(Complete!) Back in the Big Apple: NYC Feb 2022 food & trip report

[Sparksy72]

What an amazing trip you are having. We stayed at the Iroquois on our first trip to NYC, the location was perfect and 5he rooms were lovely, we loved it. Bryant Park is fab for food and Eatly has so much choice. Dinner at Grammercy Tavern looks spectacular, what a wonderful way to celebrate your Sister’s birthday.

[Wordsworth]

Originally Posted by Sparksy72

What an amazing trip you are having. We stayed at the Iroquois on our first trip to NYC, the location was perfect and 5he rooms were lovely, we loved it. Bryant Park is fab for food and Eatly has so much choice. Dinner at Grammercy Tavern looks spectacular, what a wonderful way to celebrate your Sister’s birthday.

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I was delighted by the hotel, I’ve stayed once at the Sofitel next door but felt the vibe there was quite stuffy. With my husband we usually stay at the Andaz on 5th Ave but I’d definitely consider returning to the Iroquois. The price seemed really reasonable as well, again maybe time of year and the fact I booked it last summer.

[Wordsworth]

Despite the many wines of the night before, we were up fairly early again and collected breakfast from the lobby at about 7.30. I had the scrambled egg and cheese roll again - no pic this time.

This morning we were back on the subway, all the way to the end of one particular line at South Ferry. We had booked a trip to Liberty and Ellis Islands with Statue Cruises. I bought the tickets online a couple of days before, having been periodically checking that there was still good availability. There was - I guess because NYC was quieter than usual. We received a QR code for the tickets that could be scanned from the phone.

Our security entry time was 10am and we were aiming for the 10.10am sailing, so made sure we were at Battery Park in good time.

Travel went so smoothly that in the end we had time to walk around the various war and other memorials and take a number of photographs of the area.

We were able to enter the security area for screening before 10am, where I discovered the button on my (not stylish M&S!) jeans was going to set off the metal detectors all day. It was a quick process and we ended up near the front of the queue for boarding.

Slight excitement as we did start to board - not sure if it was a rogue wave but the boat started violently rocking as we were on the gangway, and the crew started shouting at those of us midway over to get on, grabbing us when we were in reach! It settled down after that, but the crew were initially concerned enough to stop boarding for a bit.

The rest of the trip was uneventful compared to that, and we were soon disembarking on Liberty Island, the first stop.

Assuming everyone would head for the statue first, we went first to the museum, which is in a new location versus my last visit here.

You can see the original torch, removed in the 1980s, here.

Then we headed for the statue (via the gift shop and the loos!).

Our ticket gave us pedestal access, so we decided to climb the 176 steps to the foot of the statue first. Another security check passed (after a swipe with the wand thanks to my jeans button) and we headed up.

I was amazed how quiet it was - we essentially had the full staircase to ourselves and there were only a few others around when we reached the top. (I have previously climbed all the way to the crown, on a school trip in 1995, but I don’t think that’s been possible for some time. My memory is of only a few tiny windows out anyway!)

Unsurprisingly, while you get a close up view from the pedestal, it’s at an unusual angle, so after walking around for a few pics we started heading down again.

Once on the outside levels, again I was blown away by the absence of crowds, we had the luxury of photographs with basically no one in view.

Not sure if people had different no-access tickets, or just didn’t use their access.

Multiple photographs taken, we did a circle of the path of the base, then picked up a takeaway cup of tea each at the cafe (which was the least clean establishment we encountered on our trip, I wouldn’t have wanted to eat there! They also advertised chai lattes and other fancy coffees but didn’t actually have anything apart from plain coffee or tea bags in stock.). We drank our teas outside, while watching a small boy be attacked by gulls after his chips , then boarded the next boat for the trip to the second stop, Ellis Island.

I think the Registry Room on Ellis Island is stunning, particularly when the sun is shining through the arched windows.

We walked briefly around the exhibits and browsed the gift shop, but we were back at the dock in time for the next dock, as it was time to start heading back to the main island of Manhattan.

Back at the subway station, we topped up our metro cards with $2.75 for one final trip - this time we were heading for Grand Central, or more precisely, the dining concourse.

Shake Shack time!

My husband said this was the holiday photo that made him most jealous.

The Shack Burger is my sister’s, while I ordered my fave SmokeShack (cherry peppers!). We shared bacon cheese fries as well and had a soft drink each.

This was yum.

One point on dining here - The guy behind the counter diligently checked our vaccination records when we said we were sitting in, but we noticed a lot of people saying it was for takeaway and then sitting in anyway - one of the seating areas seemed to have a guard trying to prevent this, but it wasn’t very controlled.

A couple of more photos on the way out, including this one:

Before we initially headed away from our hotel, because it was time for another trip to Bath and Body Works! No candles this time but they had a bunch of new pocketbac holders in, and as I’d lost my only one somewhere in Central Park, I wanted to stock up. On the way back, we also stopped in at Five Below and Duane Reade for sweet treats to take home.

At the hotel we phoned Scotland for the final time, then got ready for our last evening in NYC.

First stop was the hotel bar, the Lantern’s Keep, for a pre show cocktail.

Mine is the Lazy Lightening (left) - I think telling you it was tequila based and spicy explains why I chose it. My sister went for a First Generation, featuring rye and aperol.

We only had time for one, though, as we had Broadway tickets!

We had wanted to see a show on this Tuesday night, and originally planned to do the Times Square ticket booth, however when we were checking what shows were on the day before, we noticed the Tina Turner musical was on.

My sister is a big Tina fan, and on going to the website we found out they were doing a 241 offer on tickets with a code, which meant two decent seats in the stalls for a total of $150 plus tax. That was the equivalent to one of the cheapest tickets to Hamilton, miles from the stage, which we’d also looked at - so it was an easy decision! We booked tickets online and I could download them to my Apple wallet from the Ticketmaster site.

The theatre was a short walk away - they checked ID and vaccination records at the door and then we were straight into the theatre! No lobby required.

At the beginning, they let you know that while you couldn’t take pics or video during the show (obviously), there would be a two song encore after bows where you were free to do so.

Of course we did!

I enjoyed the musical, I hadn’t realised quite how many Tina Turner songs I knew! The bit where she’s introduced to the men from Heaven 17 was particularly funny, it featured some of her most iconic looks, and the actress playing Tina (apparently handpicked by Ms Turner) had her mannerisms, moves and facial expressions down to a tee.

Post show, we took one final walk past Bryant Park to grab a photo of another of DH’s favourite landmarks - the Chrysler building - then went back to the hotel to pack up and plan our last morning in Manhattan.

One more post to come!

[deeley]

Enjoying this! Thank you

[Disney Planning]

What a great report of NYC, I’ve never been but your photos are great and make me want to go. I bet the Tina Turner musical was a really good evening. Your sister is lucky to have such a good birthday trip 😊

[capecoralfl]

Originally Posted by Wordsworth

I was delighted by the hotel, I’ve stayed once at the Sofitel next door but felt the vibe there was quite stuffy. With my husband we usually stay at the Andaz on 5th Ave but I’d definitely consider returning to the Iroquois. The price seemed really reasonable as well, again maybe time of year and the fact I booked it last summer.

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We stayed in the Andaz 5th Ave for hubbys 50th - so lovely. Bryant park area is such a great location as well.Staff walked about with their iPads to check us in, free wine and nibbles pre theatre time in the lobby, and they delivered to our room champagne and chocolates as we were celebrating a big birthday!
Your trip report is building my excitement for our own upcoming NYC trip!

[Wordsworth]

Originally Posted by deeley

Enjoying this! Thank you

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Thanks for reading!

Originally Posted by Disney Planning

What a great report of NYC, I’ve never been but your photos are great and make me want to go. I bet the Tina Turner musical was a really good evening. Your sister is lucky to have such a good birthday trip 😊

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The crowd were really into it, which was great, and it felt safe as they were policing the theatre to ensure everyone kept their masks on - I guess it’s in their interests to ensure the show can go on!

Originally Posted by capecoralfl

We stayed in the Andaz 5th Ave for hubbys 50th - so lovely. Bryant park area is such a great location as well.Staff walked about with their iPads to check us in, free wine and nibbles pre theatre time in the lobby, and they delivered to our room champagne and chocolates as we were celebrating a big birthday!
Your trip report is building my excitement for our own upcoming NYC trip!

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I have never yet made it to the free wine at the Andaz, it’s so upsetting! I confidently predict your trip will be great.

[Wordsworth]

When we woke for our final morning in NYC, we were already checked in for our flight, having done our passenger locator form & VERIFLY the previous morning. I’d checked us in on the return from Tina. We were also mostly packed.

With no real need to rush around, we decided to throw on casual clothes and collect breakfast, before beginning the arduous process of hair washing, drying and straightening!

I had the bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich this time - that way I’d tried both options twice! I managed to avoid covering myself in egg yolk this time, clearly practice makes perfect.

Over breakfast, I introduced my sister to the delights of HGTV and Flip or Flop, and we watched a few episodes while getting ourselves ready. Although check out was 12pm, we wanted to leave at about 11.15 given our plans. We left our 6(! 2 of them were our hand luggage totes, honest!) bags with the doorman and asked him to order us a taxi to JFK for 2.45pm.

First order of business was a third and final trip to Bath and Body Works. Not content with demanding we each bring her some hand sanitisers, our mum had now decided she wanted us to bring some for her to gift to others!

We both ended up buying 20 sanitisers on each of our 3 trips; if you want to know what 60 pocketbacs looks like….!

The previous evening, we had booked tickets for the Top of the Rock at 12pm, so we made our way over to the Rockerfeller Centre. We got there at about 11.40, so had time for a look around the LEGO store. It’s moved since my last visit to NYC, and I loved the details in the new location.

We bought LEGO Statue of Liberty fridge magnets, and I also bought DH a yellow cab. Here it is built!

The surprise of it was somewhat ruined when I gave them our LEGO VIP card to scan and they emailed him a receipt.

The skaters were out today at the Foot of the Rock.

We, however, were more interested in what was happening up top!

At 11.55am, we arrived at the entrance. A group were getting their vaccination records checked but it didn’t take long, and we were straight in after them.

There was no wait aside from a v short queue at security due to being behind the group, and we skipped the souvenir photo they always try to take. (The couple next to us wished they’d realised that was possible!)

A quick elevator trip, with about half a dozen others, later, and we were on Top of the Rock.

I think this is the best place to see the NYC skyline, because you get to see the Empire State Building! It’s also great around sunset, although I see they’ve started charging slightly more for tickets around that time.

We walked around taking pictures.

You can’t see Central Park as clearly because of the new skyscrapers!

We took our time on each of the three levels, it was the warmest day of our trip and again not very crowded, which made for a very pleasant time.

All in all, we were on Top of the Rock for about an hour before heading back down.

We made a quick stop in FAO Schwartz to see the BIG souvenirs (and this was the only place we saw someone huff about being asked to wear a mask).

And then we went for a final slice at Little Italy pizza, which was almost directly behind our hotel on W45th. They were especially diligent about checking vaccine records, which was good.

I loved my slice of pepperoni here. Piping hot, excellent cheese pull, and delicious grease dripping down your fingers as you lift it to your mouth - what’s not to like? My sister had a white pizza, with chicken and bacon, and enjoyed it too.

All too soon, though, we were back at the hotel to retrieve our bags and cram our last purchases inside, before our taxi to the airport arrived.

The traffic was at a standstill in a few places, so it took over an hour for us to get to JFK T7, but we were there before 4pm for a 6.30 flight, so had plenty of time.

Although we were flying Club World, all 3 of the CW check in agents were busy so they directed us to the First Wing to check in - we handed over our passports and showed the VERIFLY ready to travel passes, receiving boarding cards and bag tags in return.

Security was a bit of a shambles at first - I think people had taken upon themselves to move barriers because you ended up with two lines feeding into what was supposed to be fast track - but after a few minutes of no one moving, someone from the airport team came to investigate and replaced the rope. After that it was smooth sailing.

The BA lounge at JFK is, in my opinion, much better than the Club lounges at Heathrow. They had a small self service offering of food and drinks, but you could order both food (they offer pre flight dining since the flights are overnight, you can then just sleep on board) and alcoholic drinks to your table by scanning a QR code. And they had a full bar offering!

Time for a burger and a Cosmo!

I later had a negroni.

And a lemon bar - this was the most disappointing part of the experience!

My sister stuck to champagne, which the BA staff kept well topped up without prompting.

Our flight was called for boarding about 50 minutes before departure time, and we were able to walk straight from the lounge to board the plane without queuing.

Excitingly, we were in the new Club Suites for the return.

I had pre-flight water and champagne while playing around with the seat and trying to work out all the storage areas.

The pilot explained over the tannoy it would be a quick flight - less than 6 hours - because of the strong tail wind. We actually had to hold on stand at JFK because they had no take off delays and we’d be back in London too early, given you can’t land at Heathrow before 6am. He also warned us there might be some lumps and bumps due to the wind.

Once in the air, we had a pre dinner drink and nuts - I had a gin and tonic again. I can’t find the picture - I’m always less diligent on the return journey!

For dinner, I went for butter chicken. It was tasty, and I do think a curry is always a good option on BA.

I had ordered wine with it, but it wasn’t on the tray and given my cocktails in the lounge, I decided not to ask for it. Dessert was a banana chocolate mousse - unusual but actually delicious.

After dinner, I decided to get my head down and try to sleep. I dozed until about 1 hour 45 mins out before heading to the loo and checking out the Club Kitchen (not much again). I must have dozed again after that, because next thing I knew we had about an hour to go.

This was where the bumps really started to kick in, and the seatbelt sign went on again. Im not sure if I slept through breakfast being offered, or if the seatbelt sign coming on stopped service, but nothing further food-wise was offered.

We had to do a couple of loops over London, but still landed ahead of schedule. We were bussed from the plane to the terminal.

Clearing border control took much longer than it should have - variously only 1 or 2 desks open, no e-gates working, several flights arriving at once, and BA rushing people on short connections to the front meant despite being some of the first off the flight, we had to wait about 30 mins to be cleared. Security was also backed up to the top of the flight connections escalator - it was as if the airport didn’t expect the arrival of all these planes!

Eventually, though, we were in the North lounge, where we had tea and ordered a bacon roll each.

Boarding for the flight to Edinburgh started slightly late, so we were a little behind schedule taking off, but the flight was smooth.

On the flight I had a glass of water; I declined the food tray but my sister took it for the ham and cheese croissant. Since she doesn’t eat fruit or yogurt, I ate both from her tray.

Before too long, the familiar bridges were in sight, and we were home!

Bags, taxi, done. Apart from eating the souvenirs of course.

Thank you for reading!

[Disney Planning]

What a great last day, those views are fantastic. Did you get enough stash from Bath & Bodyworks 😂

[Wordsworth]

Originally Posted by Disney Planning

What a great last day, those views are fantastic. Did you get enough stash from Bath & Bodyworks 😂

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It was hilarious, they don’t seem to weigh your cases when you check them in at the First wing at JFK, and my sister’s immediate reaction was, I’d have bought more if I’d known that