New York trip report, (long )
 

Okay, I'll try breaking this up into smaller pieces and see if it works better: <BR>After all the great advice and tips that we received from fellow Fodorites before our New York trip, I definitely owe everyone a trip report. Here goes a 'condensed' version: <BR>Day 1: Arrived at La Guardia mid-afternoon. My husband and I surprised our 9 and 12 year olds with a limo ride to the hotel--they were pumped. Nice way to start our vacation. We stayed at the Doubletree Guest Suites on Times Square--nice, two-bedroom suite. We asked to be on a high floor to escape street noise--38th floor (out of 43 was very quiet). Wandered around Times Square for awhile and watched a taping of MTV's TRL from the street. Kids liked this. We had dinner reservations at Union Square Cafe (this was my birthday) and the restaurant was everything we had heard. Best salmon in the world. The garlic potato chips were fun. My dessert had "Happy Birthday" written on the plate in chocolate--all in all a great place and very child-friendly. Back to Times Square with the 12 year old purchasing a "Rolex" from a street vendor. He knows it's fake but was very pleased with his purchase :-) <BR> <BR>Day 2: Up early and bought 2-day passes with Gray Lines double decker on/off tour busses. This was a GOOD decision. Our tickets included 3 different tour runs (one a night tour) and we could hop on and hop off at dozens of different stops for 48 hours. The tour guides were interesting and informative (except for one guy at night--he was awful) and we saw quite a bit of the city and learned things we wouldn't have known by taking the taxi or subway. We took the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island ferry that morning and stopped at Ellis Island. This was a profoundly moving experience (for me anyhow)--I found my grandparents' names listed on the wall of emigrants outside of the museum. After returning on the ferry we wandered around Battery Park and the Seaport area before catching the Gray Line bus to Chinatown and Little Italy. Wandered the streets most of the time--we all enjoyed the people-watching and street vendors. We ate lunch at one of the little street cafes in Little Italy. Wish I could remember the name...That night we ate a late supper at John's Pizza near Times Square--this John's is located in a former church and has a fun atmosphere and marvelous pizza. Phantom of the Opera was at the theatre right across the street so we easily made curtain time. Phantom is an oldy but goody--we enjoyed it. Kids said they preferred Annie Get Your Gun (later in the week) but I've heard the 12 year old singing lines from Phantom songs several times in the past few days so it did make an impression. <BR> <BR>Day 3--Took the uptown portion of the bus tour--Upper West Side, Harlem, etc. We got out at Central Park and wandered around for awhile on the Upper East Side. My husband and son took the subway to the Yankees game while my daughter and I had tea at the Pierre Hotel (our tea experience is listed under another post). Tea was great and everyone at the Pierre treated us like we were royalty (as opposed to the non-royalty from Nebraska that we are). After tea we headed for FAO Schwartz--I have no idea what all the fuss is with this store--it's just a two-story toy store with stuff you can get at Target. I had envisioned a 3-4 story toy extravaganza in a Bloomies-like building. Next we hit Capezio near Times Square and stocked up on my daughter's dancewear for the coming year. If you're looking for dancewear and dance shoes, this is the place to go. We all met back at the hotel, changed clothes and headed to the Village for Blue Man Group. Easily one of the highlights of the trip. We all loved it but find ourselves at a loss for words when describing it to other people. It's definitely okay for kids even though there were two or three questionable words used. The kids had their programs 'kissed' by the Blue Men after the performance (blue-paint kisses)--great souvenir.

Part Two: <BR>Day 4--Slept in a bit then took a taxi to the Sony Wonder Technology Lab in the Sony Building. It's a free, interactive 3 story kid paradise--lots of hands-on activities that even big 39 year olds kids enjoy. They only allow so many people in at a time so we got there right at 10am when it opened. This was good since there was a longish line when we left. Next we walked over to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and had a street vendor hot-dog lunch on the steps of the museum. I recommend renting the audio headphones at the Met that further detail some of the exhibits. After leaving the museum we checked out Grand Central Station and had a snack at Juniors in the food court. GCS's restoration is well worth seeing. Went to the Village for supper in a little neighborhood Mexican restaurant then walked around. <BR> <BR>Day 5--This was walking day! We walked and walked and walked... Went into St. Patrick's Cathedral and then did a little shopping at Bloomingdales, NIKE town and Old Navy and ate lunch at Kaplan's Deli. I'd never had a knish and completely embarrassed my family by quizzing the waiter at some length as to exactly what WAS a knish. He couldn't have been nicer and actually ran to the kitchen to bring me a sample. Yum--wonder if they can Fed-ex knishes to Nebraska. That brings up one of my main pleasant surprises about New York--everyone from taxi drivers to waiters to people on the street were pleasant, helpful and friendly...not what I was expecting at all. New Yorkers, you should pat yourselves on the back. Not only that, but the streets were clean and we felt safe at all times. That night we saw the FINAL performance of Annie Get Your Gun with Tom Wopat and Crystal Bernhard. Cute show and kind of interesting to see the 'final.' The kids loved this musical. <BR> <BR>Day 6--After a WILD taxi ride to the airport, we left New York late morning. <BR> <BR>We're already planning our next trip to New York--just a great city. Things we didn't get done that we wanted to: stopping in at Hello Deli (often featured on Letterman)--a word of warning--it's closed on the weekends. Our 9 year old wanted to have lunch at Peanut Butter and Company in the Village but didn't make it there. We also wanted to see the New York Stock Exchange in action--next trip! One more thing--I think next time I would stay in a Upper East Side hotel closer to the Central Park area--that seemed to be where we often ended up and it's not as chaotic as Times Square. <BR>

So nice to hear you had a good time. <BR> <BR>For the most part, NYers are a friendly bunch. However, we don't seem to live among each other very well:)

I'm so glad you had a great time! For your family's next visit, in addition to the east side and Central Park, please come and visit the upper west side! We've got lots of restaurants, lots of kids and both Central and Riverside Park!

My compliments Teresa are twofold: <BR>One, for planning and realizing a visit to New York that really includes the best of what we have to offer; and two, for doing such a super job of reporting on it!

This sounds like a New York that I'd want to visit. How did you decide on a hotel? That's what I'm having a hard time deciding on right now.

Sounds like a great trip. Next time visit Brooklyn -- we have lots of history and great restaurants! <BR> <BR>CVA