A Foodeating, Sightseeing, Subway Hopping Trip -NY&DC-Day 6

[Hannikins]

A Foodeating, Sightseeing, Subway Hopping Trip -NY&DC-Day 6

Sad faces all round today, it was our last day in New York. We’d had a good run though, doing everything we set out to apart from a few food tour stops, we were sad to be leaving.

We’d been too tired to pack last night so I got up while Adam stayed in bed, claiming he would be ‘in the way’ if he got up as well (I wasn’t fooled).

We checked out, stored the baggage and were down for breakfast for 9ish, not bad really!

We were for the first time shown to a table at the back of the restaurant and so we had a different view for breakfast today. Not wanting to miss out we both ordered the full on eggs and the works.

Fed and watered we headed to Times Square and jumped on the yellow N train to 5th Avenue, we were going to look at some TOYS!

We arrived a little early so waited it out until 10am by walking around the block a few times, looking into the shop windows at things we will never be able to afford… FUN

Finally the soldier came out and beckoned us in.





We were a little distracted by the sweets



but we eventually made our way to the good stuff





We didn’t try out the piano, it was very quiet at this time in the morning though



They also have the most expensive doll selection I’ve ever seen. I was very tempted by an ariel doll though, all decked out in her pink ballgown….. $350 dollars! Erm nooo. They also have the William and Kate Barbie dolls here, rather amusing.

Worn out by our only New York shopping experience (see it is possible to ‘do’ ny without setting foot in macy’s) we headed over to central park.

Although we’d biked the park on a previous day that had only really shown us the outside rim of the park, we wanted to dig a little deeper.

We entered the park near the zoo and although we didn’t visit we stood for a while looking at the sealions which you could see without going in.



I won’t talk you through it step by step but essentially we walked to bow bridge, crossing over and heading west across the middle of the park…











We stopped for a while here to watch sesame street being filmed (murray monster)





until it started to rain a little so we thought we’d better get a move on!













we came out at the same area we’d entered for our picnic. We had a lunch reservation for 1.45pm so we jumped on the blue c train from 86th street to high street in Brooklyn.

[Hannikins]

On exiting the station we were greeted with this



From here it was a short walk (we passed grimaldi’s HUGE queues!) to our lunch stop. The River Café



Beautiful gardens and entrance here and on entering the reception area we were greeted by a HUGE flower display and the smell was fabulous.

Adam was a little worried as he hadn’t known it was a ‘posh’ restaurant and was wearing his travel clothes of jeans and trainers. We need not have worried, there were a few casually dressed couples here. Although dinner is a strictly tie and jacket affair!

We were soon seated at a table with a lovely view of the city, I just wish it wasn’t such a murky day, at least the rain had stopped.







We decided against apps since nothing really stood out to us. For mains I had the Duck



and Adam had the Sea Bass



all washed down by a glass of wine each.

We followed it up with desserts!

The famous ‘Brooklyn Bridge’ for Adam



And a lime soufflé for me



We still had time to kill so I ordered a coffee, which came with a lovely selection of petit fours



Overall it was a nice meal but I’m glad I didn’t waste a dinner here as we ate at nicer restaurants during our stay. The biggest disappointment here was the dining room itself. After a beautiful reception room the dining room is very dated, perhaps they assume the view distracts you from noticing the frilly lamp shades and naff wicker chairs. Here you are without a doubt paying for the view, but its still worth doing for a lunch IMO, especially with the lunch menu being the same as the dinner menu but cheaper.

When the bill arrived I was a little cheesed off as they had put the ‘gratuity’ on themselves However I worked out it was 15%,. For the whole holiday we’d been tipping 20% but I thought sod it keep your 15% instead if you were rude enough to ask!

In total, food, wine, coffee +tip came to $128.83

Full after the meal and a little tipsy from the wine we headed out, we were going to walked back to Manhattan over the Brooklyn bridge.

We walked back passed grimaldi’s (still a big queue and it was after 3pm!) and found the walkway entrance to the bridge.

It took about 30mins to walk it, here’s a few shots.







We noticed lots of padlocks around the metalwork of the bridge, some were simple padlocks with marker pen writing on them, some were a little more ‘professional’



I wish I had known about this, I would have brought one!







Just as you leave the bridge there’s a subway station but it’s trains don’t go near times square. Instead we walked though the adjacent park to city hall and jumped on the yellow line there.

[Hannikins]

We made it back to times square a little earlier than planned so we did a little shopping, picking up the required magnet and a book from the Disney store.

We made it back to the hotel in good time and collected our luggage.

And then things went a little wrong… we couldn’t get a cab!

The doorman stopped several but nobody was willing to take us the 12 blocks to penn station. A ‘private’ car, who the doorman knew, offered to talk us for $25 but it was a $8 +tip ride so there was no way that was happening… SO WE WALKED!

I’m not going to lie, I wouldn’t recommend it, but we made it 20 minutes later a lot more stressed and a little damper than when we set off! The NJ transit area was easy to find and with tickets bought and a 30 minute wait we collapsed next to a giant fan to wait.

They don’t allocate a platform until 5 minutes before the train arrives so there was a mad dash to get there once it is. This would have been straightforward but some idiot pressed the stop button on the escalator so we had to drag the luggage down two flights of stairs to get on the train.

It was a different type of train this time and again I’m not sure what we would have done with our luggage it there hadn’t been a disabled bay, but as they were free it was a very quick and painless journey to the airport as we repeated the arrival journey in reverse.

Our plan had been to eat at a diner recommended on serious eats in the terminal but we were flying from the wrong one and we only had an earl of sandwich for company. We weren’t hungry yet after a bumper lunch so we decided to wait until we got to the hotel.

The flight was delayed for 30mins but the rest gave us a change to catch our breath and relax a little.

Here’s the plane, it was TINY! The seat config was two seats on the left and one seat on the right!



It was dark and rainy when we arrived in Washington but we got a good view on the monument as we landed.

We landed at Ronald Reagan airport and we were taking the subway to the hotel. The subway is very similar to NY but not as convenient as they don’t sell ‘# day cards’ instead you can buy a day pass for $9 or add money to a fare card, either the exact amount or ‘credit’. To complicate things further fares differ depending on the time of day, off peak, peak and PEAK PEAK.

We chose to pay the exact fee and arrived at ‘metro center’ 15 minutes later. If we’d come out at the correct exit we’d have been a few meters away from our hotel, as it was we came out the wrong one and had to walk a little way.

Adam had read somewhere that Washington was a ‘crime hotspot’ so he kept telling me to “keep close” and “remain vigilant”, it was all scare mongering, I felt very safe! And we were soon at our hotel, Marriott at Metro Center.

As it was so late check in was a breeze and we were soon in our room.





It was now almost 11pm and we were knackered. We were going to go and find a restaurant nearby but instead, feeling knackered, we headed to ‘fire and sage’ the hotel restaurant.

Because it was so late it was now happy hour, beers for $2.50 each. Seeing this as fate we grabbed two Buds.

We finished this off with a pizza and some sliders to share.





The bill for the food and beers + tip came to $36

We didn’t finish it or linger long, we were so tired. Instead like zombies, we headed to bed for a well earned rest!

[nikkimc]

I am really enjoying this report. I had never realised central park had so many interesting features, I think the idea of a New York trip is starting to grow on me. Can I just ask how you found the "small plane" journey? We are flying to Chicago on Thursday and then on a small plane with the same 2 seats-aisle-1 seat configuration down to Knoxville. Does it feel safe? lol

[Guest]

Lovely last day in NY! FAO Schwartz looks huge! My kids would be there all week! Central Park looks beautiful
Looking forward to reading more about the Washington part of your trip

[vitfa]

Lovely last day - Brooklyn Bridge walk looked great


L x

[hross42877]

Great read and pics!

[orlandosgr8]

A lovely last few hours in NY, and I am looking forward to hearing about Washington. Love the photo effects too.

[jocat]

Another great day.

Central Park is one of my favourite places - I could easily spend all day there.

We had a problem getting a taxi back to our hotel on our last day to pick up our luggage and ended up having to walk, which put us behind. Still couldn't get a cab from the hotel. We were really starting to panic that we'd miss our flight, so ended up ringing Carmel to order a car and luckily they had someone to us within 15 minutes.

Looking forward to hearing about Washington.

[NatOwls]

Loving your TR and it is proving very useful to our planning! Thank you very much for sharing!