Inspired by scenes in movies such as Home Alone and Miracle on 34th Street, Ray and Traci decided to brave the cold temperatures and visit New York City during the December holiday season. Every December, an international medical conference is held in Washington DC and on this occasion a three day post conference was planned for our second visit to the Big Apple.
Before traveling to NYC in December, it is important to remember two things – it is cold and very expensive. Ray typically spends a lot of time studying travel sites looking for good deals at higher end hotels. On this occasion, the strategy backfired as prices did not appreciably fall despite planning 6 months prior to the trip so were forced to pay - uggh -the dreaded rack rate for the first time ever. Interesting enough, the USA Today ran an article about the high prices of hotels in NYC this December – even bare bones discount chains were getting $370 for Times Square area rooms.
In December, New York has beautiful holiday decorations but also cold weather. The 27 degree temperature made packing lots of winter clothing mandatory and discouraged some traditional tourist activities like the ferry to Ellis Island/Statue of Liberty.
We decided to travel from Washington DC to NYC’s Penn Station on the heavily taxpayer subsidized Amtrak (and given the number of empty seats on our train we can see why it is not profitable). Train travel, while not nearly as exciting as riding the Japanese bullet trains, was a nice change – viewing rural areas along with big cities was both interesting and humbling. Our train ride took 3 hours and 20 minutes – note the Acela trains are 20 minutes faster and make the same stops (so the extra 50% fare isn’t worth it).
After arriving at Penn Station we tried to get a cab to take us to the Sheraton at Times Square. Lesson #1: It is hard to get a cab in NYC when you need one! Study the subway maps ahead of time and plan ahead. After waiting in 30 degree weather at the Penn Station cab stand we decided to lug our bags back down into the subway and rode past 4 stops to get to Times Square and the Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers. Fortunately our rack rate room was ready when we arrived shortly after 12pm. Lesson #2: New York has its own standards for hotel rooms. Stories about tiny rooms abound – beds placed at angles so the door can open, poor heating, inconsistent water temperature, complete ignorance of the word “complimentary” – Our room was small but navigable, cold but not frigid, and clean so I guess we should feel fortunate even though we had to pay the “rack rate.”
From the Sheraton which is located on the north part of Times Square we sauntered down to the famous “TKTS” office where ½ price show tickets are sold the day of performances. Given our on time arrival in NYC we tried to see a Wednesday matinee show of “Mamma Mia” but they only had obstructed seating so we chose to get tickets to see the Holiday Spectacular by the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall. Having a few hours before the show, we decided to eat at Maxie’s Delicatessen in Times Square. Traci had a bowl of soup but Ray was quite hungry and had a tasty $15.95 steak. We found that reasonably priced food is quite available even in the Times Square area and suggest looking at menus (most are available on the internet) for good food values. From Maxie’s we wandered up legendary 5th Avenue. Christmas decorations abound in New York’s shopping district as stores try to out decorate each other. Ray stopped in the famous St. Patrick’s Cathedral – quite an amazing architectural sight (both inside and out). Next, we went inside New York’s monument to egomania – Trump Tower. Within the halls of fired apprentices reside establishments devoted to the Donald, all boasting the world’s best something or another. Interestingly enough no high end jeweler has opened shop in Trump Tower – instead is a rather conspicuous costume jewelry store. Ray did sample some strawberry ice cream at Trump’s shop and found it good but hardly the world’s best. Next we saw the Christmas Spectacular. As expected the show consisted of musical numbers, dancing, and several Santa Clauses. After 1 hour 10 minutes, the Rockettes and Santa left the stage and on came a rather mundane performance of the traditional nativity scenes. The holiday show is a New York institution but think about getting ½ price tickets and skipping the nativity scene.After leaving Radio City Musical Hall we wandered around the Rockefeller Center and found a nice Soup/Salad/Sandwich place called Bocca where Traci had more soup and Ray had a custom tossed Caesar Salad. Time seems to pass especially fast in New York and we returned to the Sheraton to rest up for a very busy day.
We started Thursday by purchasing tickets for the Grey Line Tour Bus (basically you buy a ticket that gives you 48 hours to travel any of their 4 major NYC tours and the ability to hop on and off at various stops). We started by taking the tour bus to Macy’s (claims to be the largest store in the world). It didn’t look much different than the Seattle Macy’s but it has several eateries and a really cool gingerbread replica of the store. A block from Macy’s is the famous Empire State Building and we ascended to the 86th floor observation deck to view New York on a cold but clear day. The view was quite amazing – Statue of Liberty, Central Park, New Jersey – all from a 360 degree outdoor viewing platform. From the Empire State Building we took the subway to Chelsea where Traci’s favorite TV channel (The Food Network) originates from. We found the Chelsea Market in a rather non-descript building – many different eateries and a high end grocery store occupy the first floor. Chelsea Market is certainly no Pike Place market but Ray found a good slice of NY pizza (in New York carnivore pizza is similar to meat lovers) as well as good gelato. Unfortunately the Food Channel studios were on upper floors and Traci wasn’t able to score tickets to an Emeril taping. We hopped back on the subway and decided to get on an uptown tour bus which headed to Harlem. Other than the Harlem Globetrotters neither of us have heard too many positive things about the neighborhood so it was quite illuminating to see how much change has occurred – lots of new development (even President Clinton has his office in Harlem), renovated brownstones and lots of stores mix in with historic landmarks such as the Apollo theatre. On the way to Harlem we passed by the Dakota apartments where John Lennon was being remembered on the 25th anniversary of his tragic death. On the return loop we passed by the Upper East side where we learned that 90201 is not the wealthiest zip code in the world – New York holds the title. Large apartment buildings line the eastern border of Central Park most of which have 7 or 8 figure values. After a brief stop at the Sheraton, we walked to the St. James theatre for one of the highlights of the trip – seeing The Producers. Thanks to purchasing tickets 6 months in advance we sat in the second row center stage and both found the show extremely enjoyable. Sitting so close to the actors really added an exclamation point to live theatre. From the Producers we went to a restaurant very near the Sheraton called the Eatery. Ray enjoyed a Macaroni and Cheese dish while Traci had a delicious udon noodle salad. The Eatery had a nice après broadway show atmosphere. After dinner (now close to 1AM) we returned to the Sheraton and collapsed.
A snowstorm hit NYC early Friday morning and we got a somewhat late start on our day. While 4 or so inches covered the city, NYC continued to move along – even the double decker tour buses kept operating although there weren’t many takers for the outdoor roof seats. We spent the snowy morning in the Museum of Natural History in Central Park. Our previous tour guide recommended the butterfly aviary and the dinosaur areas so we started there. The butterfly aviary is a greenhouse like area where butterflies fly around and on you. The dinosaur areas have both reconstructed skeletons and reproductions of prehistoric creatures in various activities of daily living. Besides those exhibits the massive museum has areas devoted to exhibits about the universe, minerals, and a huge collection of stuffed animals – from the mundane pigeons of Central Park to exotic and extinct animals. After the museum we went to the gorgeous brand new Time Warner Building in Columbus Circle. This new building contains an exclusive shopping area, a Whole Foods Market, an exhibition with Samsung’s latest and greatest electronics as well as the New York studios for CNN. In contrast to the NBC tour which we took on a previous trip to NYC, this experience brought to light the many people who report on the 24 hour news behind people like Anderson Cooper and Lou Dobbs. From CNN we met up with Ray’s cousin David at the Sheraton and took the subway to Chinatown where a scrumptious dinner at Joe’s Shanghai was enjoyed by all. Joe’s Shanghai has a location north of Times Square but we wanted to see Chinatown and made the journey on the subway. Little Italy is adjacent to Chinatown and was well decorated for the holiday season. We completed the evening by returning to Fifth Avenue and enjoying the holiday lights of this exclusive shopping district. Highlights included Rockefeller Center with its Christmas tree and skating rink and Saks Fifth Avenue with large lighted snowflakes which sparkled with choreographed holiday music. We also traveled to the “Top of the Rock” where a multilevel observation deck allowed stunning night views of New York including the holiday illumination of the Empire State Building. After another exhausting day we returned to the Sheraton.
Our final day in NYC started at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). MoMA is quite a place – the top floor has traveling exhibits; during our visit we saw lots of devices created to make people feel better. We saw tents designed to house homeless people over New York building vents, miniature helicopters for spying, even a riot suit to protect demonstrators confronting police. As you descend downward you go from exhibits of Van Gogh and Picasso to some really weird stuff – even exhibits where nothing is there (dark rooms, blank pieces of paper). MoMA definitely has art for every taste. From the museum we made a final trip thru Times Square and stopped at the most jammed packed Toys R Us you can imagine – complete with an indoor Ferris wheel that families stood in line to ride. After a few minutes in this toy store you become quite thankful for internet shopping. After our sojourn into Times Square we met our car service driver at the Sheraton (Lesson #3: arrange your airport transportation on the internet ahead of time – whole sites are set up just to compare car services and ratings). Our driver parked in front of the wrong Sheraton - The Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers is across the street from the Manhattan Sheraton so it probably happens a lot. As we departed NYC thru the Holland tunnel we got a quick view of the Garden State – New Jersey. After listening to our driver, I strongly urge everyone to never rent a car and drive in New Jersey. Poor roads, poor drivers, and widespread insurance fraud plague New Jersey drivers. Fortunately we only had one major near collision and reached Newark for an uneventful flight back to Seattle.
