6 days in NYC for me, seven of my girlfriends aged
25-32 and a teenage member of our extended friendcircle!
Day One
I flew Glasgow-Schipol-Newark: flight was fine but a bit late - meaning instead of us all heading into Manhattan together I changed plans at the last
minute and got the bus to Port Authority. I%26#39;d recommend it - only $15, took about 35 minutes and went straight into Midtown.
We checked in to the Comfort Inn on West 39th and Eighth Avenue, which I%26#39;d thoroughly recommend. Rooms pretty small but perfectly equipped, spotlessly clean and with free bottled water. Location fantastic too. Immediately afterwards we went exploring: a walk up 8th Avenue, through the Diamond District and on to Fifth Avenue, stopping at Sephora, Saks, St Patrick%26#39;s Cathedral and Ann Taylor.
Over the six days the 9 of us tended to do most things in smaller groups, so it was 6 of us who ended up going up to Top of the Rock. What an amazing experience! Just the trip up on the
elevator was staggering and thrillingly scary. Between the gaps in the Perspex around the edge of the 67th and 70th floors you could actually stick your hand out and touch fresh air I don%26#39;t know how many hundreds of feet up! The views
were truly awesome and for about 10 minutes we watched clouds descending down the Empire State Building and surrounding the tower until the top became invisible.
By that time it was about 7pm and we were exhausted so made our way on foot down to our hotel. On the way we got talking to a rickshaw guy named, I think,
Brendan. Said he was a struggling actor and we decided he had absolutely the best Scottish accent we%26#39;d ever heard on the US side of the Atlantic!
Food for the evening came from Hot and Crusty (sandwiches were both hot AND crusty) on 8th Avenue, which was a find and kept us going!
Day Two
We%26#39;d planned to go to Woodbury Commons on our first whole day in New York, so we were up very early. Our hotel provided free breakfast - cereals, bagels, muffins, fruit, waffles, yogurts, tea, coffee, juice, etc. We found it to be a real money-saver as although eating out anywhere in the US is
cheaper than the UK, NYC is the most expensive part of America I%26#39;ve been in and breakfast every day could have taken at least $10 out of each day%26#39;s shopping budget.
Even the bus from Port Authority to WC was fascinating, watching how close small-town America is to Manhattan and how different it is. I%26#39;d read about the Hudson River Valley and - shame on my geography - I didn%26#39;t realise that was where we actually were until a driver told me so.
WC would be worth at least half a day for any tourist, I%26#39;d think. I%26#39;ve been to Sawgrass Mills down in South Florida many times and expected it to be similar, which it was, but WC was outdoor and prettily-designed, which makes it a decent
trip even for someone who%26#39;s not a dedicated shopper. Coup for me was a L%26#39;Oreal (I think) outlet store, which was the first place where I%26#39;d ever seen Kiehl%26#39;s merchandise anything but full-price: I got about 12 different things for something like $60, which was just an unbelievable saving on UK prices. As well as Gap and other places to get the basics that cost twice as much in the UK, there were also outlets selling all the high-end American/European designers that you%26#39;d expect. My favourite purchase was a beautiful red jersey DKNY dress for about $40, which I wore to ...
... my birthday dinner at Carmine%26#39;s that night! I was such a lucky girl. My friends and I went out to Carmine%26#39;s in the Theater District, which we%26#39;d
seen online when we looked for an Italian restaurant near the hotel. Great reviews on here and a good choice for a large group like ours: the food was delicious, we got some lovely
photos and the atmosphere was loud and buzzy, which was just incredible and felt SO New York. Just when I was thinking how stuffed and exhausted I was, waiters started singing Happy Birthday and brought out a birthday cake topped with candles and lights and filled with I think every dessert on the menu! I got my second wind in time to hobble back down 8th Avenue in my red heels and red dress.
Day Three
Art and culture day. A couple of our group had been walking on 9th Avenue and we knew it was more ';residential'; and neighbourhood-y than the Avenues east of our hotel. We went along for a walk and sat down for breakfast at a place I think
was called the Westway Diner. We saw an older gentleman whose face we all recognised and we were fairly certain he was an actor. I have a vision of him in a role where he wore a straw hat and was driven mad wondering who he was but obviously he was having a meal and we were all brought up better than to disturb a stranger so we still don%26#39;t know his name. Anyone know if this sounds like a
regular at the Westway?!
Three of us then hopped in a cab up to the Upper East Side - driving up Madison Avenue was an experience in itself - to go to two different museums. My friends got out at the Guggenheim and I went on to the Museum of the City of New
York. What a staggering building, even just from the
outside. Imagine being one of the original wealthy residents when this stretch of Fifth Avenue was all family mansions?! I was lucky enough to see one
photography and one painting exhibition, then the Timescapes film narrated by Stanley Tucci, which I%26#39;d read about and was keen to see. If you can contemplate four hundred or so years of history in 25 minutes, this was it! The top floor was all about Broadway, which I loved, as I%26#39;m a huge fan. A small museum but one that is definitely worth a visit. The
gift shop was also great for New York books and souvenirs.
After this I%26#39;d planned to go to the Jewish Museum about 10 blocks or so south, but I%26#39;d already spent so long and I was also mindful it was Friday and the JM may close early, so I decided just to walk around instead. I%26#39;ve read lots of books about President Kennedy and his wife, so as I was walking down Fifth
Avenue I noted that I walked by Mrs Kennedy%26#39;s old apartment building. The view of Central Park and the Met from all of these buildings must be utterly
unbelievable so I%26#39;ve now decided that if I ever have enough $$$, that%26#39;s where my NYC pied-a-terre will be!
With a couple of hours to kill before meeting up again, I decided to go for a walk around the Upper East Side. I walked and walked and walked, stopping in at a Park Avenue church to have a quiet moment, which was lovely. I had heard great things about Madison Avenue shopping but it all seemed too expensive to me. However, I did buy a perfume in Jo Malone and some shampoo from Zytomer Pharmacy, which I%26#39;d also read about from the Glasgow side of the pond.
When I reached Central Park South after 50-odd blocks walking I was hungry so stopped by Pop, a Warhol-themed hamburger place. Food was not great (expensive and the burgers were pink in the middle and dry at the edges), but the walls were something else! Papered with prints of Campbells Soup
cans; fabulous.
Friday afternoons between, I think, 4 and 7, the Museum of Modern Art has free admission. We all met up on 5th at the St Patrick%26#39;s steps (a great meeting place for tourists as it%26#39;s so recognisable - we had a bit of a moment after some of my friends agreed to meet at the Trump Tower and then realised there was more than one!) and wandered down. I just regretted we were so tired because I think there was lots to see that we may have missed, but it was worth it anyway.
We waited for a taxi but since the cab fairies weren%26#39;t on our side we went across the road for a drink at Connolly%26#39;s bar. A fun enough place but a bit of a swindle if you%26#39;re expecting an Irish bar!
Back at the hotel I was too tired to do much so I took a walk around the corner for some good cheap Thai takeaway at a place called Aceluck on 39th
and 9th Avenue. After that it was back to our room to play ';real or fake?'; with my friends as we watched Miss USA on the flatscreen TV in our room.
Day Four
Another hotel breakfast, then the subway down to South Ferry to walk through Battery Park for the ferry to Ellis Island. Unfortunately this was pretty much the only disappointment of our trip, because it was so foggy that ferries were off.
Instead we walked up through Lower Manhattan and I took some joke pictures embracing the huge bronze bull in the Financial District! It%26#39;s anatomically
correct and everything. That beats the sh1t out of my brother%26#39;s ';high-fiving the outstretched hands of the huddled masses sculpture'; picture! Hee hee!
We popped into Daffy%26#39;s (which was disappointing) and Century 21, which most of us really liked but I didn%26#39;t. I thought the men%26#39;s selection was better than the women%26#39;s, definitely.
Outside, Ground Zero now seems like a real hive of building work, but of course for everyone who sees it you can%26#39;t help but stop and be still and silent.
For lunch we found a wee deli out the back of Century 21 on Broadway. We were lucky enough to have the use of an American cellphone, which was bought pretty cheaply by my brother and ended up being better value than the cards and definitely much cheaper than using the hotel phones. A few of us were keen to see something on Broadway and I was desperately keen to see David Hyde Pierce in
Curtains, so while we sat down I made a couple of calls to the box office and got us seats for that night%26#39;s performance! More on that in a moment ...
We walked around Canal Street, Tribeca and SoHo for a couple of hours, which was fun. I%26#39;m quite embarrassed to admit I took a picture of the Law and Order court steps. The Pearl River Mart was cool, as was Uniqlo. They were doing some cool art-scene inspired clothes and I picked up a Jean Michel Basquiat t-shirt. Kind of sad now that I didn%26#39;t get a Keith Haring too, but they didn%26#39;t seem cut for a
woman so much.
Curtains was a great show, and what a stunning venue. Our tickets were fairly near the back but just before curtain-up we were invited to take unused seats closer to the front. The show was great and afterwards we waited at the stage door. All the cast were friendly and charming, but Debra Monk and David Hyde Pierce stood out as complete professionals, totally polite and chatty. We asked
each of them if we could take a photograph, and each one took the time to pose and smile. SO exciting for a DHP fan.
Day Five
Another breakfast in the hotel, after which some of our group went to Mass at St Patrick%26#39;s and I went for a walk up to Fifth Avenue, as I%26#39;d promised to bring back some shopping. I walked along West 39th and kept my eyes open, and where it crossed Broadway I looked down to the right and saw what I think may have been the Flatiron building down to the south. Then I walked up Sixth Avenue and through Bryant Park, which was amazingly quiet for midtown Manhattan. I spent an hour or so browsing through Barnes and Noble and had planned to sit with a
coffee and check out my purchases, but eventually I realised I was running late and had to rush to Saks to buy the MAC stuff my friend back home wanted.
After a quick dash in and out, I ran out and hailed a cab in a frenzied rush. I felt like SUCH a native!
One of the highlights of the whole trip was the BB King Harlem Gospel Choir Brunch Buffet! That was incredible. The music was unbelievable and felt like a religious experience all of its own. The soul food was fun too! The gig lasted a little over an hour and included a section where members of the audience who were celebrating birthdays got up onstage! GODDDD! That was incredible. Seriously, I ADORE Broadway but you can see a hundred good plays - I can%26#39;t think of another experience like the Gospel Choir anywhere else. Unbelievable.
After that we went our separate ways for a few hours. For me it was some souvenir shopping in Times Square and a browse round Macy%26#39;s. I tried to find a
bar called Jack Demsey%26#39;s which I%26#39;d heard was worth a visit, but couldn%26#39;t find it. Back to the hotel for a rest and then that night we had dinner at the Hard
Rock Cafe. I loved the Studio54 logo; I do think a disco museum is something Manhattan%26#39;s missing! If there is something like that there and I%26#39;ve just never heard of it, please feel free to let me know cos I%26#39;d love to see it!
Day Six
Last day. I spent most of the morning tootling around various places on my own so that I could strike them off my list. Breakfast at the hotel; subway to Union Square, taking a photo of the statue I thought was Lincoln but could%26#39;ve been Washington or another venerable American; I then walked across to the Lower East Side to go to the Life Cafe as I%26#39;m a big Rent fan (surprisingly small on the inside if you%26#39;ve seen the film). On the way I noticed a church called St Mark%26#39;s and that%26#39;s when I realised I was in the Bowery! I spotted an Urban Outfitters a couple of blocks along and quickly ran in to grab a t-shirt a couple of my friends had already bought: ';Obama for Yo Mama';!
I hopped in a taxi to Greenwich Village with the intention of trying to find CO Bigelow but couldn%26#39;t. Instead I saw the Stonewall Inn and so took a picture of there for the historical value. After that it was a walk back up 8th Avenue to be at the hotel in time to go home. I bought a scoop of ice cream from Ben and Jerry%26#39;s and then met up with friends for a quick final wander around Times
Square for a couple of last minute gifts. We had wanted to get a mani-pedi but there seemed to be fewer nail places along 8th Avenue than there were a few years ago.
Given that there were 9 of us, we asked the hotel reception to book us a minibus and it worked perfectly well - the drive down took us through the Meatpacking District, which was an area I hadn%26#39;t seen.
Journey home was the usual tiring and dull schlep across various countries. I couldn%26#39;t find any duty free section in Terminal B at Newark and so I was on my own at a stuffy and dull gate with CNN on a loop. Schipol%26#39;s brilliant sleeping chairs were as great as usual for getting a rest, but a word of warning: I found Schipol to be incredibly expensive. I didn%26#39;t have euros since I was only stopping over but I bought a bowl of soup with my debit card which was 拢6!!! A small coffee bought with dollars cost $4!!!
NYC is as amazing as always. Back in a couple of weeks for a three-day weekend and would welcome any suggestion of things we missed this time around ...
TRIP REPORT: A wee bit late, but here we go anyway!
I enjoyed reading this report. Thanks!
TRIP REPORT: A wee bit late, but here we go anyway!
I enjoyed reading your very interesting and informative report with a lot of detail for future visitors. With 9 individuals, you almost had to split up but it%26#39;s even a good idea for much smaller groups because not everyone has the same interests. I%26#39;m glad you enjoyed the Museum of the City of New York where not too many visitors go but always has interesting exhibits and as you said can be seen in a fairly short period of time.
THe movie at the Museum of the City of NY is great, and a visit here is definately worth the time. And I agree, the gift shop is wonderful.
How about exploring The Lower East Side next time? Great places to eat and try to visit The Tenement Museum, very interesting and informative.
Hi wendykroy!
You must have had RSI after that! Great trip report, I enjoy wandering about on my own, that way you can suit yourself. Last time I was in HRC I took a photo of the Studio54 sign for my daughter. I agree with you, I%26#39;m surprised there%26#39;s no Disco Museum or is there...?
Think the majority of airports are expensive if you%26#39;re using anything other than the local currency, I always have a little currency lurking around if I%26#39;m going %26#39;via%26#39; anywhere (too tight to part with more than I have to;)
Thanks for sharing!
M
Great report Wendy and here%26#39;s the link to JD%26#39;s:
http://www.jackdemseys.com/home/
Great boozer and i%26#39;ll be in there on Thursday night for a pint. I%26#39;ll tell them you couldn%26#39;t find it :-) BTW it%26#39;s right next to ESB.
Can%26#39;t wait as it%26#39;s been 8 years since i%26#39;ve been in New York so roll on Thursday.
Thanks again!!!
Next time your in New York i%26#39;d recommend a New York Mets game in Queens :-)
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