Weekend Trip Report-NYC, with hotel review

Old Jan 23rd, 2010, 04:28 PM
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Weekend Trip Report-NYC, with hotel review

A couple of months ago I asked for suggestions on where to stay close to the Met Opera. Mclaurie suggested the hotel—6 Columbus, at 6 Columbus Circle. Thank you so much for this suggestion! The hotel was great for our short stay and the location was perfect. The Met was a short 10-15 minute walk. We enjoyed Turandot, especially the spectacular set design and the great orchestra. We enjoy opera, and have been to several operas houses, but this was our first performance at the Met—the place is gorgeous, especially those chandeliers. (I actually googled them to find out more about their historical significance).

6 Columbus is a somewhat new hotel, part of the Thompson hotel group. Our superior double room was small but manageable for three nights. The things we liked about it were: windows that opened for a bit of fresh air, very comfortable bed, a new very clean bathroom with a forceful shower flow, the courteous professional staff, and of course the location. The room had a courtesy umbrella, robes to use, and a fully stocked refrigerator if you wanted to purchase anything. The one thing we didn’t like was that here was no-in room coffee or even morning coffee in the lobby. Starbucks is next door, so they must assume that’s close enough. You could order room service if you wanted, but we didn’t. Also there were no hooks to hang things on and just a small closet for clothes. Since it was winter, and rainy that weekend, we had coats, scarves and gloves, etc., trying to dry everywhere. I think the hotel’s location is its main asset—and it is an incredible asset, especially for its proximity to Lincoln center, central park and many museums. We would definitely stay here again since the pros far outweighed the cons, especially for a short stay.

We attended a terrific Broadway play, God of Carnage (Bernard Jacobs Theatre), which I would highly recommend. All four actors were wonderful, but Ken Stott was outstanding.

Some restaurants we enjoyed were: Toloache (Mexican, on 50th), Nha Throng (Vietnamese, on Baxter) and the well hidden, but well worth finding, Burger Joint (in Le Parker Meridien Hotel). All three of these had very good food, and we would return. We ate twice at the Red Flame Diner (on 44th) for breakfast. They have the usual breakfast fare, plus you can sit in a booth and have as many cups of coffee as you wish. Just what we wanted.

It’s easy to have a wonderful time visiting NYC, and again, it did not disappoint.
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Old Jan 24th, 2010, 02:35 AM
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Thanks for taking the time to write such a great report. I really like the Thompson group of hotels too. We stayed at Gild Hall for a short stay, another Thompson hotel that's on Gold Street downtown and were met with the same great customer service, but they didn't have coffee there either!

The Red Flame is a favorite of ours for breakfast too, but our friends make fun of us for eating there!

Glad you had a good time.
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Old Jan 24th, 2010, 05:44 AM
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Thanks for your report. I was in NYC last weekend too and the weather on Sunday was absolutely dreadful! Glad you enjoyed Turandot - it's such a spectacular (and very gold) set.
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Old Jan 24th, 2010, 10:18 AM
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Thanks for the trip report. I'm headed to New York next weekend and will be seeing God of Carnage, glad to hear you liked it.

I have noticed that many New York hotels do not have coffee in the rooms.
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Old Jan 24th, 2010, 11:27 AM
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Bowsprit, This was our first stay in a Thompson hotel. They’re nice, we were very happy with it. As far as the Red Flame Diner is concerned—we like a non-pretentious place for breakfast, and that is precisely what the Diner is. On our third morning, we ate at a Le Pain Quotidien close to our hotel, but it just wasn’t the same.

yk, Yes, the weather on Sunday was horrible, but Friday’s was great. As with you, we love museums, but on this visit we decided to stay outside and just explore NYC--tough choice, but one has to choose. And since we usually spend much of our time in museums when we visit NYC, we chose to explore neighborhoods where we rarely get to go. We wandered around Chinatown (great photos of and in markets), Little Italy, Tribeca and the magnificent cast iron buildings in the Soho area (stunning architecture, tons of good shooting here).

Though I love shooting and exploring on good, sunny days, I wish now that I had set aside a little time to see M. Albright’s brooch collection. I’m a big fan of wearing brooches (I have 25-30 of them and wear one most every day). That would have been a very interesting exhibit for me.

Nikki, God of Carnage was a delight, and as I said all four actors were really good. You'll love it. Christine Lahti was my second favorite of the show.
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Old Jan 24th, 2010, 12:23 PM
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I haven't seen God of Carnage yet either.

Another breakfast experience that isn't 'high brow' but is good and perhaps a small step up from Red Flame can be had at Pershing Square right outside GCT.

They'll let you linger here too and it might be one more place to add to your list if you're looking for a change. As I said, though, we enjoy the Red Flame too!
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Old Jan 24th, 2010, 06:20 PM
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Glad you liked the hotel and had a great time!
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Old Jan 25th, 2010, 12:19 PM
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Great report, we loved our 3 nights at The Plaza Hotel in Manhattan this past Nov. What an amazing city! ***kim***
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