Time for a Sisters Trip so off we went to New York City!Wednesday, May 5th, 2010. We arrived at Newark Airport at 5:15pm. Carol and I flew together and Ruth met us there. Our flights were about the same time so once we landed and headed to baggage we called Ruth, and she came over from her terminal. We went outside to beautiful, sunny warm weather in the 70s. A nice change from Seattle and Minneapolis weather. We took a taxi, during rush hour, through the Lincoln Tunnel and arrived at our hotel in Times Square about 7:00 pm. Our hotel, the Hilton Garden Inn was in a great location on 8th Avenue between 48th and 49th. We faced 8th Avenue, which was much quieter than facing 7th Avenue and the heart of everything in Times Square. We had dinner reservations for 7:30 so we checked in, freshened up a little and walked over to the Eatery which is on 53rd. The food was good, large portions and attractive with great reviews. After dinner we walked along 53rd to 7th Avenue then south on 7th to see all the lights and buildings in Times Square. Last week was the attempted bombing on 7th and 45th so there was a lot of police presence. Although I had been to NYC twice before, it was still awesome to see all the lights and magnificent buildings. Neither Ruth nor Carol had been and they were impressed. Until you have seen it you just don’t know what to expect. After walking as far as 45th street we headed back up to our hotel for the night.
Thursday, May 6th, 2010 We got up and headed over to the Hop On – Hop Off tour bus and scheduled the All Loops Tour which gave us 4 routes, including Uptown, Downtown, Brooklyn and NYC at Night tour. We had 48 hrs to use our tickets so we got on the Uptown bus and road up through Central Park West, past the Dakota where John Lennon was shot, and past St John’s Cathedral, then up through Harlem then down Central Park East. We got off the tour at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met). We all wanted to see the museum so we went in for a few hours. One thing we learned was that all the public museums have a “recommended” entry fee however you can pay whatever you want, or nothing at all. We paid $10 each rather than $20 because we didn’t plan to stay long.
After the museum we walked into Central Park. The weather was still beautiful as we walked by the Belvedere Castle, the Bow Bridge, and back around to the Bethesda Terrace Fountain, which was being renovated. We left Central Park and took a taxi over to Serendipity for lunch. Since it was 2pm we had beat the lunch crowd so we didn’t have to wait at all. It is a fun, eclectic restaurant with great desserts, including Frozen Hot Chocolate, one of Oprah’s favorite things. Lunch was good and the Frozen Hot Chocolate lived up to its reputation. After we left Serendipity we walked back to 5th Avenue and stopped at Trump Tower which is beautiful inside, and Radio City Music Hall, then on to Rockefeller Center. We stopped at the plaza and saw all the flags around the area where there is ice skating in the winter and outdoor restaurants in the summer. We walked back through Times Square and to our hotel to rest for awhile before going out again. That evening we had reservations to see Jersey Boys at the August Wilson Theatre. Carol made arrangements through a friend to have a backstage tour beforehand so we arrived at the stage door entrance as planned at 7pm. Our tour was interesting with our guide showing us how the sets are changed so quickly, where the actors get ready and just how all the choreography works so well together. After our tour we found our seats on the balcony level. The theatre is small enough that any seat was probably good. The show told the story of Frankie Valle and was a lot of fun with familiar music from the 50s and 60s. After the show we stopped at Thalia for dinner, which was close to our hotel. The food and drinks were good.
Friday, May 7th. We left our hotel about 8:00 and walked over to Rockefeller Center hoping to go to the Top of the Rock, and also arrange a studio tour. Once we got our tickets we had to wait in line to see which studio tour we would be taking. They had nothing available until 5pm! We had other plans so we knew that wouldn’t work, so we exchanged the tickets for one for me on Sunday and Ruth and Carol decided they would rather go to the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) while I was at the studio tour. So we went to the Top of the Rock to see the view and take pictures, and then walked over to where they were still filming the Today Show. People usually line up as early as 5am for the 7am start, but by 9 or so they start leaving, especially if there is not a special guest. We found a place to stand close to the front row as Al Roker, Matt Lauer and Natalie Morales were doing their stints. Ruth actually shook hands with Al and I shook hands with Natalie. Later we found out that I was on the live broadcast, but the other shots we were in were edited out.
We left the area and walked back over to 8th street and got on the Hop On- Hop Off Downtown loop. It really is a fun way to learn a little about the city, take a break from walking and see some things you may otherwise not see. It took us past the Flat Iron district, Soho, Greenwich Village, Chinatown, Ground Zero and Wall Street. We got off at South Street Seaport where we transferred to the Brooklyn loop tour. Once we were over the Manhattan Bridge we stopped at Brooklyn Bridge Park so we all could take pictures of lower Manhattan. We got back on and continued our tour through Brooklyn. We stopped at a Pizzaria and everyone got out and got a piece of pizza, then back on the bus for the rest of the tour. At the last stop we got off the bus and walked over the Brooklyn Bridge. What an awesome sight! The walk was fun, the weather was nice and it felt good to walk the bridge. On the Manhattan side we walked through Wall Street area, and over to Lupa for dinner. Lupa is one of 5 restaurants in Manhattan owned by Mario Batali who was raised in the Seattle area and has his own show on the Food Network. It was an excellent choice and we all enjoyed our meal. After dinner we took a taxi back to our hotel. By then it was 10:30 and we had a very busy, yet fulfilling day.
Saturday May 8th, 2010 We got up early and rode the subway to the Ace Hotel. We had read about the little coffee shop next to the hotel that served Stumptown Coffee and it suggested sitting and drinking it in the lobby of the Ace Hotel. The hotel is beautiful with rich, dark décor with the feel of a wonderful, old library. After our coffee we got back on the subway and took it to the end which was the Port Authority pier where the Stanton Island Ferry departs. We walked over to Battery Park and got in line to go to the Statue of Liberty / Ellis Island. It started to rain and the wind was blowing but it was warm. We had brought umbrellas and jackets with hoods just in case so we were ready. We rode the ferry over and walked around the Park taking pictures. The museum had at least an hour wait so we decided that we wanted to spend more time at Ellis Island so we got back in line to take the next ferry. Ellis Island was incredible, to walk in the footsteps of our ancestors as they came to this country, and to see what they went through to be here. We didn’t stay and do any research since you can do it online, however we were able to watch one of the films and go through all the rooms. It was incredible. After we left Ellis Island we rode the subway up to Union Square and had lunch at the Republic, a Vietnamese restaurant. It was a small restaurant with unusual décor, but the food was great. Ruth and Carol both had Vietnamese sandwiches and salads, and I had a bowl of soup, similar to pho. After lunch we took the subway up to Grand Central Station. We didn’t stay long but I wanted Ruth and Carol to see Grand Central. By then we were tired of walking so we decided to take the subway shuttle back to Times Square then walked to our hotel to rest before dinner. Once we were in Times Square we heard that the Stanton Island Ferry had rammed the dock and several people were injured. We had been there in the morning about 9:30 when we were going over to Liberty and Ellis Island, but we hadn’t seen or heard any commotion.
That evening we took a taxi down to the Chelsea area and went to the Red Cat for dinner. We had reservations but we were a little early so we went next door to the Drunken Horse for wine and cheese first. Dinner was wonderful – After dinner we went back to our hotel by 9pm. I think it was catching up to us!Sunday morning we got packed and took our bags down to the bell hop, then walked over to Rockefeller Center. We stopped and had a bagel and coffee at one of the shops along the way. Ruth and Carol left me at Rockefeller Center and went up to the MOMA and I went to NBC to go on a studio tour. They showed us where the nightly news is filmed, Jimmy Fallon’s studio and where Saturday Night Live is filmed. I enjoyed the tour and Ruth and Carol said that the Museum was interesting.
We met up afterward and took a taxi over to Grand Central Station again and had lunch at Zocala. Ruth tried their Cuban sandwich and said it was very good, I had a bowl of Tortilla Soup and Carol had a salad which also looked good. The food was plentiful and good. Afterward we rode the subway back to Times Square for our final time before heading to the airport. As we were walking through Times Square we saw the Naked Cowboy… what would a trip to NYC be without running into the Naked Cowboy! We walked back to our hotel for our ride to the airport. It was sad to leave- I love NY! Once again – my mantra, I will be back!To see more pictures from this trip, click below.
