Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Short Trip to NYC

Impressions/Thoughts on a Short Trip to New York City

Husband and I spent 4 nights at the New York Edition 6/1-6/5. We had a busy itinerary, typical for us, and managed to do pretty much everything on it.


Itinerary:

Wednesday June 1st :
Arrive 1:30pm
Check in to The New York Edition, 5 Madison Ave
Lunch at Shake Shack, look at Flatiron building and Empire State building, tour the NY Public Library, look at Chrysler building, walk about Grand Central Terminal.
Dinner at Daniel, 8:15pm

Thursday June 2nd:
Breakfast at Eisenberg’s Sandwich Shop
Walk around Flatiron district
Subway to 9/11 Memorial
Walk about Financial District, Federal Building, Trinity Church
Walk through Chinatown and “Little Italy”
Dumplings at Vanessa’s
4pm Hard Life Tour at Tenement Museum
Dinner at NoMad Restaurant, 815pm

Friday June 3rd:
Subway to Guggenheim Museum to see the building
Metropolitan Museum
Walk about in Central park
Frick Museum
Early dinner at Basso56
7:30pm American Ballet Theatre at Met Opera @ Lincoln Center

Saturday June 4th:
Bagels for breakfast
Governors Ball music festival
(9:15pm-11pm The Killers!!!)
Sunday June 5th:
Breakfast somewhere
Depart LaGuardia for home at 130pm  


  • The view of the skyline from the plane was impressive!  (We were on the left side of the plane).
  • The New York Edition was fantastic.  They upgraded us (x2) and gave us a nice bottle of champagne for our anniversary.  The room was modern, comfortable and the views from the 29th floor were gorgeous.
  • We really liked the hotel’s location by Madison Square Park in the Flatiron district.  It was lively but seemed a lot less crowded and touristy than other areas.
  • New York City is not flat!  I was surprised by its many hills.
  • We did not like the area around Times Square.
  • The Streetwise Manhattan map was handy.
  • The Subway was, in some ways, more confusing than Paris or London.  But we figured it out, after one wrong way trip, with help from locals. 
  • The locals were really nice and very helpful.
  • We walked a lot and liked how (relatively) easy it was to navigate ourselves around.   
  • It rained hard on Sunday just as we were looking for a taxi to the airport.  None were to be found and we were told this is normal whenever it rains.  Uber was surging 3.7x.  Our hotel doorman found us a taxi after a while and we made it to the airport without any problems. 
  • Dinner at Daniel was wonderful.  The place is beautiful;  the service, outstanding; the food, delicious.  They gave us a free dessert for our anniversary and a short tour of the kitchens.  It’s an impressive operation.
  • NoMad Restaurant (and hotel) was dark and moody; husband didn’t much like the atmosphere.  But the chicken made up for everything!  The best chicken we’ve ever had, seriously.  Try it.
  • The Frick is an outstanding house museum.  They have 3 Vermeer’s along with many other treasures.  We saw 8 Vermeer’s in NY, including the 5 at the Met.
  • Walking around Chinatown was interesting.  The dumplings at Vanessa’s were crazy good.
  • The Tenement Museum tour was a highlight.  If we go back, we’ll do their walking tour of the neighborhood.
  • Seeing the American Ballet Theatre perform  was a major highlight for me.  Misty Copeland was brilliant as were all the dancers.  If I lived in NY, I’d have season tickets.  Even husband enjoyed this beautiful performance of Le Corsair.
  • The Governors Ball music festival was fun if hot and super crowded.  It rained very hard in the afternoon and we were not prepared (left the umbrella and raincoats in the room, stupidly).  But the rain stopped just before The Killers came on and they were fantastic!  Loved every moment of their set!  They played all my favorites including Spaceman!
  • Overall, we liked our very short time in New York.  I can see why so many people love it.  Personally, I prefer Paris, Rome or London.  Maybe NY is too “American” for me?  I don’t like hearing English on vacation and some of my favorite moments on this trip were when we were surrounded by non-English speakers (at Madison Square Park and at Vanessa’s Dumplings).  We’ll return but probably not anytime soon.