Report: New York trip

ncmc

Hello all, this is the trip report from our recent trip to New York City. It was just myself and my husband, 31 and 33 respectively. It was my first time in NYC, my husband was there 10 years ago with a friend. We stayed 9 nights in New York at The Mansfield Hotel on 44th street between 5th and 6th Avenues. The hotel is beautiful and full of character and the location is second to none.

Day 1 – Sat August 28th – We were flying from Shannon into Newark with Continental, I like flying with Continental, they have pretty good food and entertainment options. We arrived into Newark ahead of schedule (before 11am New York time). We had decided to take the Express Bus into Newark rather than the train. We weren’t waiting long for a bus, but it was a bit of a free for all when the bus arrived (there’s a queue people!) and the drivers weren’t very nice. In hindsight, I regretted not taking the train, we got stuck for ages at the Lincoln Tunnel so it was quite a slow way of travelling. But the plus side is that you get a great view of the Manhattan skyline as you drive in. We felt it was good value at $25 return per person.
We were dropped at Bryant Park and immediately felt a bit overwhelmed! We orientated ourselves pretty quickly and headed to the hotel (in the right direction I’m proud to say – as I was chief navigator for the trip!) The hotel was only 2 blocks from Bryant Park and was on a lovely quiet cross street, it felt a world away from busy 5th Avenue, even though it was less than 100 yards away! My husband had emailed the manager to say we were celebrating our 10th anniversary during our stay, and he had upgraded us to a suite! I was so happy as stuff like that normally only happens to other people! I was also really surprised as we had booked the room through a third party website called Yeego.com which was literally half the price of the hotels website. We only paid $150 per night including taxes and I was convinced we would be put in the smallest room in the place.

We dumped our bags, had a quick change and headed back out. We went up to Bryant Park to have a look and had a couple of hotdogs for lunch. It’s a nice park and was really buzzing at that time on a Saturday. We strolled down to Rockefeller Centre and had a look round there, on down to 6th Avenue and down to Times Square. I presumed that Times Square was THE place to stay in New York. I was SO happy that our hotel was a few blocks away. I actually grew to hate Times Square as time went on, it is so busy and crowded and full of my pet peeve – people who stop in the middle of the footpath with no warning. We had a look round Times Square before heading back to our room for a rest.

We came out again at about 7pm and walked up 5th Avenue. We were popping into some shops and having a mooch about, we decided to have a look inside St Patrick’s Cathedral. It is a beautiful church. We walked up 5th Avenue as far as Central Park and experienced our first New York disappointment…. FAO Schwartz! I had really looking forward to this store, but it wasn’t near as big or impressive as I expected. I don’t think it has a patch on Hamley’s in London.
Our bellies were rumbling at this stage so we headed down to Times Square (good grief, it’s even worse at night!) we decided to eat in Olive Garden, we have fond memories of OG in Orlando, so it was on our To Do list! We were told the wait would be an hour but a waiter took pity on us and got us a table straight away. The food was lovely, but huge portions, we had to be practically rolled out of there! We were bushed at this stage so headed back to the hotel for an early night.

Day 2 – Sat Aug 29th – We were up bright and early due to the jet lag so we decided to head out and grab some breakfast before our first of call, Top of The Rock. We were heading in to TOTR at about 8am and there was no queue whatsoever at that time. We had decided to buy the City Pass for $80, so we were able to buy it here, as TOTR was one of the featured attractions. We absolutely loved it up here, the views are just stunning. The weather was beautiful and I loved being able to see Central Park before it got busy. I’d say we spend about 45 mins – 1 hour up here, so we felt we got value for money.

After we came down, we walked up to Central Park, this was one of the places we were most looking forward to and we weren’t disappointed. It really is beautiful here, especially on a lovely summers day. We decided to rent a boat, I think it cost us about $20 for an hour, so we felt it was good value. We both really enjoyed it and had a go at rowing (I gave up after about five mins!) After we got back on Terra Firma, we decided to balance out our exertions in the boat by sitting on our backsides for the rest of the afternoon! We strolled around the park for a while longer, listening to some of the (excellent) performers. We found a nice spot on the Great Lawn and sat there for a few hours, reading and people watching. We loved having such a long time in NYC, as we didn’t feel guilty about spending time just chilling and doing nothing. After a few hours, we decided to head back to the hotel, we headed over via Strawberry Fields and enjoyed the buskers and various performers there. We decided to take the subway from opposite the Dakota building, I had been dreading the Subway, but it honestly isn’t as complicated as it looks! We bought the weekly ticket for $27 which we found excellent value. We figured it out really quickly and were in our hotel less than 10 mins later. We found the subway cheap, clean and convenient, but man it’s hot down there in August!

After a rest in the hotel, we got our glad rags on (heels for me, big mistake! No one else was wearing heels, and after 2 hours walking on a hot humid New York night, I know why!) We decided to head to Greenwich Village this evening, we had a stroll round Bleecher Street and stopped in a bar for a couple of beers. We decided to eat in John’s Pizzeria, my husband wanted to skip it because the queue looked quite long, but I over ruled him! We weren’t waiting that long at all, maybe 10 mins, and it was really worth the wait. We shared a large pizza and it was delicious. I’m not a massive pizza fan, but my husband is, and we both agreed this was the best pizza we had ever had! After we finished eating, we just strolled around the Village for a while, had some frozen yoghurt. We got the subway up to Times Square, had a stroll round there and then headed back to the hotel for bed.

Day 3 – Mon 30th August – We had decided to do the Circle Line cruise this morning (it was paid by our City Pass) we decided to upgrade to the 3 hr cruise instead of the 2 hr. We really enjoyed the cruise, but we would not recommend paying extra for the 3 hour, we felt once it sailed past Manhattan, it got a bit dull. That said, it was a lovely way to spend a few hours, the views were stunning and the commentator was very entertaining and funny.

After the cruise, we decided to get the subway to Fulton Street as we were planning to go to the Seaport. We had a walk around the Fulton Street area and visited the WTC site. We went into the Trinity Church and paid our respects there. It’s a beautiful little church and very moving. We walked down Fulton Street to the Seaport, we enjoyed a couple of hours here, there are lovely views of the Brooklyn Bridge and some nice shops. We walked up as far as Wall Street and sat there and people watched for a while. We went into the church there, I thought it was beautiful, a little bit of calm and simplicity amongst the madness and money of Wall Street. It was time to go back to the hotel for a rest at this stage, so we had our first experience of the subway at rush hour – wow!

After a rest, we decided to take a stroll down to Macy’s, here was our second NYC disappointment – this place is a dump! It’s such a famous name to me, I was expecting somewhere like Harrods in London or Gallerie Lafayette in Paris. Well, we were seriously disappointed, badly maintained, dirty and unfriendly staff. Not a nice shopping experience at all! We had a walk round the general area, but my husband was feeling a bit tired and under par, so we decided to head back to the hotel and just ate dinner in the diner beside the hotel (Red Flame Diner) it was actually really tasty and reasonable, we really enjoyed it.
This is turning out much longer than I thought! I will follow up with the next few later.

ncmc

Day 4 – Tues Aug 31st – We were heading to the American Natural History Museum this morning and as it didn’t open until 10am, we decided to walk up there with a detour through Central Park. We ended up getting a little lost but we were able to get directions easily. We found people very helpful that way. We grabbed breakfast in a deli opposite the ANHM and ate it in the park to the side of the building. That’s one of the great things about going in the summer, we were able to eat a lot of meals al fresco! Overall, we enjoyed the museum, but having been in the Natural History Museum in London last year, I have to say the NYC isn’t as good as the one in London which is free. I just felt it wasn’t as interactive, it felt a little flat. That said, we enjoyed spending a few hours there. The ANHM was one of the attractions on our City Pass, so we didn’t have to pay the suggested donation of $20.

After the museum, we went over to Central Park and sat there for a while. We walked back down to Mid-town, popping into shops on the way. We walked as far as Grand Central Station which was on my To Do list. It’s pretty impressive. I went and got a slice of Juniors Cheesecake which I had heard so much about. It was ok, the cheese bit was nice, but I can never get too excited about American cheesecake as it has a sponge type bottom, I also felt it was over-priced at nearly $7!

After a rest in the hotel, we headed out to see Mary Poppins, which we had pre-booked from home. We really enjoyed it and thought the music and performers were excellent. My one gripe is with people talking loudly through the performance (and I’m not even talking about the kids!) I had to ‘shush’ the people in front of me as they were affecting our enjoyment of the show. Overall we loved the show. It was late when we got out of the theatre and after walking around Times Square looking for a restaurant, we just decided to eat in the diner beside our hotel, The Red Flame Diner. It was cheap and tasty so no complaints here.

Day 5 – Wed 1st Sept – We went to the Intrepid Museum this morning, this was one of the things my husband was keen to do whereas I had been dreading it, but it was actually one of my favourite attractions! It’s an aircraft carrier and aviation museum, there were some great movies giving the history of the Intrepid and the various attacks on it. It was very interactive, it must be amazing for kids. Then of course there are all the aircrafts and helicopters and your ticket gets you entrance to the submarine also. I really recommend this museum, and would feel it offers excellent value for money compared to some of the attractions.


After the museum, we got the subway to Greenwich Village and sat in Washington Square park for a while. We really liked this park and felt it had a much more chilled atmosphere than Central Park. There were kids (and adults) playing in the fountain cooling down, I couldn’t see that happening in Central Park. We walked up Bleecher Street and ate lunch in a bar (I can’t remember the name) the food was really good, the beer was cheap and we got a free shot because we were waiting a while on our food – that’s my kind of bar! We went back to the park and had a cupcake from a vendor for dessert.

After a rest in the hotel, we headed out to Chinatown and had a walk around there. We thought Chinatown was a smelly, dirty, dump! We walked to Little Italy and decided to eat dinner in one of the restaurants there. We chose one that looked busy, it was overpriced and the food was mediocre, but still, it’s something we can say we’ve done!

Day 6 – Thurs 2nd Sept – We were both feeling a bit tired today, so decided to have a bit of a rest day and a sleep in. We headed up 5th Avenue at about 10am and had a look around Bloomingdales. Similarly to Macy’s, I was a bit disappointed in this place, I guess I was just expecting more from these huge department stores. We walked back down 5th Avenue and had a look round the lobby of the Crysler Building. We took the Subway down to Union Square and had a look round there and then on to Greenwich Village. We enjoyed Washington Sqaure Park so much yesterday, that we sat here again today and of course I had to have another cupcake.

We had tickets to Phantom of the Opera tonight so after a rest in the hotel, we headed down to the theatre. We had seen Phantom before in London but enjoyed it even more the 2nd time. It was amazing, the man playing Phantom had the most beautiful voice. Would highly recommend it. After the show we walked down to 5 Napkin Burger, we both agreed that these were the best burgers we have ever eaten. They really were delicious, perfectly cooked and moist (even though my hubby likes his well done). We would really recommend this restaurant and it was reasonable too.

Will follow up with the final part tomorrow!

BuffyBot

So far, so good

ncmc

Day 7 – Friday Sept 3rd – The weather was supposed to be bad today, there was talk of a hurricane hitting the east coast so I had planned indoor things to do today. We went to Museum of Modern Art in the morning, we had originally planned to do the Met Museum, but I began to feel there might be more of interest in MOMA. There were long queues to get into the museum, but as we had the City Pass, we were able to pass most of the queue. We went straight up to the impressionist floor and had a look while it was still quiet. There are some amazing pieces up here, including one of my favourites, Van Gogh’s Starry Night. Beautiful. Unfortunately the 20th century exhibit was closed, so we didn’t get to see the Jasper John’s which I had hoped to see. Overall, we enjoyed MOMA, some of the modern abstract stuff is nonsense, like the exhibit that was basically a pile of bales of hay. Must tell my uncle who’s a farmer that he has hundreds of modern art installations in his fields! But overall, we felt it was a nice place to spend a couple of hours and the shop alone is worth the entrance fee! Amazing stuff to buy!

We decided that we would indulge in a bit of retail therapy, so we got the bus to Jersey Gardens. We had heard it was cheaper and easier to get to than Woodbury Common. The bus tickets were about $13 each return and it took less than half an hour to get there. It’s a pretty good outlet mall, we bought a few things (not as much as some people who were filling huge cases!) We found great value in the Kenneth Cole shop in particular where there was 44% off everything for the Labour Day holiday weekend. Getting back to the city was very slow as once again we got stuck in the Lincoln Tunnel, so it was quite late when we got back to the hotel. We decided to eat fairly local, so chose John’s Pizzeria in Times Square. We were pretty disappointed after having been in the one in Greenwich Village. The pizza was just as good, but the atmosphere was nowhere near as good and the service was bordering on rude.

Day 8 – Sat Sept 4th – We had booked the Beatles Brunch in BB Kings for today, we really enjoyed it, the buffet food was very mediocre and quite cold, but the band were excellent. They had all the mannerisms of the Beatles down pat and didn’t come out of character at all. We had a great time and felt at $40 pp, it offered good value for money. After the brunch, we took the subway down to the Seaport again, as we wanted to buy something we had seen the last day we were down here. We walked up Fulton Street and took the subway to Macy’s, again I wanted to pick up something I had seen previously. It was so busy today being a Saturday, and it was even more unpleasant than our last visit! We decided to walk up to our hotel rather than subway, so we walked up as far as Rockefeller Centre because I wanted to try a Magnolia Bakery cup cake (as featured in SATC. The queue was out the door and round the block, so I decided to leave it for another day and settled for a Dunkin Doughnuts instead!

After a rest in the hotel, we headed out to the Empire State as we wanted to see it at night. I wanted to leave it til after 11pm, but my husband persuaded me to go along at 9pm. The queue was really long, and the worst thing is, there is no way to judge how long the queue is. Every time you get to the top of the queue, there’s another queue around the corner! It was paid by our City Pass, so at least we didn’t have to queue for tickets, so we were waiting for about an hour to get up (we walked the last 6 flights of stairs). It is beautiful up there, but it was very windy up there and very crowded. I prefer everything about Top of the Rock, so if I had to chose just one, I would chose TOTR every time. We also had to queue for a while coming down, the down line seemed a bit chaotic, it took us about 30 mins to get back down. It was late by the time we were done with ESB, so we decided to eat in Times Square and chose Olive Garden as we knew it would be quick and tasty. We were waiting about 30 mins even at that time, but as always, enjoyed what we got here.

Day 9 – Sun 5th Sept – Our last day! We had planned to get up really early and walk over the Brooklyn Bridge for sunrise, but by the time we got our arses out of bed, it was after 9 by the time we got to Brooklyn. We had a walk round the Brooklyn Bridge area and got some great pictures. We walked back across the bridge towards Manhattan. It’s beautiful, a real ‘must do’. We walked down as far as Battery Park and had some hot dogs there. This is a nice park and of course, you get some great shots of the Statue of Liberty. We walked up from Battery Park and walked up through Chinatown. It was quite a long walk, but the weather was glorious and we enjoyed it. I was trying to find the ‘Bloody Angle’ which is a spot that has been in loads of movies, but got a bit lost and just ended up walking around Chinatown. We got the subway back to the hotel and started the arduous task of packing. I truly didn’t realise we had bought so much stuff, it really was a job to get everything back in.

Once we had packed we were starving, so we decided to revisit one of our favourites, 5 Napkin Burger. We were waiting about 20mins for a table and ate outside to get a table quicker, it was a bit cooler tonight, so it was a bit cold Still, we really enjoyed our meal again tonight and once again found the service excellent.

Day 10 – Mon 6th Sept – We weren’t flying til 7.30pm, so we decided to leave our luggage with the hotel and head up to Central Park. It was really hot today and my husband was struggling a bit with the heat at this stage, so we just had a wander round and watched some of the performers in the park. The performers for the most part in Central Park are superb.

All too soon it was time to go, so we walked back to the hotel and picked up our luggage. We got the Newark Express bus from Grand Central Station, we caught a bus just as it was leaving and we got to Newark in no time. We would really recommend this method of getting to the airport, especially if like us, you can’t justify or afford the cost of a cab. Our flight was on time and we arrived home about 7am the next day with no problems.

We had an amazing time in New York, the weather was glorious and our hotel was super.
We felt the City Pass was good value, it may not be for everyone, but if you have a long enough time then it does work out as good value. It cost $79 each to buy and we used 5 out of the 6 items, and we reckon we saved about $25 per person and a good chunk of queuing time. This is a link to what is covered by it http://www.citypass.com/new-york?mv_source=partnerfusion&cmpid=google_CityPass%20%22%22%22%22%22%22%22%22%22%22%22%22%22%22%22%22&gclid=CNWCqI7vp6UCFUxO4Qodgxw6jg there are more expensive passes, but this one covers the main attractions.
We used the subway a good bit and really recommend getting the unlimited weekly pass for $27. I would urge people not to be afraid of the Subway, it so fast and straightforward. The only difference between the Subway and other undergrounds I have used is that a lot of lines go on practically the same route, so if you are only going a few stops, chances are there will be 2 or 3 lines going your way. So you shouldn’t be long waiting for a train. We only used the Subway and walked, we never felt the need to use a cab. We enjoyed staying in Mid-town as there was a lot within walking distance and felt it was a good halfway point between uptown and downtown. If I was going back though, I think I would like to stay near Central Park. The busyness and hustle of Mid-town got a bit tiring after a few days. For anyone planning to go for the first time, please don’t feel you have to stay near Times Square, it is so busy and touristy, and New York is a great city for walking so between that and the subway, you are never too far from anywhere.
We were on quite a budget, so we didn’t eat in a lot of expensive restaurants. We ate a lot of hotdogs and street vendor food to keep costs down, that’s the great thing about going in good weather, you can eat outdoors a lot. Our two favourite meals were John’s Pizzeria on Bleecher Street in Greenwich Village and 5 Napkin Burger on 45th and 9th. Both of these places were really reasonable and we got great food and service there.

Well that’s my Trip Report, hope you have enjoyed it and didn’t find it too long. I hope to get back to New York one day, but don’t think it’s a place I could go to every year (couldn’t afford it for one thing!) Now it’s on to planning my next trip, hoping to do a fly/drive around New England next year.

tankbarry

sounds like u had a great time..


if u have any idea how to get there and stay there cheap please let us know. Im looking to do it on a budget im doing everything on the cheap like food, citypass, going to walk most places, . ive been there 2 times but im going with a friend this time who will walk most places. all help would be great


thanks