Trip report Feb 2nd to 7th

We have just got back from New York after a fabulous 5 days, firstly can I thank everyone for all the ideas and advice, I don%26#39;t often post but I read several times a day! Having an itinary and good walking shoes is the best advice ever. The resturant information is invaluable, although I didn%26#39;t think it would be and only made a list on the night before we went, but my two sides of jottings went everywhere with us and we had some amazing meals.

Originally my partner and I were going to New York, but at the last minute my sister came with us so we had to do flight and hotel shuffling. We stayed at Hotel 41 (it was everything we hoped for and we absolutely loved it!) Jenny stayed at the Milford Plaza (which was a lot better than expected, but she did have a high storey corner room)

We met up, after different flights, at Newark Airport. It took us about 20 minutes max to go through immigration.The weather was cold but really sunny. I had pre-booked a car from Carmel Limo (just before all the grotty reports, so I was slightly worried) The car arrived within 10 minutes, was absolutely spotless and the driver was really nice and chatted and pointed out all the passing land marks - I would definately use them again.

We spent about an hour unpacking and wrapping up then set about exploring at about 6pm. We decided to start of with a night time ESB view to get us right in the mood. There was no queues, and we went straight up. It was fantastic! I have to agree about the staff at the ESB, they were the only unpleasant New Yorkers we met (and decided that if they moved to the immigration department they would be fast tracked for promotion!)

We spent the rest of the evening walking down to Grand Central Station (loved it), St Patricks Catherdral, 5th Avenue, and generally soaking up the atmosphere. We had planned to go the Rockerfeller Centre Rainbow Rooms, but all forgot not to wear jeans, we didn%26#39;t see the iceskating because they were %26#39;hoovering%26#39; the rink, but we didn%26#39;t mind because it was so nice anyway! We eventually ended up back at Times Square and I spotted Carmines, so we went in on the off chance of a table and were seated within 5 minutes. The food is HUGE! It was really good fun, but you need at least 6 people! We went back to the hotels with aching feet and were exhausted!

I had arranged to have a Big Apple Greeter on the Thursday at 11am. We had woken early so had walked to Macy%26#39;s with the work crowds (that was good fun and just how we imagined New York to be!) but Macy%26#39;s didn%26#39;t open until 10am, so we just wandered around being excited! Chuck, our greeter was brill! We spent the day walking round Soho, China Town, Little Italy and Greenwich Village. We had lunch at a little Chinese place that we would never have dared go in alone, it was fantastic, and so cheap! We went to Dean and Delucca%26#39;s for a nosey round, and just had the most wondeful day, we walked and talked for miles! I would reccommend a greeter more than anything, we all got on brilliantly and it gave us so much confidence to go exploring, using the subway, checking our itinery and we learnt such a lot.

Chuck left us at 4pm and we used the subway unsupervised - that was really good fun and so easy. We had a big slice of New York cheesecake and hot chocolate on the way home, just to rest our feet! We had booked for The Producers at night, we had good seats but were all really disappointed with it after reading such good reviews. We were still full after the cheesecake and were so tired we went straight back to the hotel afterwards!

On friday I had booked Tavern on the Green for lunch (resturant week menu!!!) So we did fifth avenue, FAO Shwartz (we were hours in there and loved it) then Bloomingdales (we bought 6 pairs of Nick and Nora pjamas for $12 a pair in the sale - bargain) Then walked through Central Park and the remains of last weeks snow to Tavern on the Green. It was over the top indulgence and we had a lovely time! The food was delicious, the service excellent and the Crystal Room is so pretty. We went back through the park to Bloomingdales and bought lots of boots (!) in the sale this time.

In the evening my partner and I had booked for 12 Angry Men, Jenny wanted to see Mama Mia and got box office tickets with the Broadwaybox print outs (I took a selection with me so we could see more shows if we fancied) We all really enjoyed the shows that night and all came out buzzing! We had to wait for Jenny out side the theatre, which was right next to Ellens Starlight Diner - we had a great time in there, a really fun place to go. It fills up really quick once the shows finish though, but we managed to get in just before the rush.

On Saturday we had planned Century 21, the Stattern Island Ferry and Brooklyn Bridge. We were undecided whether we should do the ferry or Century 21 first (all three of us shop till we drop and were worried about carrying too many bags!), thank goodness we did Century 21, we stood outside until opening then shopped like people possessed (sunglasses, numerous handbags and underwear, we especially liked the recipts that told you how much you had saved, I paid for the holiday in 1.5 hours!)

We went to St Pauls%26#39;s church, which we all found very moving. The Stattern island ferry trip was excellent, unfortunately the water taxis weren%26#39;t working so we walked through Seaport and to the Brooklyn Bridge and walked over it (we were going to do half way and back, but as our feet were so sore we decided on all the way and a taxi ) We went for a late lunch at Katz%26#39;s Deli - that is an amazing place, we loved it and could have spent hours people watching. We got a taxi (maddest taxi driver in New York) back to Century 21 and had another rummage - then got the subway home to do a bit more shopping in Macy%26#39;s before going back to the hotels to change. We were going to go to Joe Allens for dinner but ended up in an Irish bar up the road from it, our only %26#39;just okay%26#39; meal on the holiday.

On sunday we started with a daytime ESB visit - a 20 minute wait but very crowded at the top. Then had a really relaxed day shopping and looking around midtown, we had lunch in the Carniegie Deli, it was the first day we didn%26#39;t have sore feet! At night we went to an Irish bar for a few drinks then headed to Joe Allens - what a nice resturant, the food and service were excellent. We all got in far to late and a little worse for wear!

On our last morning we went to Bloomingdales and then Serendipity for frozen hot chocolates. We did some last minute shopping and then went back to our hotels to wait for our car to the airport (Carmel Limo again, on time, clean and lovely driver)

We had an absolutely wonderful 5 days. We seemed to pack such a lot in and saw such a lot (it sounds as though we did loads of shopping, we did but it was so easy to shop and see at the same time) We all loved the food and one of the nice things was trying to get in all the different types of New York food experiences in (the resturant list was consulted several times daily!) We were concerned how cold it would be whilst we we%26#39;re there, in fact this wasn%26#39;t an issue at all, we wrapped up with scarves, gloves and thermals and were never really cold (although the weather was lovely on the saturday and sunday anyway.) One of the things that amazed us was how much bigger or smaller everything was to what we expected - the ESB and the skyscrapers are so big, the Statue of Liberty much smaller, the distances are walkable (and you see so much when walking) the subway is great. New York was so what we had expected but more so, it%26#39;s weird seeing things that are on the TV all so close together. People are really freindly and helpful, and we always felt safe and totally unthreatened, the amount of police was really amazing. The Big Apple Greeter program is wonderful.

Once again thank you for all the help that we were able to get from this site, it really did make our holiday unforgettable!

Trip report Feb 2nd to 7th

Hi,

So glad you had such a great time. I am also taking a list of the restaurants from this forum, hoping for some inspiration. Looks like it will be worth it.

Hope we can do half as much as you managed to fit in.

Pat

Trip report Feb 2nd to 7th

clarissa,

Please would you say in what way you were disappointed by The Producers ?

We saw the film again recently and quite fancied the show after deciding against 700 Sundays.

If we like the film - we will like the show. Right ?

PatG, all the resturants we went to were really good, Katz%26#39;s Deli was my favorite for atmosphere and totally unexpectedness value, we were so glad we went. The steak, service and atmosphere at Joe Allens were excellent and perfect for our last night. All of the places we ate were special though, and we%26#39;ve talked about them all loads of times since.

Pino, if you liked the humour you may enjoy it. We all thought the acting was appalling and although some parts were very funny, there was not enough of them to make up for the hammy acting throughout. The second half was the best, but by that stage two of us kept dropping off to sleep. We all were so disappointed that we only went to the theatre the following night because we had bought tickets, but all of came out that night with the buzzing you usually get after a show.

Fabulous report! I loved your comment about relocating the ESB clerks to immigration!

Re ';The Producers'; ... it was one of my favorites. Saw it several times with the original cast, and once with a replacement cast. Unfortunately, it just didn%26#39;t hold up. Matthew Broderick%26#39;s and (especially) Nathan Lane%26#39;s departure left an unfillable hole in the show. Plus, the humor is definitely not for everyone.

Clarissa, I think Century 21 has restocked since your visit. Time to book a return trip for the spring.

Yay for Big Apple Greeter!!! (There are many of us lurking on this forum.)

Bettina, I can%26#39;t speak highly enough about Big Apple Greeters. Everyone should have one! We had such a wonderful time that day and saw all sorts of things that would have passed us by. Being shown how to use the subway was invaluable. One of the nice thing was being able to ask those stupid questions that you have wondered about for years, we read lot of American murder books and there are all sorts of things we had questions about (what does a %26#39;brownstone%26#39; look like?), our greeter also liked a good murder and told us to visit the %26#39;Mysterious Book Shop%26#39; near Central Park, which we did but it was shut when we went. It was lots of little things like that that made our visit so much more than it would have been if we hadn%26#39;t had a greeter.

I can%26#39;t believe the amount we brought back with us, I can now see that the pink suede boot and $40 of Hershey%26#39;s chocolates may have been a little over enthusiastic!!!!

What a fantastic trip report! You really packed your days full, didn%26#39;t you!

Glad you enjoyed Hotel 41! We stayed there in December and loved it so much we are staying there again in April. I think it%26#39;s perfect for couples and the location is fantastic!

Jeez! Bet you sleep for a week after your hols! Sounds like you had a great time Clarissa. Ive only got 6weeks left to go! Caroline x

clarissa, Bettina,

Have decided to plump for Good Vibrations - we are easily swayed.

Thanks for your comments !

Hi Clarissa, glad you had a fab time in NY. We are flying out this Sunday til following Sunday and I was wondering did you bring back more than 锟斤拷145 in gifts, have been reading that that is all you can bring back. Have been getting good advice off these wonderful people on this site and intend taking tags off certain things, but want to bring trainers back and will be more than three pairs!! Any advice u can give would be appreciated. Thanx

Roverman, we took most of Century 21%26#39;s stock home with us!!!! Each time I go to the US I try my hardest to only buy 锟斤拷145 worth of %26#39;stuff%26#39;, it just doesn%26#39;t work!!!!!! We take as little as possible with us, pack an extra huge holdall each, then buy as much as we can, I think it%26#39;s an illness!!!!!

More seriously, we have tha attitude that everything is so much cheaper than home and it virtually pays for the holiday by getting the next few months clothing, presents etc. If we get stopped at customs we are happy to face the consequences. We take reasonable precautions, such as removing SOME tickets (but apparently if you get a designer bag for $150, that should be $400 and you%26#39;ve taken the tickets off you will be taxed on the full amount) We wear a lot of clothes there, so they don%26#39;t appear new. We have never been stopped at customs yet (touch wood!) We tend to buy lots of cheap stuff, rather than expensive things, like cameras.

This time it was a bit scarey though because my partner has the same name as a %26#39;bad person%26#39; who isn%26#39;t allowed to fly and his passport had a message come up at check-in at Newark. He had a different date of birth, but was given extra security searches and we had unusual stickers on our cases when we got home! I fully expected being stopped at Manchester, but there was a customs officer to be seen. Aparently there are plans to increase the limit which is ridiculous in this day and age.