My husband and I returned yesterday from a six day visit to New York City. We have been several times before so focused on a few old favorites and some new. I hope this may be helpful for someone planning to visit soon, particularly our enjoyment of the plays we saw.

We stayed at the Warwick Hotel which was a return visit for us. It is an older property but well maintained and the staff is friendly. The rooms are good size for a New York hotel and the bed was very comfortable. We didn't get the view room we had hoped for but that was a minor inconvenience as we were out and about much of the time. I also wish we could have adjusted the heating/cooling system to a quieter mode but, it wasn't too loud and likely drowned out some of the traffic noise. The location was excellent for our needs: close to Central Park for strolling, walking distance to theaters and near to several subway and bus stops. Tip: you can use the back (employee) elevators if the front ones are crowded.

We visited the Metropolitan and Frick museums, both of which are wonderful. We have been to the Met several times and decided to narrow our focus. We enjoyed the Sargent in Paris special exhibit and then concentrated on the Impressionist galleries, Rembrandt and Vermeer. There are five Vermeers in the Met and three in the Frick. Considering there are only 34 (or so) of his paintings worldwide, we were pleased to see so many by one of our favorite artists. The Frick museum is newly reopened after a renovation and has a terrific collection of art in a lovely old mansion. We were glad we had booked advance reservations as it is currently very popular.

We took four walking tours: Secrets of Grand Central Station; Lower Manhattan: Forging the Historic Metropolis; Gilded Age Mansions and a Food Tour of Brooklyn. All were very interesting and enjoyable. We also strolled through Battery Park and Central Park and walked as many streets as our tired legs would allow.

Restaurants were not our highest priority but my husband was delighted to find his taste buds returned (after chemo treatment) just in time for the trip. He was craving Italian food so that is what we mostly had. We ate at Il Corso (very good), Patsys (good) and Joanne Trattoria (very good), as well as a few other spots. We tried to go to Russ & Daughters deli but it was quite busy so returned to Katz's which was fun.

We treated ourselves to four plays, all of which have received Tony nominations. We were amazed by the talent of all the casts and were reminded of the importance of the arts and the need to keep supporting artists and creativity.

"Maybe Happy Ending" surprised us by how good it was. The plot didn't sound like something I would particularly enjoy but we have connections with the main actor, Darren Criss, so wanted to see him perform. The play turned out to be really interesting and we were so glad we went. Next was "Good Night, and Good Luck" with George Clooney starring as Edward R. Murrow. The plot seemed so relevant (the Joseph McCarthy era) to our current political situation and the play was excellent. "Dead Outlaw" was our third play and had an original plot: a musical about an "outlaw-turned corpse-turned celebrity" as its website states. It was very entertaining and fun. Our final play was "Floyd Collins" a riveting musical about a man tragically trapped in a cave. Except for "Maybe Happy Ending," the plays were based on true stories.

We're back home tired but happy and survived flying in and out of Newark!

Sounds like a great trip and great that you were able to see four Tony nominated plays and visit both the newly opened Frick which has been closed for several years for the large renovation project, as well as the Met.

Was Joanne recommended to you? It is owned by Lady Gaga's family.

Visiting along with you in spirit, KTravel! You truly covered a lot of ground. Thanks for sharing this!

Really want to see the reopened Frick Collection. Glad you had a great trip.

Madame397, we found Joanne by looking a yelp reviews as we wanted something near Lincoln Center since we were seeing a play there. We did read the restaurant is owned by Gaga's family - sadly, we didn't run into her.

KTtravel, what a wonderful trip you had in NYC with your husband! I'm curious to hear more about the walking tours - are they all from the same company or different? Do you have links for the company(ies) that offer those tours?

Hi yk,

Some tours we booked through TripAdvisor. ​​​​​​​Our Secrets of Grand Central Station tour was booked through them but I believe the operator is Untapped New York.
Our Gilded Ages Mansion Tour in New York was also through TripAdvisor and it looks like the operator is: Matthew LaSpata, +19178553162
Our New York Neighbourhood Eats Tour: Brownstone Brooklyn was also through Trip Advisor and the operator is Intrepid Urban Adventures - USA

Our lower Manhattan tour was from Big Onion: https://www.bigonion.com.