Trip Report - A Weekend in NYC
 

We too (my sister, daughter, and I?and a friend for 24 hours in the middle) spent Memorial Day weekend in New York City?the first in three years that it didn?t pour the entire weekend. I?ll be brief and am happy to answer questions.

We stayed at the Wellington,which is in dire need of renovation. The staff, however, is outstanding. We had a suite, and the kitchen had nothing in it?-nothing.

Friday night dinner at Le Bernadin was exquisite; ?Jumpers? afterwards was not so exquisite. I like Tom Stoppard, but this was beyond me. I couldn?t decide if I?d had too much to drink or not enough. We left at intermission, something I never thought I would do. (We had had tickets to see ?Match,? which closed the week before.)

Saturday morning we saw the Andy Goldsworthy exhibit on the roof of the Metropolitan Museum, as well as the Dangerous Liaisons exhibit?-both were excellent. My sculptor/art teacher daughter is given a discount in the museum shop, and she spent a lot of money on her students.

We shopped til we dropped on Saturday afternoon, after lunch at the café at Sak?s. We covered 5th Avenue and Madison Avenue in pretty short order. (The rest of our shopping was at the street fair on 7th Avenue on Sunday, and on Canal, Broadway, Bleeker, etc., that afternoon after the jazz brunch at the Blue Water Grill?excellent.)

Dinner Saturday night was at Nanni on the east side; this was recommended by a friend of a friend of the owner, and it was good. Best of all was the warm welcome and attention we received.

Dinner on Sunday was at the wine dinner at Cite; good, but far more wine than I can handle (two reds with my entrée was too much for me, although all the choices were quite good).

An hour at Zabar?s on our way out of town to stock up on goodies, the perfect ending to another great weekend in a great city?

Those question marks are supposed to be dashes or hyphens...geesh.

I also just got back from N.Y. I also went to see Jumpers. I toughed it out and stayed through the entire show. Many people left during the intermission. The second half was better, but definitely not a show I would recommend. I still am not sure who did it. Another show not to see is Caroline or Change. The sound is poor and the show is a bit amatuerish.
I did, however, enjoy Fiddler on the Roof and Phantom. I recommend getting tickets at TKTS. I got great seats for 1/2 price.

As for Zabar's -- it's FABULOUS!

As for hotels, I stayed at the Marriott Marquis, $111 a night on Priceline. The location is great and they gave me a room at 7:30 a.m. when I arrived (even though on the phone they said I could not have early arrival since I booked through Priceline.)

I flew into JFK and took the airtrain to the subway and the subway to my hotel. It was easy and inexpensive.

I enjoyed reading the reviews of your trips to NYC, BuzzyJ and Enjoylife. I too enjoyed a street fair on 7th Avenue.

Cheers! DAN

enjoylife:
Just wanted to clarify that you got tickets to Phantom also at TKTS. I have seen it several times but my son wants to see it and I hate to pay the $100 I seem to keep finding on-line.

barring the no guarantees, first come, first served issues of the TKTS booth, finding Phantom on there should not be a problem.

not that it offers any promises, but if you go to http://www.tdf.org/tkts/index.html and click on the broadway at the booths link, it'll give you a listing of shows that were available the previous week. it's a good indication of what will continue to be available.

Yes, I got all my tickets at TKTS. I went to the seaport location. It opens earlier and is less of a wait.

Thank you. That is the location I plan on using and will be first in line.

you can key in SVM discount entertainment guide on the web and will get discounts from 30-50% off many broadway and off-broadway shows.

I was lucked out to score a table at the Serendipity Cafe (from John Cusack's movie!) in 45 mins this past Easter on a Friday afternoon. I heard the wait can be as long as 3 hrs on weekends. The restaurant has a lovely and dream-like atmosphere, and the frozen hot chocolate was a must-try!

enjoylife~
You certainly scored on the Marriott Marquis on Priceline at $111/nt. I just made reserv. for 3 nts at $289 each! I feel like I am throwing $ away, but I needed to get something nailed down quick. I can cancel up to 1-2 days before arrival w/ no penalty. May I ask, did they give you a King bed? How far in advance did you bid and how did you have to play for that price? I couldn't gamble a King for 3 of us, but at such a good price I could have 2 rooms and still come out ahead!No guarantee on the Marriott, but any TS comparable hotel would do.

Zabars was one of my first NYC experiences when I moved to the city in 1979. It is the place that I base all other delis on. It is the best. How I would love to go there. Is it still at 79th (?) and Broadway (?). Is it still pretty small? OMG, that has been almost 25 years ago.

Thanks for the report.

Yes, Zabar's is still fairly small, and it's at 81st and Broadway. There is a 2nd floor of kitchen appliances and supplies; when I first discovered Zabar's I wasn't interested in that stuff--the 2nd floor probably has always carried it, but I just didn't care.

topping

why?

I topped several posts to answer a question of another poster about a weekend in NYC.