First of all this trip was just a very short notice Christmas gift to my wife. She has always wanted to go to New York but I havent been to interested myself. She is very into Broadway shows and sees nearly everything that goes on tour. So I purchased some very short notice and very expensive last minute tickets that were in orchestra.. She is a huge Wizard of Oz fan and collector so I knew this trip was bound to score me some precious points with her. =)
Luckily I found some great prices on airfare which actually cost less than the tickets to Wicked! I then used priceline to bid on a hotel and ended up with "The Paramount Hotel" about a half block off Times Square and perfect for seeing shows. When I won it I was really scared as I read a ton of negative reviews most of which dealt with room size. When we arrived we took a cab from LaGuardia into the city and it ended up costing about $30 with tip. Which was about on par with what read to expect.
The Paramount does indeed have the smallest rooms I have ever seen but they are very nicely decorated and stylish, clean, and in the heart of the theater district. I would have been very upset if I had paid the $300 rack rate but with a priceline bid of $110 per night I was thrilled with both the room and location. We didnt spend much time in the room though as there is so much to do in NY we stayed out late and left early to get a head start.
Our trip was a week long beginning January 7th and ending flying out January 14th. Usually I pre plan every day of a trip and sort out as much info as possible. For this trip though due to short notice and a very heavy work load prior to leaving we planned nothing. Each day was winging it and to be honest it was one of the best trips we have ever taken.
Day 1- We flew into Laguardia at 4:00 PM so we had enough time to get to the hotel and check in. After we checked in we went to Times Square down the street and just let our eyes dance around the lights. I have to admit after the first night neither one of us felt like we could handle a week in NEw York. Times Square is interesting but overwhelming on the eyes and ears.Luckily for us the rest of the week proved us wrong.
Day 2-Sunday
We woke up and decided we wanted to check out a flea market called Hells Kitchen which I believe was on West 39th between 8th and 9th Ave. It was a very different start to our morning and the walk proved more interesting but it was worth a trip if you like flea markets. From the we wandered over to the Empire State Building and went to the observation deck. We did a combo pass with NYC skyride.(a flight simulator over NEw York. For those planning their trip...skip it. We loved the view from ESB and would pay for that again but skyride was the biggest waste of money on our trip!
From there we wandered down 5th Avenue just in checking out the shops and stuff. We came upon Rockefeller Center and found that the tree was still up! We very thrilled to see it as we thought it would be down by the time we got there. It is a very beautiful sight even though once we got closer it looked a little dry!
We had tickets to Chicago (Wife is a Huey Lewis fan as well so we lucked out there too) so it was time to head back to the Hotel and clean up before the show. The show was great but not the best of the 5(!) we ended up seeing during the week.
More to come .....

Five shows in a week. I'm jealous. Can't wait to hear more.

Can't wait to hear about Wicked. I've been chomping at the bit to fly to NYC to see it - but I'm trying to wait a few more months til the tour comes here.

Day 3- We met a friend who lives in Brooklyn and she was going to give a tour for the day. We met in the morning at our hotel and we headed for our first subway! We had done the Tube in London but NY seemed so much more intimidating and difficult to understand. Once she showed us how it works it wasnt nearly as difficult as we had thought and we managed to find our way around easily the rest of the week which made her very proud of us!
We went for breakfast at Toms Diner where Seinfeld and gang made famous. From there we went to the Cloisters which was amazing.
We ended up walking through Central Park and it was a great day for it. Our friend is going to school for photography there and she took our picture all day. It was nice to get some shots of us together without having to search for other tourists to take them. Seems we always end up with a ton of shots of us seperately but not today. We then went to FAO Shwartz where she is a manager and got a great tour and met some of her co workers. By the way...every half hour (or maybe hourly) they do very entertaining dance on the piano like Tom Hanks in "Big" If you happen to be in the store during your visit it is very fun to watch them do Mozart and other favorites on the floor piano!
We took the train to her apartment in Brooklyn and checked out some of her photographs and the went to dinner at a great pizza joint called Grimaldi's . The Pizza and atmosphere were great. We walked down to the dock in Brooklyn for some great (though cold!) views of the Manhattan skyline. She put us on the subway and made sure we were clear on which stop to get off and we headed back to the hotel. What a day!

Day 4- We didn't have our tour guide today so we were on our own again. We started our day (which was a late start) by walking down to Central Park for some ice skating at Wolman Rink. It was pretty expensive but very fun once you got the hang of it. It many many years since I had been ice skating and I have to admit I took a couple spills. My wife has some photos of the rink and the beautiful skyscrapers in the background with me waving my arms around wildly too keep my balance....somehow you just imagine its going to be so romantic but it ends up being quite funny if you dont know how to skate. All the same it was alot of fun.
We walked up to the "Hello Deli" made famous by David Letterman for lunch and bought the mother and father in-law some gifts (they are big fans of the show) We tried to get tickets to Letterman but it didnt pan out. It is just as well though as we managed to catch another show instead.
After lunch we took the subway up to Canal street to explore Little Italy and Chinatown. We loved the bakeries in Little Italy and wished we had not eaten lunch elsewhere as the food here seemed cheaper and looked fantastic compared to that in Times Square area. Chinatown was interesting as well but a little crowded.
We wandered over a few blocks and wandered through parts of Soho before heading back to the Hotel to clean up for Wicked.
Wicked has amazing sets and great music. It is really no wonder this show is so popular as it is really amazing all the way around. All parts were played to perfection and a standing ovation was given at the end. As I said before my wife loves Wizard of Oz and our home is literally filled from floor to ceiling with every different Doll,Cookie Jar,ornament and do-dad you can imagine related to the movie and book. So after the show she bought one of each item they had for sale. I am a minimalist so I have to grin and give a "yes dear" for her. =) After the show we were walking back to the Hotel and we saw a saxaphone player on the corner I managed to get him to play "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and my wife melted. Go me!! =)

Great report! I love New York, I was there this time last year. Aren't the Cloisters great?

Panhandle, you must love your wife very much indeed! She's a lucky lady! Thanks for taking the time to report back.

I have to modify this expression, but "you go guy!". Sounds like you had a wonderful time, your wife will remember it always, esp since you took the time and effort to fit it to her obsession, umm, I mean interests (just kidding!!!)- well done!

What a lucky wife!

We're really enjoying your trip report since we are planning to go to New York in a couple of months for the first time. Looking forward to the next installment. It seems like Times Square is within walking distance to a number of places. We were thinking of taking the Grey Line Tour since we hadn't been there before, but you seem to have gotten around pretty good by yourself.

Maj you will have a great time without doubt and we were told by our friend who lives there not to do the tours. She said by simple use of the subway and a decent guidebook (we used "Eyewitness" because we enjoyed the neighborhood walking tours in London our last trip) All you really need to know about getting around easily is which way to Queens and which way to BRooklyn...keep in mind also that each station will have an attendantrs and other locals who are generally very very helpful in answering any doubts you might have. We lived on the R,N,and A trains. Its actually very easy once you do it a couple times.Its also part of the adventure of learning a new place. To us the comfort of the tours would be nice but just not a great way to see how people there live. Yes Times Square a great location for getting around the city without doubt and if you plan on seeing a few shows its really handy. Times Square seems to get a bad rap in my opinion though the food isnt as good there. It is very safe to walk around and even at 2 am there were cops at every corner. I never felt unsafe in NY for one second.
You will have a great trip but leave some time open to explore...dont plan each second because you will find yourself lingering in some places longer than you would have thought.

Panhandle, loved your report! And I agree w/ the others - your wife is a lucky lady.

Do you mind if I ask where your friend is studying phtography? My DD is very keen on doing the same sort of thing - in NYC of course!

thanks!

Panhandle-What a great trip report. Your wife is very lucky. Your trip sounds like mine when I go-I see as many shows as possible. Hope you will finish the rest of your report for days 5-7 and let us know what other shows you saw.

Day 5- We met back up again with our tour guide and started the morning off with a taping of MAury Povich (sp?)It was an odd couple hours to say the least and I wouldnt really go back and do it again though it did make for some interesting story telling.
After the first show was taped they were going to be taping another episode but we opted to head over to Grand Central station for some Cheesecake at Juniors which was our friends favorite. She also insisted on taking some Black and White cookies for later in the day. Grand Central Station is quite a piece of architecture and the main hall is stunning. If you look up at the ceiling you will see a black square that was left "unrestored" to show just what kind of shape it was in before the restorion. Its is really hard to imagine what it must have looked like before it was fully restored to its current state but it does give you an idea. When you go down the hall that leads to the food court (next to an Oyster Bar) there are four pillars in a square next to the food court. Have a person stand facing one pillar and across the square have another person face the other pillar. You can hear each other talk as though they are standing right next to you even though they are quite some distance away. Kind of a neat experiment with acoustics! We stopped up at the transit museum for some interesting displays and some unique gifts related to the subway that were only available there.
We left Grand Central Station and headed over toward Ground Zero. We stopped first at a church around the corner (please someone remind me of the name of the church we visited so many I cant remember but it was a GREAT stop before going) The church has pews that the fireman would sleep on during the rescues and you can see the scuff marks from their boots on them still. There are many letters from all over, artifacts,news clippings etc. I have to say I kind of rushed through here a little because I found it to be a little to fresh still. We left the church after a bit and headed to the WTC site. We saw the famous cross and lingered only a few minutes before my wife and I both agreed to leave. It seemed like enough time had passed since 9/11 that it wouldnt bother us but we were wrong. We also found it disturbing to see throngs of tourists laughing and taking pictures in front of the site. It just didnt seem respectful or right to us or maybe we just hadnt really moved on as much as we thought. Either way it was too much for us and we walked down toward Wall Street.
The Wall Street area is really great. The narrow curving streets really have a different look to them.
We headed back to the Theater district set on getting tickets to Avenue Q which we lucked out and got.
It was raining so we stopped in for a couple pre show Martinis and then we were off. Avenue Q is very very funny if ...you have a sense of humor that apreciates political incorrectness. I myself do...though a few people around us were shocked that puppets could say and do such things. Do yourself a favor and read up about this show before you buy tickets. We thought it was great though and even I ended up buying a "It sucks to be me" shirt! Another great day!

Day 6 - Woke up and hit the streets again. This time we took the subway to Greenwich village and stopped in at a little bakery for some pastry and coffee to stroll with. We were a little disappinted that many of the shops and businesses were closed because school was out for break and it was very quiet here. We walked down to Washington Square Park and watched people for a bit then we decided to walk over toward East village to mess around. We found some great shops for used CD's and DVD's. East Village is very unique and we spent quite a bit of time going in some of the different shops that werent quite what we had seen up by the hotel. I even toyed with the idea of a tattoo but for some reason talked myself out of it.The wife thought we should get something that matched but we couldnt decide what to do...so we will save that for another trip I guess.=)
We then decided we were hungry and thought about Little Italy...so off we went. I cant remember which place we ate at but the food was the cheapest and best we had NY. Where had the day gone??? Before we knew it we had decided to get tickets to see Phantom of the Opera. MY wife had seen this 10 years ago and I hadnt seen it at all. We got our tickets last minute and ended up in the third row!This was really my favorite show we saw I think even though it is the most "hyped" The songs and sets are stunning and is really everything you think of when you think of Broadway. Each day is so full of great things in NY and to think...I wasnt too interested in visiting...now it is really my favorite city I have had the pleasure of visiting.

Day 7- Due to a later start we didnt get to fit as much into this day. We hadnt been to the Statue of Liberty yet and that was certainly a must for us. We took the Grey Line out to the island and spent the day with her. She really is a beacon for this country and everything that it stands for...Democrat, Republican,Catholic,Jew,Chinese, Hispanic, it doesnt matter out on the island. Everyone is part of the melting pot. Its a nice feeling to see so many proud faces out there.
After Ellis island we headed back toward the Hotel and since were flying out at 6 am the next morning we were just going to hit they hay early and be off to the airport. I told the wife that we should go back and get everything ready then go to another show. She said we would be exhausted the next day and didnt think it was a great idea. I told her we could be tired on the plane and since it was our last night in NY (this trip) that we should live a little more on the edge. It didnt take as much persuasion as I thought and off we went to "The Producers"
This was also a very funny show if you have the humor to match. It was a good show though we had a guy trying to talk on his cell phone the whole show....what is with people???? Nonetheless....It was a perfect ending to a perfect trip.
I was sorry we didnt have time to hit some of the museums though it gives us a reason to go back again.
My final thoughts on NY...DO ride the subway....Do WALK the streets as much as possible it really is the ONLY way to get to know a city...DO talk to the locals. I met so many nice people there and I really cant say enough about them.
By the way ...I can truly say now...I Love New York! Thanks Fodorites for all your posts. I didnt have to ask any questions myself for this one but used my search function on here each day of my trip during my first cup of coffee. Where to next???

You got him to play "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" ??!! You are wonderful. I'd bet she was a puddle on the sidewalk after that!
Really enjoyed your trip report. Makes me want to go for a whole week! First I need to make friends with your friend from Brooklyn...