LLindaC's back from NYC quick trip with 2 teen girls report!
Apr 13th, 2007, 10:23 AM
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LLindaC's back from NYC quick trip with 2 teen girls report!
Mon:Arrived at LaGuardia and took a taxi to the Holiday Inn Manhattan at 400 block W 57th st. A worn, but adequate hotel around $230/night. Nice thing, our room on the 9th floor faced the back of the hotel, so the only noise was from door-slamming teens. Spring break problem you learn to expect. Good staff, liked the location. Thanks to Fodorites, we took the subway to Canal St where DD #2 loaded up on Chanel, Gucci and Dooney purses and sunglasses. My dim sum suggestions in hand...that got nixed after they saw flopping fish in the storefronts, etc, lol. We wound up at a small Italian restaurant, Grotta Azzura on Mulberry St where the girls had homemade pasta and I had seafood linguini, which was wonderful. Great call!
Tues :Ate at hotel then made our way to the NYC Party Shuttle Tours. It was fantastic! Our guide, Shawn, was a young man, but a native who had a keen love of history and the city. I've been to NYC before, but learned much more going this route. He could answer ANY question! We had a group of 34 in a medium sized van. SO much better than those big buses, especially the double deckers with the wind and chill factor. We saw most major sites and had walking stops at many places, as well as taking a nice cruise on the Staten Island Ferry. We had 30 min for lunch at the South port, so we rushed through a good spicy tex-mex lunch at Red. They did a great job of getting us back in time! Good margaritas here. The tour ended at 3:30, we tipped Shawn well, then went back to change and dinner at 6 pm at La Prima Donna, booked at Open Table. When we arrived, it was gone!! This after receiving confirmation AND reminder from opentable.com. the day before. I have contacted them, I was ticked. We managed to find a small pizzeria close to the thatre and sat at the window people watching and eating pasta. The name escapes me, but it was very good and reasonable. Then, we saw Rent. Great experience for my girls, had 7th row seats for $65 thanks to broadwayboxoffice.com Good cast, was NOT that loud. Much better live than the movie, btw. After that, we walked around Times Square and headed home.
Wed: Went to Top of the Rock (had internet tickets) where we walked right in and UP. Beautiful way to see the city, and the best weather of the trip. You're actually shielded from much of the wind up there. We had a bite at Starbucks, then hit the road! Shopped along 5th Ave and all areas in between. We made a lunch stop at a diner called Naturally Tasty at 234 5th Ave, which was a very good call. Great selection, homemade pea soup was yummy, homemade veggie burgers falafel style, plus the girls had yummy smoothies. This is what I love about NYC...just pop into a place that's busy with locals and looks good, and chances are you'll be happy. We walked all the way to Canal St when my girls finally surrendered to the pain in their feet. They made several good purchases; DD #1 really enjoyed the Strawberry Shops. Dinner that night was the trendy Tao...I had seen it in "Sex and the City", etc. Reservations through opentable, I called to confirm, as they requested. It was loud and bustling, but service was great, friendly and the food was good. I loved the sea bass and Lobster Dumplings appetizer. My kids actually had dessert, too! Bill was $$$ but oh well. We limped home and crashed after watching Idol results, lol.
TH: Woke to torrential rain. We planned on 2 hours in Central Park, but no way. We walked to Hard Rock Cafe and were soaked. We sat in the stage room where a radiothon was being broadcast. It was pretty boring, till we realized that this was the Don Imus one and they were making less than a million, where they usually made 20 million! LOL. It was buzzing, cause right in the middle, he got fired! We got to see the NY Giants coach, that was our "celebrity moment" but he was subdued, but he managed to wrangle $ 26,000 while he spoke. The meal was crappy as usual- their side salad is a dish of iceberg with 2 croutons. Oh well, we got to see a bit of history! The cab ride to FAO Schwartz took over 30 min. We had just a quick spin around there, but it's always fun. We caught a 2 pm cab to LaGuardia where the fun really began as all flights were on 2-3 hr delay. Let me plug ATA and SW airlines here. They worked very hard to get a mom and 2 kids on a flight home. The terminal was a nightmare and people were unhappy and demanding, but the ATA people were just lovely. I stood there for 2 hours watching them being polite to everyone. We finally got to Louisville at 1:15 am.
Final thoughts: I could have used another day, but it's tough to do all you want when the weather is bad. NY people are very helpful, especially when you are confused at the subway! I love NYers. Try to walk as much as possible and don't worry about your shoes. I wore Cole Haan/Nike soles black tennies with orthotics and did very well. Wear GOOD arch support. Thanks to you at Fodors for the trip suggestions. My kids absolutely loved it.
Tues :Ate at hotel then made our way to the NYC Party Shuttle Tours. It was fantastic! Our guide, Shawn, was a young man, but a native who had a keen love of history and the city. I've been to NYC before, but learned much more going this route. He could answer ANY question! We had a group of 34 in a medium sized van. SO much better than those big buses, especially the double deckers with the wind and chill factor. We saw most major sites and had walking stops at many places, as well as taking a nice cruise on the Staten Island Ferry. We had 30 min for lunch at the South port, so we rushed through a good spicy tex-mex lunch at Red. They did a great job of getting us back in time! Good margaritas here. The tour ended at 3:30, we tipped Shawn well, then went back to change and dinner at 6 pm at La Prima Donna, booked at Open Table. When we arrived, it was gone!! This after receiving confirmation AND reminder from opentable.com. the day before. I have contacted them, I was ticked. We managed to find a small pizzeria close to the thatre and sat at the window people watching and eating pasta. The name escapes me, but it was very good and reasonable. Then, we saw Rent. Great experience for my girls, had 7th row seats for $65 thanks to broadwayboxoffice.com Good cast, was NOT that loud. Much better live than the movie, btw. After that, we walked around Times Square and headed home.
Wed: Went to Top of the Rock (had internet tickets) where we walked right in and UP. Beautiful way to see the city, and the best weather of the trip. You're actually shielded from much of the wind up there. We had a bite at Starbucks, then hit the road! Shopped along 5th Ave and all areas in between. We made a lunch stop at a diner called Naturally Tasty at 234 5th Ave, which was a very good call. Great selection, homemade pea soup was yummy, homemade veggie burgers falafel style, plus the girls had yummy smoothies. This is what I love about NYC...just pop into a place that's busy with locals and looks good, and chances are you'll be happy. We walked all the way to Canal St when my girls finally surrendered to the pain in their feet. They made several good purchases; DD #1 really enjoyed the Strawberry Shops. Dinner that night was the trendy Tao...I had seen it in "Sex and the City", etc. Reservations through opentable, I called to confirm, as they requested. It was loud and bustling, but service was great, friendly and the food was good. I loved the sea bass and Lobster Dumplings appetizer. My kids actually had dessert, too! Bill was $$$ but oh well. We limped home and crashed after watching Idol results, lol.
TH: Woke to torrential rain. We planned on 2 hours in Central Park, but no way. We walked to Hard Rock Cafe and were soaked. We sat in the stage room where a radiothon was being broadcast. It was pretty boring, till we realized that this was the Don Imus one and they were making less than a million, where they usually made 20 million! LOL. It was buzzing, cause right in the middle, he got fired! We got to see the NY Giants coach, that was our "celebrity moment" but he was subdued, but he managed to wrangle $ 26,000 while he spoke. The meal was crappy as usual- their side salad is a dish of iceberg with 2 croutons. Oh well, we got to see a bit of history! The cab ride to FAO Schwartz took over 30 min. We had just a quick spin around there, but it's always fun. We caught a 2 pm cab to LaGuardia where the fun really began as all flights were on 2-3 hr delay. Let me plug ATA and SW airlines here. They worked very hard to get a mom and 2 kids on a flight home. The terminal was a nightmare and people were unhappy and demanding, but the ATA people were just lovely. I stood there for 2 hours watching them being polite to everyone. We finally got to Louisville at 1:15 am.
Final thoughts: I could have used another day, but it's tough to do all you want when the weather is bad. NY people are very helpful, especially when you are confused at the subway! I love NYers. Try to walk as much as possible and don't worry about your shoes. I wore Cole Haan/Nike soles black tennies with orthotics and did very well. Wear GOOD arch support. Thanks to you at Fodors for the trip suggestions. My kids absolutely loved it.
Apr 13th, 2007, 12:45 PM
#4
We did the double-decker bus tour today of part of the downtown loop and Brooklyn. It wasn't raining but boy was it cold, wind chill was a killer. I had looked at the Party shuttle and should have gone with that one instead. The double-decker bus would be lovely on a nice sunny day!!!
Apr 14th, 2007, 08:18 AM
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Scarlett..isn't that funny? We just were starving, went to the first place that was Italian and had an incredible meal. I've since googled it and saw where people had mixed experiences....well, we had fabulous service and food. Sometimes when it's a mom and 2 girls, they treat you as 'non-tippers', lol. But, as a musician and being around the industry , I'm a 20 % plus gal. Certainly worth it that night.
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