Thank you to all the posters who helped me in planning a somewhat last-minute trip with my 14-year-old son. This was his first trip to NY and he's already angling to return soon! I have never been in the city in September. Maybe we got lucky, but the weather was glorious (except for a few hours, as detailed below): mornings cool then warming up to the low-mid 70's. I haven't been to NY since the pandemic began but my general observation was everything is less crowded - subway trains, sidewalks, restaurants, shops, museums, etc. This weekend may have been an anomaly.

Thursday, Sept. 23
Arrived early to LGA. With no checked bags and not much crowding in the terminal we got from our flight to the taxi line in less than 15 minutes. The taxi ride into Midtown was longer than I expected but I had not counted on the UN being in session and Biden apparently was there that day. So with all the attendant road closures, etc. traffic going through the tunnel then across Midtown was very heavy. It took about 50 minutes to get to the hotel.

We stayed at the Archer at 45 West 38th St. - part of a small boutique chain. I chose the Archer because (based on our last-minute planning) they offered what I could not locate elsewhere in Midtown: a room with 2 beds that did not cost an astronomical amount. I quickly realized that we had stumbled on a real gem. This hotel had better service, more thoughtfully designed rooms (albeit small, it's Manhattan), and careful attention to detail than hotels I've stayed that were considerably more expensive. I highly recommend it. Perhaps most important to me was the noise level of our 11th floor room overlooking W. 38th: practically non-existent! This was the first trip to NY that I haven't had to use to earplugs I packed. Combined with the luxury-level bedding, we both slept very well. And for those who actually like to hear street noise from their hotel room: the windows open enough to allow for that.

Since our plan for the afternoon was MoMA and shopping/sightseeing between there and the hotel, we wanted to stay in the neighborhood for lunch. The Archer thoughtfully provided a list of recommended restaurants in the area. We chose Franchia, a vegan restaurant at 12 Park Avenue. It was a short walk and my son was already so excited about seeing the architecture, hearing all the languages spoken on the sidewalk, and soaking it all in. We chose to dine outside due to the lovely weather. I highly recommend this place - even if you're not vegan. The "tuna" roll was almost indistinguishable from the real thing. The sauces and flavors were wonderful and the staff very gracious. Also, great people-watching on that stretch of Park.

We then headed to MoMA with our timed tickets. We spent about 2.75 hours and it could have easily been more. We started with Starry Night - which now is on the 5th floor (the 6th was closed temporarily) and wandered through the other Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works there. Based on the recommendation of a docent we then headed to the Cezanne Drawing exhibit, which is closing soon. Wow. It consisted of more than 250 drawings, rarely shown, from preliminary sketches to full watercolors. It very much gave the sense of being a witness to his work. We also enjoyed the exhibit "Liquid Reality" by Shigeko Kubota, one of the first generation of artists who employed video as a medium in the 1970s. We saw the very, very powerful multi-media exhibit "Who is Queen" by Adam Pendleton. I had my son take a photo of me under the massive painting "Tulips IV" by one of my favorite contemporary painters, Alex Katz. Then we headed to the Sculpture Garden to rest and reflect.

We walked our way back to W. 38th with lots of window-shopping en route. We had a 7:45 reservation at Cadence, a highly-reviewed vegan restaurant in the East Village. At just about the time we called for our Uber, the skies opened up. To make a long story short, our driver dropped us half a block from the restaurant but between the deluge, the dark, and my unfamiliarity with that neighborhood, it took us 10 minutes walking in the downpour to find the place. (We both had umbrellas, but it was a driving rain and no way to avoid getting soaked) Luckily we were seated right away and my traveling companion is a glass-half-full kind of guy. So despite being soggy we thoroughly enjoyed our dinner!

... To be continued

Sorry about the rain but everything else sounded wonderful.

Enjoying your report!

Great start! Can't wait to follow along with your report.

Hi! Looking forward to your next update! Planning to visit in the next several months too. Hoping things are much more stable in NYC by then.

Looking forward to this report...

Friday, September 24

Woke early to blue skies and sunshine! I knew my son would sleep in after walking 9.2 miles the day before, according to his phone app, so I decided to wander around the block toward 5th Ave. in search of espresso. (The Archer room did have a Nespresso machine which I used later - nice touch). I noticed several people ducking into a tiny storefront called Matto. It is apparently a hyper-local coffee chain with everyone in front of me having put in their order and paid remotely, just picking up their coffees and yogurt parfaits. I ordered yogurts for us as well as 2 banana lattes: espresso, oat milk, pureed banana and dates. I know that sounds somewhat gross but tasted fantastic! I walked up 5th and realized our hotel was just 2 blocks from Bryant Park and the NY Public Library. I took advantage of the early hour and light foot traffic to take some photos in the beautiful morning-after-storm light. Enjoyed my latte and breakfast in a quiet corner of the park where even at that early hour the ping-pong table was being utilized. What an amazing, lovely public space. I headed back to the hotel to rouse my son. He was excited to head downtown and we walked to the Bryant Park station, a 4-5 minute walk. We took the subway then it was a very short and scenic walk past Hudson Yards to the High Line. It was fairly busy - not surprising, given the amazing weather - but we had plenty of space to spread out, take photos, etc. We really enjoyed taking time to enjoy the gardens, the eclectic architectural styles spanning so many decades all observable from the same spot, and the artwork on display along the way. At the southern terminus we walked down the stairs and then I took him to walk past my dear friend's former apartment building on Horatio Street, where she lived in the 2000's. There was a very infectious, happy energy in the West Village and my son immediately declared it his favorite part of NY "so far." We window shopped, went into vintage shops and book shops, bought some treats at Murray's Cheese, then headed to Via Carota in hope of getting a table for lunch. This tiny, neighbourhood place is to me one of the best restaurants in NY. It is Italian without pretense or attitude, just perfect ingredients and perfectly simple but sublime food. Despite the fact that all of NYU appeared to have ditched class to enjoy the beautiful weather, we were seated in less than 10 minutes. We proceeded to have the best lunch I've had in a long, long time: shared panzanella with the ripest summer's end tomatoes and insalata mista; then my son had risotto limone and I had grilled sardines served on wilted greens. Swoon. We couldn't even do dessert after that feast. Instead we walked to Washington Square Park where there were buskers playing, kids skateboarding, fashion photo shoots happening in front of the fountain, and vendors of all sort displaying their wares. We soaked it all in and just relaxed on a bench. Then we headed back to the subway to return to the hotel and prepare for our Broadway night.

Sounds great. Can't wait to hear more.

Friday, September 24 (continued)

After a short rest at the hotel, we headed out to our 6 p.m. reservation at Butter (70 West 45th St.) We chose this restaurant based on good reviews, close proximity to the Theater District, and availability of vegetarian options. The dining room is below street level and very dramatically designed - perfect for the pre-show experience. Service was efficient and courteous and the food was very good. Several tables nearby were celebrating birthdays or anniversaries. We each had a starter salad, then my son had the Gnocchi mac-and-cheese and I had the salmon with a caponata-style side. We were cutting it a bit close on time so took an Uber to the St. James for David Bryne's American Utopia. This was my first visit to the St. James - what a beautiful theater! The audience was a mix of GenXers like me who were raised on the Talking Heads in the early 1980s, some older fans, and a scattering of teens and younger adults. The show is a little hard to describe: it's mostly a concert - a mix of new songs and classics - but with the added twist that the musicians and singers are also dancing (!) the entire time; there is also some political and cultural commentary from Mr. Bryne. After the first few numbers my son leaned over and pronounced it "weird," but by the end of the show was up out of his seat and dancing along to "Burning Down the House." Finally there was an overwhelming standing ovation and encore of "Road to Nowhere." We floated out of the theater and spent some time wandering Times Square. The combination of it being Friday night and the fact that people were obviously ready to celebrate the reopening of Broadway, things were a bit raucous, but we had fun checking out all the vendors and then making our way back to the hotel. By the time we got back we were both exhausted and thankful for another very comfortable night's sleep.

Same here, nycguy.

It wasn't an anomaly on the weekend. Because of the pandemic there are less visitors to NYC in general. Even people who live in any of the 5 boroughs are staying local more and more and don't go Manhattan unless they have to (they might work in Manhattan).

From your reports I could tell you had a great time and your son did as well. I think the fewer people around made things a bit better with shorter lines.

If things were back to "normal" you might have longer waits when you went to restaurants.

Anyway, I am glad your visit to Manhattan was a good one and I hope you will come back again.