NYC trip report(this past week-end)
 

Arrived Fri. AM via JetBlue, great airline. Easy in and out JFK Terminal. Taxi to Manhat. $35 flat rate plus 3.50 toll and tip approx. 45-60 min. ride. Stayed at Novotel Hotel on 52nd St. Would highly recommend, large & very quite rooms in a busy area of town. Tried for a week to get 4 tickets to Radio City Spectular on internet without success, one post suggested going to the box office so that is what we did. Arrived a few minutes before the 1:00 show was the 3rd person in line. Hundreds of seats available from $35-$74. Choose $74 seats in row 14 center section orch. A must see. Looks like the majority of people wanted the evening shows & tickets were also available, but long lines. While in that area did Rockefeller Center, the tree, Saks, walked down to Empire State Bldg. and Macy's. Both Saks and Macy's had fantastic window displays. Then to Times Square and Toys R Us.(must see ferris wheel inside store)Friday nite was easy in, on Sat. nite I observed a long line waiting to go in to buy toys.<BR>Saturday started day out with 90 min. cruise on Circleline, $20 per person, one of the best values. Fortunately right next door we witnessed the commissioning of the USS Bulkeley Guided Missile Destroyer. Then a short taxi ride to ground zero, a very moving experience but a must see. We should never forget that day. Then to Wall St. and New York Exchange(closed to public) Sunday was a nice leisurely day starting with the American Museum of Natural History and across Central Park to the Met. Museum of Art. Did a quick 2 hr. in each, hitting the high spots, could have easily spent a day at each place. Then to Bloomingdale's for gifts. I would like to say that their are several best sights in NYC and they are free these are St. Patrick's Cath., St. Peter's Church, St. Paul's Chapel and Trinity Church. In closing I would like to say we had a great trip and we found the people of NYC to be friendly, courteous and very apprecitive of our business. I will do my best to be more specific to those asking for assistance in future trips as you can see it is easy to ramble on & on. To those who offered their assistance at this post in preparing for our trip I would like to say thank you. Best regards, Alex

On your next visit be sure to visit the Cathedral of St John the Divine. It is on the upper west side - 112th and Amsterdam Avenue. It is one of te largest cathedrals in the world, if not the largest. It is more than 100 years in the building and still not finished. Thanks for taking the time to report on your visit.

Yeahhh,Alex, glad you were here and glad you liked it! Someone was just telling me today that they were in DisneyWorld, and ran into some New Yorkers, she said she recognized them because they were talking to everybody,so friendly...it is nice to hear good things about your home town..and we hope you come back again and stay longer, there is so much more to see and do!

Hi mr, rqf<BR>I forgot to mention I live in Orlando, thanks for your comments. Wish I had known about Cathedral of ST. John the Divine. Alex

Hi Alex, I found your report. I love St Paul's Chapel and have volunteered there a bit myself in their respite center for Ground Zero workers, and hope to do more.<BR><BR> It's nice to hear appreciation of the churches in Manhattan, there's so much else happening here they are often missed I think.<BR><BR> Come back soon, and let us know you're coming!!! <BR><BR>

ttt<BR>

If you come back in warmer weather, be sure to check out the Cafe at St. Bart's. It's a church on Park Ave (I believe it's at the corner of 52nd). They have a lovely outdoor cafe on a large raised stone patio adjacent to the church. Nice lunch menu but particularly good is the Sunday brunch - good food a great value by NYC brunch standards ($18 per person if I recall correctly).