Bowsprit

We took the train into the City on a Sunday morning to visit the American Museum of Natural History after arranging a last minute stay at the Hotel Beacon.

Guests: Two Adults and Two children under age 12

Room and Rate: One bedroom suite on a high floor with one queen bed, pull-out sofa, kitchenette, one bathroom and two televisions. Kitchen had a stove (with oven), microwave, apartment sized refrigerator (not a tiny 'dorm' sized fridge!), Keurig, basic cookery (all new). The room was lovely, fresh, stylish. I've always thought the rooms at the Hotel Beacon had a kind of 1920's or 30's feel to them. You can see accurate representational photos of the rooms on Oyster.com. We paid $300.00 directly to the hotel for the night.

Schedule: Arrived at GCT around 10:30. Taxied to the hotel and left our few bags at the hotel (room not ready, but we didn't expect it be ready). Headed over to Shake Shack for a quick bite before 12:00 and enjoyed the museum for the afternoon. Coat check line was long and slow. Had some tea and cakes before leaving the museum.

We let the kids run off a little steam in Central Park before we stopped into the neighborhood flea market. I bought a cheap milk glass sugar and creamer set before heading to Fairway Market. Fairway is across the street from the hotel. We bought snacks for the evening along with breakfast pastries, yoghurts and fruit. This is a great market; I prefer it to Zabar's.

Freshened up a bit and decided to take the children to Viand, the neighborhood restaurant that is adjacent to the Beacon. They feasted on mac and cheese and buttered pasta. We shared a surprisingly good cappelini pomodoro along with a perfectly grilled piece of chicken. The salad was delicious as was the cheesecake with fresh blueberries. I certainly don't want to mislead anyone into thinking this is a destination restaurant...it surely is NOT, but it was good, basic family fare and it was fairly priced. It was perfect for our little group. Viand is open 6 a.m. to 1 a.m. Monday thru Sunday. (so, nearly always open!)

Kids slept soundly on the pull out sofa, we were comfortable in the lovely bed. The room was dark, cool, and quiet. Very nice. Great water pressure and plenty of hot water this morning during showers. We enjoyed breakfast in our room before heading down to Nintendo World for a brief visit. We left NYC around noon on Monday.

I've stayed at the Beacon before for longer stays and will enjoy it again in the future. It was perfect for this trip. The Upper West Side is one of my favorite NYC neighborhoods.

Aduchamp1

Glad you had a good time.

If it is the Met Museum you wish to visit, do not go up the steps but go to the entrance to the left of the steps at street level. There is a lot less traffic.

Bowsprit

Adu: Where is H&H bagels relative to The Beacon? Do you know?

Bowsprit

(and Thanks for the Met tip. Any tips to avoid the long coat check lines at the AMNH? We avoided the long ticket lines by purchasing our tickets at the kiosk.)

SueNYC

H&H used to be just south of Zabars. It is closed (Broadway at 80th).

Bowsprit

Thanks, SueNYC. I also meant to check out Laduree before I left but I was distracted by the children and forgot!

nyer

H&H bagels closed several months ago (tax and other financial issues for the owner) it was on 80th street across from Zabar's.
Zabar's and Fairway are 2 different kinds of stores. I mention this because sometimes people think they are interchangeable.
Zabars is a gourmet store famous for its "appetizing" section--smoked and pickled fish etc. They also have a large cheese section and all sorts of prepared takeout items. Their selection on regular grocery items is very minimal and prices for those types of things can be high.
Fairway started as a fruit and veg market, and grew into an non-chain grocery with much bigger than average selection of gourmet quality items. They also have raw meat and fish, a well regarded cheese selection as well as bakery items (some exclusive to their stores, some not) and also takeout. The smoked fish quality is far inferior to Zabar's. You can do a complete week's shopping at Fairway but not really at Zabar's.
Fairway prices are often but not always cheaper than chain supermarkets.

AMNH tips? Try a different entrance. On 77th street or the Planetarium entrance on 81st or Columbus rather than the main one on Central Park West. But all bets are off on Sundays and holidays in the winter when that's where everyone goes with kids.

Bowsprit

Yes, you're completely right about the differences between Zabar's and Fairway and indeed, they're not at all interchangeable. I prefer Fairway.

We were never going to get a break on the lines at AMNH this weekend! (unrealistic to hope for a break, I see!)