Trip Report - NYC Girls Weekend

Old Sep 21st, 2016, 11:36 AM
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Trip Report - NYC Girls Weekend

OK, I admit I'm a little nervous posting my first ever trip report here. But I've posted questions a lot and searched the archives and found invaluable info in the past, so I thought I would post in case it helps someone else. Here goes!

Background: This was a long weekend meet-up with a childhood best friend who lives in DC, I'm in TX so we rarely see each other, so we could have met anywhere and would have had a blast. But NYC it was! I have been several times so we found some "new to us" activities along with the usual shows and restaurants. This trip we mainly stayed downtown (as to us) - Chelsea, the Village, Tribeca with a couple of quick forays further out.

I arrived JFK around 4:30 and took the AirTrain to Jamaica Station to catch the LIRR. It was all very smooth and easy and I found myself at Jamaica Station with just enough time to catch the express to Penn. On board though, the conductor came to collect tickets and I produced my MetroCard. Ooops. My mistake, and I had to buy the $13 ticket on board. I recall someone on here saying it was $6 at Jamaica Station so I missed that. Oh well.

Arrived at Penn and it was a quick walk to the Fairfield Inn - Chelsea. I was there by 5:30. The vendors were cleaning up, but you could see that this is the middle of the flower district so quite lovely, especially in the mornings! Fri night we went to dinner at Rosemary's, I had a pasta dish that was fine but not super memorable. Loved the drinks and atmosphere, it was a nice place to start our trip. We were pretty pooped from travel so went on to bed. It was a great hotel location, the price was right, it was all clean and fine. The only downsides were no refrig in the room and the bathroom door opens funny - if the door is open, it blocks the vanity area and sink. So it always felt like we were walking in backwards. It was challenging to get two girls hair and makeup done, but overall OK.

I won't bore you with all of the transportation details, but we did subway almost everywhere - we both prefer public transport for the value, time and just overall immersion into the city.

Sat AM and Sun AM we hit up SoulCycle. I'm not into it, but my friend is, and it was fun to tag along and pretend we were young hip New Yorkers We are both 40-something moms. Sat we went to the location in FIDI and Sun in SOHO.

Sat after the workout we grabbed smoothies from a juice place (young hipsters that we are) and then went back to the hotel to clean up. We had Ray's Walking Tour in Brooklyn at 2, so had some time to kill. We wandered around Soho, grabbed a salad at Chop't (salad bar chain, very good) and ate it in the shade in Madison Square Park. Quite nice. Then we headed over to Brooklyn. The tour was great! It was my first time in Brooklyn, and I really enjoyed the discussion on how Brooklyn has evolved over the years. It is lovely and I would love to return to Brooklyn. The food was also incredible - we were stuffed by the time it was over around 5:30. I HIGHLY recommend food and walking tours, I've never been on a bad one!

After Brooklyn we headed back to Manhattan; we had a Haunted Manhattan tour at 7:30 in the west village. We met at Washington Square Park. It was a short, fun, quirky tour. Not scary or particularly believable, but we did learn some fun facts about the village and we enjoyed it. We grabbed a quick bite (nachos - nothing memorable) afterwards and then heard about the explosion back near our hotel in Chelsea. We of course were concerned about the victims but aside from some street closures, we were largely unaffected by the events.

Sun AM again Soulcycle, this time in Soho, then headed to Dominique Ansel to try a cronut. It didn't take us long to get ours, and it was fun to try, but I wouldn't invest an hour or anything there! Ha. Then we went to walk the Highline (always wonderful) and to Chelsea Market. There we had lunch at Corkbuzz - a nice winery with delicious apps - we had the crostini and the beet / goat cheese salad - and we each had the Crisp Whites wine flight.

Sun PM was Wicked at 7PM. We weren't hungry enough to force dinner before, so we got French fries and wine on Times Square in this little seating area with some food-truck type stands. This was new to me - I haven't seen it on previous trips, and it was pretty cool! So we had those little snacks and walked over to the Gershwin. GREAT show, but by the second act I was getting nervous about dinner (haha). On a previous trip I had eaten a wonderful risotto at Basso 56, so we had made 9:45 reservations there, but we were in danger of missing them so we rushed from the theater and just made it. It was a great dinner - I had a gnocchi and she had artichoke ravioli - but next time I would relax and enjoy the show more and grab something quickly afterward instead!

Mon AM it started pouring. We went to Sarabeth's in Tribeca for a late breakfast (the caramelized banana oatmeal for me), and then headed our separate ways back home.

It was a great trip. Until next time, NYC....
4sammy is offline  
Old Sep 22nd, 2016, 01:30 PM
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Sounds great! Thanks for posting.

Lee Ann
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Old Sep 22nd, 2016, 05:07 PM
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Thank you for posting a great report!
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Old Sep 23rd, 2016, 06:43 PM
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NYC gal here....my buddy is in Wicked! I'll tell him you enjoyed the show.
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Old Sep 24th, 2016, 04:37 AM
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Thanks for taking the time to post. Great report.
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Old Sep 24th, 2016, 06:56 AM
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Thanks, you allow me to relive our girls weekend in NYC last year.
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Old Sep 24th, 2016, 07:54 AM
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So glad the bombing didn't impact your weekend too much. The Brooklyn walking tour sounds interesting. Thanks
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Old Sep 25th, 2016, 11:43 AM
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The LIRR fare to NY Penn at the time you boarded would be $9.50 (peak periods on weekdays - $7.00 on off/peak & weekends). The reason you paid $13.00 is because there is a surcharge added when you buy the ticket ON the train.

Just a note to anyone who may ride Metro-North, LIRR and NJ Transit railroads - Buy your ticket BEFORE you get on the train (Ticket Machines or Ticket Window). Tickets purchased on the train will be subject to a surcharge. MetroCards are valid only on NYC Subway, NYC Buses, Nassau County Buses, Westchester County Buses and PATH (regular MetroCards only on PATH).

First time in Brooklyn??? Oh well, we all have to go sometime .

I am glad you had a enjoyable visit. Come back soon.
nycguy10002 is online now  
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