Trip Report - I owe you this one, Alice, for Citarella!

Here is a (hopefully) concise trip report of the trip my daughter (21) and I took to New York last week:

Tuesday, 3/17 - arrived at LaGuardia and took a Carmel Limo to hotel (Hampton Inn Soho). Our room wasn%26#39;t quite ready yet, so we left our bags and went in search of food. Found a small cafe (Cafe Bari) in Soho. DD ordered Fettucine with mushrooms and alfredo, and I ordered Penne Vodka. My food was marvelous, and hers was just so-so. Wandered a bit and went back to unpack. We had tickets to The Quantum Eye at 45 Bleecker Street Theater, so we went up there at about 7:00. Unfortunately, the magician/mentalist was in the hospital, so the show was cancelled. Wandered a bit around Greenwich Village, but then took the subway to midtown for DD%26#39;s first view of Times Square. Didn%26#39;t stay long because we were tired.

Wednesday, 3/18 - Weather was beautiful, so we took subway up to 72nd street. Found a cafe for lunch then walked through Central Park. We saw Strawberry Fields, and the Imagine mosaic (DD said, I think I know who John Lennon was - wasn%26#39;t he in a band?)!!!??? It was a beautiful day to wander in the park, so we did that for quite awhile, then meandered up Fifth Avenue. Checked out all of the museums, but never made it inside any of them. After walking for about 5 hours, DD asked if we could get tickets for one of the tour busses, so we did. They had never been my choice of sightseeing options, but I must admit that it was nice to sit and watch and listen to the tour guide. I must say that much depends on how good your tour guide is. Our guide on this first tour was very good, and we made the rounds of North Manhattan (Grant%26#39;s tomb, Columbia, Harlem, Upper East Side, Central Park, etc.). Subsequent guides were not nearly as good. We did go on the ';nighttime'; tour, which took us to Brooklyn for a view of the city lights. We then dined in an Irish Pub on 46th between 8th and 9th. Food was decent, but their seating left something to be desired. In the bar area where we sat, their tables were arranged around the walls, with bench seating on one side and chair on the other. The benches all seemed to be broken.

Thursday, 3/19 - This was the rainy day of our trip, and we spent quite a bit of time getting wet. First we found a cafe for breakfast, then we did some shopping in Soho, DD wanted some skinny jeans and boots, so we picked those up. After that, we hopped on one of the busses for the South Manhattan tour, thinking we would at least be out of the rain. NOT SO! Unfortunately, we happened to board the bus that was missing the front little flap, so the rain and cold wind was blowing right in our faces the entire time. Not to mention that the tour guide was marginal, at best, and the ';top'; (clear glass/plastic covering for the top of the bus) was, of course, rained on, so we couldn%26#39;t see much. It finally stopped raining, so DD and I hopped off at Times Square. She wanted to eat at Planet Hollywood (and we had a coupon from the tour company), but when we got there, it was closed for a private party, so we went back out into the rain looking for something else. We ended up at Hard Rock Cafe (I know, I know, overpriced and marginal food, but DD wanted to go there). We had purchased tickets to 39 steps, which was pretty funny. I believe that it would have been funnier if we had not been in the last row of the balcony. TIP - go to TKTS booth for tickets instead of taking a flyer from guy in TS and going to the box office. The tickets were probably cheaper, and much better seats. Normally, even the last row of this small theater wouldn%26#39;t be bad, but the actors often used heavy accents, and I had a bit of trouble understanding them. All in all, though, show was quite funny. Wandered a bit more then back to the hotel.

Friday, 3/20 - Started out walking down to Little Italy to find a place for lunch. Then, we walked around Chinatown, looking at all of the sights. Returned to the hotel for awhile, then took the subway down to Grand Central Station. Wandered there for awhile, then tried to figure out how to spend the 2.5 hours we had left until our comedy show. We were wandering up Fifth Avenue and talking about how we had missed our opportunity to get pedicures before we left home when, out of the blue, some man handed us a flyer for, you guessed it, a hair/nail salon. It was right there on Fifth Avenue. We went in and treated ourselves to spa pedicures. By the time we were done, we headed over to the National Comedy Theatre for the Improv comedy show. Show was quite good...would have been better if not for the semi-obnoxious 12 or 13-year-old and his birthday party taking up 25% of the theatre and shouting out regularly. By the way, another tip: The theater is located at 347 W. 36th Street, however, the entrance that lists this address looks to be an apartment building. The theater is actually a couple of doors west, with no address listed above their door. We were starved by this time, and decided to stop in at a diner (34th and 8th? - attached to a hotel) for a bite to eat. My daughter was served quite the longest french fry I had ever seen! Then, back to hotel to crash.

Saturday, 3/20 - This was our leaving day, so we packed up and checked out of the hotel, leaving our bags with the desk, because our car was coming to the hotel to pick us up at 2:00. Walked up and wandered around Washington Square Park, and the area around there and NYU, then back down Sixth Avenue. Had to stop in at Citarella!! We were still quite early for our car and wondering how we were going to spend the next two hours, when a street fair popped into view. It was fun just walking around looking at the booths and smelling the food! Back to the hotel and off to the airport!

Trip Report - I owe you this one, Alice, for Citarella!

LJM, How was the Hampton Soho? We have reservations there for next week.

It sounds like you did a great deal of walking. I remember your earlier post about a possible broken foot! It sounds like you had a nice trip.

Trip Report - I owe you this one, Alice, for Citarella!

The Hampton Inn Soho is fine for what it is. It%26#39;s just a regular Hampton Inn - nothing fancy. One thing to remember - no refrigerators in the rooms. We had no problems with the hotel, and really liked being in Soho, as opposed to being in Times Square. We did walk a lot - I always do when I%26#39;m in New York. My foot did hurt daily, but I just made sure I took ibuprofen regularly, and occasionally told my daughter to slow down...lol

Glad you had fun- did you end up buying anything at Citarella?

No, but we may have left some drool marks on the bakery case....lol