Trip Report - Part 2

Day 3

We started with breakfast at our usual place, John鈥檚, before taking the subway to 8th %26amp; 50th where we collected our tour tickets from the Gray Line office. We waited in a long queue for the uptown loop (with Harlem %26amp; The Cloisters). Once we were finally on the bus we saw (in no particular order) Lincoln Centre, Dakota Building, Columbus Circle, Cathedral of St John The Divine, Cotton Club, Apollo Theatre and Grants Tomb. We left our bus at The Apollo and joined our trolley bus to take us through Harlem and on to The Cloisters. To be honest we didn鈥檛 really enjoy the museum but that鈥檚 just down to personal taste and interest. The surrounding gardens, however, were beautiful and would make a great spot for a picnic (we saw several people doing this and wished we had done the same). Our friendly tour guide pointed out that you can take the bus or the subway there if you wanted to make the trip on your own. We got back to The Apollo where we re-joined the Gray Line bus which had the most rude, obnoxious tour guide we have ever come across! He was awful. He ridiculed people for asking questions that he obviously thought were silly and kept repeating about how they work from tips and was almost demanding that people leave a tip when they leave the bus. Needless to say, few people left a tip and you could hear him muttering at how unfair it was! I couldn鈥檛 stand to listen to the guy any more so we got off the bus, without leaving a tip, at Grand Army Plaza and walked back to our hotel where we had a sleep before getting ready to go to Tavern on The Green later that evening. I know few New Yorkers would recommend TOTG but we wanted to try it and we weren鈥檛 disappointed. The service and food were really nice. Also, as it was our anniversary during our stay, I had arranged for a cake to be brought to the table as a surprise for my husband . He was really pleased and me being me, shed a tear - must be the emotion of our 10th anniversary AND being in New York! After our meal and champagne we took a cab back to the hotel.

Day 4

Breakfast at John鈥檚 (again) before returning to the hotel , checking-out and leaving our luggage. We took the subway (we were slowly getting used to the subway by this point) to Bloomingdale鈥檚. We had a good look around in there and amazingly didn鈥檛 buy anything for ourselves - just a medium brown bag that I know a friend of mine wanted). We then decided to go on The Roosevelt Island Tram as last time we went on it the weather was bad and we didn鈥檛 get the best view. We had to wait about 15 minutes before we could come back over on the tram because a new window had to be fitted. The tram is a really cheap thing to try and gives you a different view - something different to try. We headed back to our hotel from here, collected our luggage and got a cab to our next destination - The Waldorf Towers. We went to check in but our room wasn鈥檛 ready to we headed to Sir Harry鈥檚 for a drink followed by champagne afternoon tea on the Cocktail Terrace. Really nice little sandwiches, scones and cakes but we could hardly move after it. Our 34th floor room had become available and it was fantastic. I say room, but it was a suite and we couldn鈥檛 fault it. It was large, spotlessly clean and really comfortable with views of St Bart鈥檚 and Lexington. We were both really tired to decided to stay in, get room service and watch TV. Room service (burger and fries again) was delivered quickly and was really, really nice. The chap who brought our order could see we were watching TV so set up a little table in front of it with our food, water, little chocolates and a rose (I love the little extra touches).

Day 5

We started the day a little more refreshed and had an early breakfast at John鈥檚 before getting the subway to Union Sq 14th St for The Slice of Brooklyn Pizza Tour. It was just a shame the weather had changed and it rained, heavily, all day. We鈥檝e done the pizza tour before so knew what to expect. It was as good as we remembered it. Tony, the tour guide, is a proud Brooklynite who delivers the tour with passion, enthusiasm and humour. He takes you around Brooklyn explaining it鈥檚 history and it鈥檚 pizza. You stop at Grimaldi鈥檚 for Neapolitan style pizza and L%26amp;B Spumoni gardens for Sicilian pizza, both of which are amazing. You also get to see Coney Island which unfortunately was closed up due to the weather. We鈥檝e said it before, but this tour is brilliant and a really great way to see Brooklyn - a 鈥榤ust-do鈥?if you like to do something a little bit different. We were dropped off at the end of the tour at Union Sq where we took the subway back to the hotel where we had a rest before going to see Phantom Of The Opera. We saw this on our first NY trip back in 2004 and had loved it but this time we were a little disappointed. It just didn鈥檛 seem as polished a performance. We did still enjoy it but not as much as last time. From here we headed to Flue Champagne Lounge at Broadway %26amp; 54th. We started with cocktails and, as it was our anniversary that day, we had a bottle of champagne. It鈥檚 a lovely little place, not cheap, but really nice for hanging out and enjoying a drink. We finally left here around 2.30 and realised we were hungry. We spotted Ray鈥檚 pizza across the street so headed there for the biggest slice of pizza I鈥檝e ever seen. We slowly walked back (slightly merry after all our champagne) and eventually arrived back at our hotel around 3.30am.

Trip Report - Part 2

Happy Anniversary, there has to be worse places to celebrate than in NYC and you celebrated in style ending with champagne and pizza.

Trip Report - Part 2

Sounds like lots of fun and Happy Anniversary.

Thank you!

Not sure that pizza and champagne quite go together but what the heck!

Champagne goes with anything in my book.

Good point - I think I have to agree!

on to part 3