Surprise we’re going to New York...no we’re not staying at the Plaza - DAY 5

jools1302 · 9 Aug 18, 05:42 PM

Diners, dragons, drinks, disappointments and downpours

Woke this morning at 7.30am, I could see blue skies and sunshine, it was a beautiful morning again.

I was starting to miss my morning cuppa by now. There was a coffeemaker in the room, a ‘pod’ type machine, but the coffee was too strong for me and the ‘pod’ of tea was horrible! I got up quietly and took up my position at our huge window and people watched for a while, it wasn’t long before hubby and daughter woke up and as we hadn’t really enjoyed our food the previous evening we were ready for a good breakfast. We were heading Uptown towards Lexington Avenue to a diner that I had read about online. Todays itinerary:

Lexington Candy Shop (breakfast)
Grand Central Station
Revisit China Town and Little Italy
Bath and Body Works
The Highline
Chelsea Market (Food )
Circle Line Harbour Lights Cruise

I had wanted to go to a traditional New York Diner and had come across the Lexington Candy Store which had great reviews. We needed to catch the subway from Grand Central Terminal so this was a good opportunity to see Grand Central Station... what a beautiful building (I am not sure why I have no pictures? ) hubby and daughter were hungry so we didn’t hang around. We caught the Green Line no 6 train for Lexington 86th Street, unfortunately we chose the wrong carriage on this train and it was a pretty uncomfortable journey. We were sitting opposite someone who I would guess had mental health issues combined with drug use... his language and conversation (with himself) were not pleasant... I could not wait to get off that train😬
From 86th Street it was a short walk to the diner... and I was not dissapointed!

It was like walking into a film set, or a time warp! With booths along one side and a row of bar stools at the counter.

There was a menu on a board behind the counter which really did look like it hadn’t changed for donkeys years... there wasn’t even a customer toilet! I loved it!
We had two french toast with eggs, my daughter and I, and hubby had eggs and bacon on a muffin, 3 freshly squeezed orange juice and a coffee. The food was really good and we should have shared as it was far too much for the 3 of us... the fresh orange was so refreshing I think my daughter possibly had another one! The place was filling up as we were finishing and it was clear there were a lot of regular customers who were known to the staff this was just what I had wanted to experience... it came at a price though... this was by far our most expensive breakfast, I think it was $76😱... but we all enjoyed it so it was worth it!
Our plan now was to get back on the Green Line train and go all the way down to Canal Street and walk round Chinatown and Little Italy. Thankfully our journey was less eventful than our previous one and we got off at Canal Street... my daughter was on a mission to find a Chinese dragon puppet

... my husband and I visited NY seven years ago and I took home a dragon puppet for her... the strings have long been tangled up and we eventually binned him a year or so ago... she desperately wanted a replacement. Now when we were last in Chinatown I thought it was an amazing area, a real town within this big city totally doing its own thing... I remembered the streets beautifully decorated and a street market with stalls selling all sorts of interesting bits and pieces. This was where the dragon was purchased, I also remember I bought my mum a beautiful scarf. The Chinatown I saw this time was very different and I was sad to see the change... now just shop after shop of tat, fake handbags and sunglasses... and not a Chinese Dragon puppet in sight. I don’t think we would bother making a visit to Chinatown again. We left, dragonless, and walked into Little Italy, this was still a nice area, the streets were decorated and it had a different feel to it, my husband got a pic of this huge graffiti mural.

There were lots of Italian waiters trying to entice us into their restaurants for food but we were far too full from breakfast!

We had a good wander round and then caught the subway back to Grand Central Terminal (we could have walked but I didn’t want anyone feeling grumpy today it was boiling hot again)
Now I knew there was a Bath and Body Works not far away and was determined to have my very 1st visit there. We left GCS by the Lexington Avenue exit and headed for East 44th St... and there it was! Woohoo! I grabbed a basket ... gave the anti-shopper the ‘don’t spoil this for me’ look and immersed myself in smelly heaven! The only slight disappointment I had here was that it wasn’t a half price candles day! I had signed up to their website and had been receiving emails constantly, quite often featuring half price candles... but today wasn’t one of those days☹️. I spent ages sampling body sprays and lotions... so hard to choose! $94 later we left!

Our bags were pretty heavy so we decided to walk back to the hotel and drop the bags off before heading to The Highline. We were currently on East 44th St, the hotel was West 44th, so we had quite a long straight walk back. We stopped for some refreshment at O’Donoghues bar on West 44th St... this was a really nice place and I would have liked to try their food as the menu looked good... but we just weren’t hungry yet. The waitress was so friendly and was chatting with my daughter about B&BW and what we had in our bags..she was impressed with our haul. It was so nice to get into the air con and out of the stifling heat. We had a couple of drinks before continuing on to the hotel. We had a wee rest and hubby made himself a coffee, my daughter had her headphones on and was lazing on her bed and the pair of them weren’t that keen to move! I waited patiently for a while then announced that I really wanted to see The Highline and would go myself if they were too tired... I think DD would have been quite happy with this plan but hubby was having none of it... no, no we are all going he says! Its clouding over a bit outside so it won’t be as hot (remember these words! ) let’s go. We caught the Purple Line no 7 train to 34th St and from here we would walk to The Highline. The station at 34th Street was huge and it seemed to take us ages to get out! The escalator taking us up to street level was very steep and when the sky finally came into view it was a very ominous grey ☹️. OK so it’s not looking great but lets just head for The Highline it’s not far from here and assess the weather situation from there I say - ever the optimist! Well this was one of the weirdest weather situations we’ve ever been caught up in...luckily we were only feet away from the subway station when from nowhere the wind came! It was really mad, it had been so still and the next minute everything was being blown away, a couple of food stalls lost their umbrella’s, and so much dust... it was in our eyes and when we finally got back to the hotel we realised that we were covered in a fine layer of grit! Needless to say we quickly retreated back to the subway station, we sheltered there and watched the rain lashing down for a good while in the hope that it might pass... but it was becoming clear that this wasn’t going to happen... I was sooo disappointed 😔 I had been really looking forward to The Highline and Chelsea Market and now we wouldn’t have time to fit it in. I accepted defeat after about half an hour and we got back on the subway, thankfully the station was very close to the hotel as it was still lashing down!
So back to the room and as we were leaving the next day I got busy with our packing, hubby kept himself occupied too!

We had planned to do the Harbour Lights Cruise tonight... a perfect evening for cruising!

Clearly we wouldn’t be doing that today today either ... something else for next time? !
So I packed, DD you tubed and hubby was acting as my own personal weatherman giving me up to date information as to what was happening outside! Yep I can see that it is still chucking it down and showing no signs of letting up... THANK YOU!
So all packing done, everything organised and yes there has been a slight let up in the rain, we need to eat as we are all hungry by now... hubby is googling away and offers two places,both nearby, Virgils BBQ on West 44th and The Mean Fiddler on West 47th... I looked at the menus, assessed the rain and decided we would make a dash to The Mean Fiddler... and I have to say this was an excellent choice 😀

We left the room and the rain was easing off a bit, we made our way quickly to The Mean Fiddler and were shown to a table... it was quite dark inside but our eyes soon adjusted!

We thought the food and drinks here were fab!

We shared mozzarella sticks for our starter, yummy! Hubby and DD both ordered chicken pot pie and a portion of fries to share, I had chicken quesadillas (which were lovely but very cheesy! And I struggled to eat much - shouldn’t have had a cheesy starter aswell! )

. The pie was a standout meal of the holiday they loved it... I was a bit jealous haha!

We had a few drinks, great cocktails 🍹 and then the live band started... it was brilliant such a great atmosphere... we could have stayed here a lot longer!

But over dinner we had decided that if the weather had cleared up we would go and do Top of the Rock tonight instead of tomorrow as we had planned and in the morning we would do the Circle Line Cruise that we missed tonight - is everyone keeping up? Good!
So a little reluctantly we left, this had been a great last evening in New York! Once outside we were happy to see a reasonably clear night and most importantly no rain - hurrah! We walked to the Rockefeller Centre

and made our way through the security checks and up in the lift (this lift was very cool). It was amazing up there at night I was very glad we had done this tonight instead of in the morning as originally planned.

We spent a good while up there just looking at the view and taking photos it was fab!

We eventually made our way down and had a slow walk back to the hotel... the days had just flown in we couldn’t believe tomorrow was going home day ☹️but our flight was at 8pm so we were going to make the most of the day... and so we fell into the super comfy bed for the last time.

disney owl · 9 Aug 18, 09:55 PM

another brill day apart from the rain

**Loopylooloo** · 10 Aug 18, 07:33 AM

I am really loving your report, its so helpful, in so many ways jools! We are planning to walk and use subway to everywhere it sounds pretty easy from your posts? I have made a note about the lovely diner! Its like a movie set! And I need to go to bath and body works too, your comment about your husband spoiling your shopping experience made me laugh because mine is exactly the same! What is wrong with these men? Why don’t they want to spend three hours in a hand wash shop?!

Such a shame about the highline, its on our list too.
Your dinner does look wonderful have made note!
Guessing I will need to do a trip report too now...

jools1302 · 10 Aug 18, 05:32 PM

Originally Posted by disney owl

another brill day apart from the rain

Thank you... yes rain did mess my plans up a bit but hopefully there’ll be a next time!

jools1302 · 10 Aug 18, 05:38 PM

Originally Posted by Loopylooloo

I am really loving your report, its so helpful, in so many ways jools! We are planning to walk and use subway to everywhere it sounds pretty easy from your posts? I have made a note about the lovely diner! Its like a movie set! And I need to go to bath and body works too, your comment about your husband spoiling your shopping experience made me laugh because mine is exactly the same! What is wrong with these men? Why don’t they want to spend three hours in a hand wash shop?!

Such a shame about the highline, its on our list too.
Your dinner does look wonderful have made note!
Guessing I will need to do a trip report too now...

The subway is really easy Louise you’ll soon get the hang of it, we just bought one metrocard and used it between us, topping up when necessary. The subway station is to your right as you leave the hotel and links with a number of the metro lines.
Looking forward to hearing all about it in your trip report!

**Fuellady** · 14 Aug 18, 08:33 PM

So glad you managed to salvage your evening by doing Top of the Rock since you couldn't do the cruise. You might remember that we got caught in several unexpected torrential downpours in New York on our trip, so I sympathise with your day being turned upside down by the weather.

Great morning with breakfast at the diner, it looks so quaint. Shame you felt Chinatown wasn't the same as your last visit, to be honest, I felt a bit uneasy walking through it.

Fab B&BW haul, your husband is very patient

jools1302 · 19 Aug 18, 08:16 PM

Originally Posted by Fuellady

So glad you managed to salvage your evening by doing Top of the Rock since you couldn't do the cruise. You might remember that we got caught in several unexpected torrential downpours in New York on our trip, so I sympathise with your day being turned upside down by the weather.

Great morning with breakfast at the diner, it looks so quaint. Shame you felt Chinatown wasn't the same as your last visit, to be honest, I felt a bit uneasy walking through it.

Fab B&BW haul, your husband is very patient

Thanks Lynda,

I do remember you had some bad weather to contend with (more than us I think! ), but yes I was glad we could re-schedule the cruise, you’ve just got to go with the flow with these things!
My husband is the least patient man EVER when it comes to shopping... but he behaved well for B&BW... then commented for the rest of the day how we’d spent $94 on fairy dust haha!
Thanks for your comments x