Nikki

Great report, sounds like a great trip. You hit a lot of my personal check points (hot dog vendors take me back to my youth ).

Bowsprit

Raccoons are nocturnal animals. Is there a place to report a daytime sighting of a wild animal acting oddly?

Aduchamp1

Glad you had a wonderful time
_______________
Afterwards, we went to see some of the period rooms. We'd seen only the French ones last year but this year we added the English and American. Just as I felt at her age, my 14-y-o daughter did not "get" the Frank Lloyd Wright room. And just as my mother told me, I told her, "you'll like it when you're older."

Please inform your daughter that she can take comfort in the fact that when you get real old, you will not like him again.

fredandgingermad

Just out of interest where in NYC is the Anne Frank center? Love the trip report, sounds like ya had a fantastic time!! i've still got 32 days to go..

lantana

Hi fredandgingermad - the Center is in Soho, on the 5th floor of a building on Crosby Street. But they are moving to the World Trade Center area in June, I believe.
http://www.annefrank.com/visit-the-anne-frank-center/

Aduchamp - I just told my daughter what you said and she laughed and said, "I like this person." (We'd laughed hysterically earlier over your "udderwise" remark on another thread )

Bowsprit - I did think the raccoons were a bit disturbing but I must admit that both "sightings" were at dusk, not during full sunlight. I just Google'd the topic and found that, as you said, they are nocturnal, however, it is possible to see raccoons scavenging for food during daylight hours, especially if they have a nest of babies.

Margo_Chester Glad to see you'll be visiting next month, as I just noticed on the Met's site that the exhibit ends July 31st http://www.metmuseum.org/
Here is a link to a slideshow of some of the dresses from the show. Looking at them again was so exciting!
http://www.newsweek.com/tag/alexander-mcqueen.html

Thank you all for reading and commenting

POMAH

"6 Columbus - and we're in a Pod room! ...(relatively spacious bathroom) not to mention price, makes this an awesome bargain."

bargain as compared to what? what's the rate there?
everything is relative. not everyone is loaded like you. For some a cheap motel at $25/night is a bargain.

The rich like to splurge and brag about it, not seek out bargains... which is for the hoy poloy.

lantana

POMAH, when I was researching hotels for my trip I was discouraged by the high rates. Even a (nice) Holiday Inn was running $250+/nt! When I found 6 Columbus on Quikbook and read reviews and priced it out, the price seemed very good and I was thrilled to find that I could get 20% off for booking 5+ nights. My avg nightly price was $266, which I was very happy with. When we arrived and saw the room and were treated so kindly by the staff throughout the hotel I was even happier. Combine those things with the excellent location, and I felt the hotel was a bargain. Even for the hoi polloi

Here are some photos of our room:

http://i883.photobucket.com/albums/a...ymns/380-1.jpg

http://i883.photobucket.com/albums/a...ymns/378-1.jpg

http://i883.photobucket.com/albums/a...ymns/383-1.jpg

pdx

I love the room, lantana! Very clever and a nice option for keeping the costs down if you find the right days.

Aduchamp1

I was ready to scream a warning if I saw Strauss-Kahn appear in your shower.

Bowsprit

lantana: You're right about the raccoons appearing at dusk. I'm sure the raccoon appreciated the chocolate waffle! Your trip sounds wonderful. When are you planning to return?

Pomah: What's your problem? Almost everyone who checks out these travel sites is looking for a bargain or a bigger bang for their buck. Those outside the 'hoi polloi' (what a term to use!) are calling their corporate planners with dates, not budgets. Why do you care about someone else's budget? How could that ever affect your travel plans? Geez.

Bowsprit

Strauss-Kahn has left the Sofitel behind?

lantana

LMAO! If ONLY I'd thought to photoshop that weasel into the shower pic! Hahaha.

Thank you, pdx and Bowsprit

lantana

Last day - Day 5 - Mon., May 23d

Got a later start than I'd hoped but really needed to let my daughter sleep in a bit. Decided to have breakfast at the hotel's restaurant, Blue Ribbon.
http://i883.photobucket.com/albums/a...nhymns/260.jpg

We both had the American Breakfast, which were served in bento boxes - so cute.
http://i883.photobucket.com/albums/a...nhymns/262.jpg

Took the A train to High St. Arrived right around 10:30am and walked across the Brooklyn Bridge There were barriers up along the sides http://i883.photobucket.com/albums/a...ymns/361-1.jpg
but we were able to enjoy the views from either end. http://i883.photobucket.com/albums/a...ymns/371-2.jpg

Such a great experience - I'm happy we made the effort to do it.

Coming off the bridge onto Manhattan, this building is on the left. It has amazing lines. Can anyone tell me what it is?
http://i883.photobucket.com/albums/a...ymns/375-1.jpg

Walked to City Hall station and took subway 2 stations uptown to Spring St. Had a cappuccino and a hot chocolate at Starbucks and then walked around the corner to the Anne Frank Center, at 38 Crosby St., which I’d found out about by doing a Google search for “Anne Frank Manhattan” (my daughter has read Secret Annex several times and studied the Holocaust in school this month). Interesting displays, including photos and a facsimile of Anne's diary, and a 25-min. film. The director graciously showed us around (we were the only people there)and chatted with us. She also gave my daughter several great book ideas. Turns out she had recently given a talk at the Morgan Library re. diary-keeping and her Prisoner Diary Program http://www.annefrank.com/prison-diary-program/
We very much enjoyed our time there.

Having accomplished our two "must-dos" for the day, we decided to walk around a much quieter Soho than the day before (Sunday) and shopped at Madewell, Topshop, Bloomingdale’s, etc. Didn't buy much but we had a lot of fun We ducked into a packed pizza place for lunch, Pomodoro’s, on the corner of Mulberry and Spring streets. Had a delicious “Bianca” pizza: http://i883.photobucket.com/albums/a...nhymns/275.jpg

As we walked to lunch, my daughter had noticed “The Best Chocolate Cake in the World”, a precious little shop selling chocolate cake, so we stopped by to get a mini cake to go.
I found this photo online of the storefront:
http://dessertedisland.files.wordpre...7/img_0569.jpg
http://i883.photobucket.com/albums/a...nhymns/376.jpg

B Express train uptown to Columbus Circle took only 10 minutes

Rested for a couple of hours and then decided to get out and enjoy the city for our last evening. Walked across the park again to the waffle truck, going deeper into the park this time. This time we had a waffle w/ spekuloos ice cream (!!) and nutella.
http://i883.photobucket.com/albums/a...nhymns/290.jpg Delicious, needless to say. And another with just the spekuloos spread and powdered sugar. We couldn’t eat it all - but had fun trying. Walked back into the park and sat down at the Dairy http://i883.photobucket.com/albums/a...ymns/384-1.jpg and enjoyed our waffles and a bit of people-watching. Headed to the west side of the park, on our way to the movie theater where we had tickets for “Midnight in Paris”. When we arrived at the theater there was a Wafels&Dinges trucked parked in front, LOL. http://i883.photobucket.com/albums/a...nhymns/292.jpg
My daughter was a bit put out (would've preferred to skip the walk) but I didn’t mind - I was more interested in walking in the park than in the waffles ☺
The movie was great! Audience loved it. And we thought it was a pretty New York kind of thing to do to see a Woody Allen movie All the shots of Paris were so beautiful - that’s where I really want to take my daughter next!
We got out of the movie around 8:45 and felt re-energized (we’d been running out of steam earlier…) - and hungry! Decided to try another place that had been on my to-do list, Shake Shack. Took the subway to 42d St and 8th Ave. and walked a couple of blocks up to their Theater District location.
http://i883.photobucket.com/albums/a...ymns/298-1.jpg It was packed but festive.
http://i883.photobucket.com/albums/a...nhymns/300.jpg

Shackburger, Cheeseburger, order of fries, chocolate shake and a small lemonade for about $20. http://i883.photobucket.com/albums/a...nhymns/301.jpg

Finding a seat was a trick but didn’t take too long. Fun, busy place. Looks as though there are 5 locations in NYC, including CitiField http://www.shakeshack.com/

We walked from up 8th Ave. from 44th to 58th, which felt great. It was a nice evening. One more stop at "our" Starbucks for cappuccino, tea and an oatmeal cookie - our airport b'fast the next morning
Said Goodbye to the wonderful doorman who was always so friendly and sweet and always asked us if we needed a cab and always told us to have fun! And we turned in. Showered/packed/bed.

So - we never made it to Top of the Rock, Gagosian Gallery for Picasso exhibit, the High Line. Didn't go to Doughnut Plant or Eataly; didn't take a tour of Greenwich Village or shop at Bergdorf's. But we DID see a LOT and we had a great time doing it! We feel very lucky

Thanks for reading and I'll leave you with a few more photos.

Grand Central
http://i883.photobucket.com/albums/a...ymns/347-1.jpg

Outside the Neue Galerie
http://i883.photobucket.com/albums/a...ymns/334-1.jpg

St. Patrick's Cathedral
http://i883.photobucket.com/albums/a...nhymns/327.jpg

The Plaza Hotel (taken from the waffle cart)
http://i883.photobucket.com/albums/a...nhymns/387.jpg

LOVED "How to Succeed"
http://i883.photobucket.com/albums/a...ymns/074-1.jpg

At Bryant Park
http://i883.photobucket.com/albums/a...nhymns/086.jpg

Dinner our last night (jk)
http://i883.photobucket.com/albums/a...nhymns/081.jpg

One of the Met's 5 Vermeers
http://i883.photobucket.com/albums/a...nhymns/060.jpg

Grand Central Station and Chrysler Building from 42d St.
http://i883.photobucket.com/albums/a...ymns/342-1.jpg

bspielman

The tall building you saw from the Brooklyn Bridge is 8 Spruce Street, a highly-acclaimed tower by famed architect Frank Gehry. At 76 stories, it is the City's tallest luxury residential structure.

absolutkz

Curious - did you prefer Shake Shack or 5 Napkins?

yk

Hi lantana, thx for the trip report. I think I gained 5lbs after reading it (of course, you're doing all the walking while I'm just sitting on the couch w/my laptop. )

As bspielman says, the building is a new residential bldg by Frank Gehry. It was recently reviewed in the NY Times.

lantana

Thank you, bspielman and yk. I must look up the NY Times article. I couldn't take my eyes off that building.
Absolutkz, my daughter says she preferred Shake Shack. I preferred Five Napkin Burger. My Shakeburger was very, very good but the SS fries weren't anything special IMO. Everything I had at 5NB, however, was incredibly delicious - burger, fries & choc/pb shake. Really good! http://i883.photobucket.com/albums/a...nhymns/070.jpg

PeaceOut

Thank you for the tip about the taxi line at LaGuardia. I am going there this week, and was debating hiring a car or taking a cab. I will look up the service you mentioned-- called Carmel town car?

lantana

PeaceOut - yes. I learned about Carmel here on Fodors. Not the most "elite" car service, but they have been very dependable and the price is good. $36 plus tolls ($6.50?) and then tip, of course. A step up from a cab, for sure. You call Once you've landed and picked up your luggage and they tell you where to go. They also texted me w/ car details. Good luck.

PeaceOut

Thank you!