I spent the last 4 days in New York for two concerts (David Gray and U2) and two Broadway shows (Spamalot and The Odd Couple). I can get long winded with my trip report, but I'll just give salient details here...

Thursday -- Amtrak Boston to Penn Station. Staying at the Novotel in Times Square which I chose for reasonable walking distance to Radio City for the David Gray concert that night. Toured UN that afternoon and ate at Carnegie Deli because I never had. I used to be a fan of the Roxy but stayed away based on recent reviews. The pastrami melted in my mouth but the prices were still high. I had a piece of cheesecake at the Roxy, and recall that their offerings used to be greater, I am guessing there's been a change of hands there and quality has suffered. Tremendous David Gray show.

Novotel is a nice accomodation. I found the service to be surly though (concierge not even remotely helpful) and I wasn't too thrilled with the location on Times Square. My view was of the Hudson from the 32nd floor, which was nice. Silent night of sleeping though, which is rare in Times Square.

Friday -- Breakfast at the Roxy, because I wanted fast french toast and it was close. $24 for french toast and OJ. Remember this for my next breakfast discussion. NBC Studio tour because I never had before -- very interesting to see the sets. This is where I found out about the terrorist alert. So I brazenly vowed to hop on the subway and visited MOMA to see the Monets, Van Goghs and Klimts. I'm not much of a modern fan, and can't understand how Monet landed there, but it was nice to visit anyway. Off to the Frick, which was a tremendous art experience. I loved the mansion and the presentation of the artwork. The audio tour is free and I highly recommend it, particularly for the background on Frick himself. U2 at Madison Square Garden -- phenomenal. My Thursday night was a late addition to this trip, and I'd originally booked into the Millennium Broadway, which I moved to for Friday and Saturday. Not quite as nice as the Novotel accomodation-wise and they messed up not giving us a twin room. First we were in the premier towers with a king (no good), then the "regular" hotel with a queen and finally a twin room. Other than that the service was fantastic. Helpful staff and concierge. Better location for me as well.

Saturday -- Breakfast at Cranberry Gourmet Deli on W. 45th right outside the Millennium. French toast and OJ for $6. Yes, that's right, $6 and no tip. And better than the Roxy. The offerings here are wonderful and truly gourmet. Sun-dried tomato chicken salad, flatbread pressed sandwiches, etc. And very reasonable!!! Had 2 p.m. matinee for Spamalot, which was wonderful and exceeded our expectations, but you need that sense of humor. Ate dinner at Foley's Fish House, which we neglected to get reservations for when we stayed at the Renaissance itself a few years back. Fabulous crab cakes (signature item) and lobster mashed potato. Stopped at the Russian Vodka Room for a couple of drinks en route to the theater. Found this one in Frommer's I believe, and what a find. Interesting atmosphere and the vodka all different flavors and verrrrry potent. $5 a shot. 8 p.m. tickets for The Odd Couple. This did not live up to our expectations unfortunately. Nathan Lane wasn't a believable slob but Matthew Broderick was better as Felix. Brad Garrett stole the show, but unfortunately was only onstage for a brief time overall.

Another exceptionally quiet night's sleep at the Millennium. Be warned they start cleaning rooms at 9 a.m. and aren't afraid to knock. Use your Do Not Disturb sign!

Sunday -- Breakfast and lunch today at Cranberry deli. The pastrami was better than Carnegie and only $4.85! Walked a now-dry city after Saturday's deluge. Visited and ate our way through Chelsea Market, Saks Fifth Avenue and watched the Columbus Day parade. Uneventful Delta Shuttle back to Boston.

In short:
Highly recommend: Millennium Broadway (if you like that area at all), Cranberry Gourmet Deli, Foley's Fish House, Spamalot, U2 and David Gray.

Take a pass: Novotel, The Odd Couple

amyb, an interesting report.......but, one correction is needed: You did NOT see the Columbus Day Parade yesterday. That one took place today. Yesterday's was a Hispanic parade.

Enjoyed your report. So you took the train down and flew back? Preference?

Glad to hear about the Cranberry Deli. People always ask about breakfast in the TS area. Is it self serve that you didn't tip? Better pastrami than Carnegie???? Oookay. Russian Vodka sounds interesting too.

Yes, at Cranberry you order at a counter and sit yourself, hence no tip.

Thank you for the correction on the parade. NYPD told us it was for Columbus Day. Your correction explains why we crossed Fifth Avenue between Panama and Paraguay floats.

I'd never flown out of LaGuardia back to Boston but did so to fly home with my travel companion, who did not travel down to NYC at the same time as me. I prefer the flying because we were home much quicker (and could stay longer yesterday), but I did get 3 1/2 hours of leisure reading in on the way down!

Glad we cleared up the parade issue. I was curious how amyb saw the parade and made it home in time to post this today.

Until I witnessed the Columbus Day parade in NYC I had no idea it was an Italian event, by the way!

thanks for the breakfast tips....10 weeks to go!

Nice report, amyb.

Just one question, though - have you ever had a pastrami sandwich at the Carnegie? There's about 1/2 lb. of prime pastrami piled on that sandwich, something that I don't think the Blueberry, sorry, Cranberry can duplicate.

I guess this was your first trip to NY.

Actually Leona, I've been quite a few times and I don't think I have to mention that quantity does not equal quality. When I ate at the Carnegie on Thursday night (which is in my report) I ended up leaving over half the pastrami uneaten because it was so massive. I even mentioned in my report that it was wonderful. But I felt the Cranberry was significantly better quality and smaller, yes...but why leave 80% of a sandwich that you pay $20 for?

Great report ... I'm envious ... U2, Spamalot and Odd Couple all in one trip; how did you manage snagging those tickets?

I've got tickets for Spamalot in March so I was glad to see you recommend that (as do most). Interesting comment about Odd Couple ... of course, tickets for that show aren't available for the current run. And U2 ... I saw their last tour. It was quite an experience and it sounds like this year's is also. We weren't able to get tickets for their show in our local area; I was SO disappointed.

Thanks for the report.

Amy - great report, and I too am envious of your show tickets - WOW!

I agree with you that quantity doesn't equal quality. I tried Carnegie once and it was very good, but I found the portion size almost gross. I think my sandwich could have fed a family of 4, it was a real turn-off. There are other places that serve the same (or better) quality and you don't have to watch someone shove a 1/2 pound of pastrami into their mouth!

Thanks for posting.

Wow what a trip. glad you enjoyed yourself. Saw U2 Saturday night, weren't they amazing!

I was talking about quality as well..and it's hard to believe that a grocery store/deli can offer the same quality of pastrami as the Carnegie. I've certainly never found that but I'll definitely try it.

Sounds wonderful amyb! Hope we can visit NYC soon and try the deli.

A tip for Carnegie Deli visits- when you order your sandwich,ask for extra bread.You can make a second(or third even) to share or take with you -give to a homeless person if you can't use it yourself!

Excellent tip, massagediva, there are so many times I have too much food at dinner and now I know what to do!

As for procuring tickets...for the Odd Couple I went through a broker about a month ago (Ace Tickets) and paid more than I would've liked but got excellent seats. David Gray, U2 and Spamalot I got on Tickemaster online. U2 in NYC I bought a couple weeks ago when they released more tickets (I'd bought tickets for all 4 Boston shows earlier this year in the onsales)

Spamalot was luck. We had two seats on the aisle in the mezzanine -- one seat in front of the other. So we were together, but not in the same row. That was about a month ago as well.

Funny thing is, I wanted to go to Madrid for the week originally, and decided not to to keep costs down since I splurged on a bike tour in May. In the end the costs for that week of 3 U2 shows (Bos/NYC), David Gray and two Broadway productions, not to mention three nights in a NYC hotel...OY VEY!

Back to Cranberry Deli pastrami for a moment. I found both equally melt-in-your-mouth but the meat at Cranberry didn't have a stitch of fat on it (nothing you had to pull off and put aside, if you will) whereas we both were sorting through the meat at Carnegie to separate the wheat from the chaffe, so to speak.