewell to his officers; the pub lunch is hearty and the room is calm.
- National Museum of the American Indian
A free museum in the Custom House rotunda, with lifts and benches; a quiet hour at the end of the day.
Monday: The grand museum and a Viennese lunch
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Lifts and wheelchair loans at the door and benches in every gallery; choose the Egyptian wing and the Temple of Dendur.
- Café Sabarsky
A Viennese café on Museum Mile, with Sachertorte and a melange; the room has long banquettes suitable for a table of generations.
- Great Lawn benches
A flat walk to the Great Lawn, with benches around it and the skyline beyond; a gentle last look before the airport.