Monday August 31
We departed bright and early on JAL to Tokyo - 8:15am in business class using US airways points. It was an uneventful trip - the food was terrible but ce la vie. Tokyo immigration was total chaos but somehow we made it to one of the shorter lines in another area. From there we shot through on the shuttle bus to the Hilton some 3 k’s away. We had been able to check our luggage through even though we had an overnight connection.
Click on above for NY slide show.
Tuesday Sept 1
After our overnight at the unmemorable Hilton Narita we caught our 11am JAL flight direct to JFK - this time in First Class - wonderful - amazing champagne (Salon), caviar etc etc. Since it was a day flight we did not sleep much on this 12+ hour flight. We arrived at JFK on time at 11am (same day) - it took us about 30 minutes to get through immigration due to the disorganised queueing and the fact that it seemed to take forever to process each arriving passenger - once we got to the agent it only took us 30 seconds.
We grabbed a NY Yellow cab to our hotel, Trump Tower SOHO. The taxi ride took an hour due heavy traffic but fortunately taxis to/from JFK to Manhattan are a flat rate of $58 (+tip). We received a friendly welcome at Trump SoHo and were able to check-in immediately - around 1pm.
After unpacking we had a walk around our neighbourhood which in more recent years has been transformed into a high end shopping mecca. We had a salad and a shared pizza for dinner at a small nearby pizzeria recommended by the concierge - just right for 2 tired tourists.
Wednesday Sept 2
First full day in NYC it was hot and sunny over 30℃. We had breakfast in our room, a suite with a very small kitchenette (as we would every morning) - fresh fruit and yoghurt from a local deli washed down with a few cups of Nespresso coffee. I slept well with the help of a sleeping pill but Dieter did not.
We bought our 7 day subway pass ($31 pp) and headed 2 stops up the E line to the new World Trade Center and 9/11 Memorial Museum. We spent a couple of hours there, fortunately it was not too crowded. We had a light lunch at the bar at the top of the WTC (in the viewing area).
We returned to our hotel for showers then headed out again by subway to the ferry terminal where we took a ferry to Port Lincoln (in New Jersey) where we rendezvoused with our friends, Reiner and Marianne, around 5pm. They drove us to some scenic outlooks then back to Port Lincoln where we had cocktails at the Chart House Bar & Restaurant right on the water overlooking Manhattan. From here Reiner drove us all to one of their favourite local restaurants - it was cheap and cheerful.
Thursday Sept 3
We got up early (again very hot and humid) and set our for Flushing Meadow where we had day tickets to round 2 of the US Open tennis. It took about an hour to get there by subway but it was an easy trip - fortunately the subway trains (not the stations) are air-conditioned. The tennis, of course, was packed but very lively - lots of atmosphere. We watched Sam Stoser cruise though her match in the Louie Armstrong stadium (the second largest of the stadiums). We then moved over to the Arthur Ash stadium (aka center court) and watched Azeranka beat Wickmayer - a very exciting match. It was incredibly hot as our seats were in the full sun after about the first hour. After this match we had lunch at one of the many bars and restaurants within the tennis complex (known as the Billie Jean King complex) - we shared a salad and a BLT - the salad was pretty good and the BLT was nothing special - Dieter had a beer and I had a G&T which I must say was the worst G&T I have ever had - the soda fountain tonic tasted like dishwater.
After lunch we returned to the Arthur Ash stadium to watch Halep (seeded #2) beat some Bondarenko - also a good match. This was followed by Murray vs Mannarino - we only stayed for the first set as we were close to expiring from the heat and jet lag. (Murray lost the first set but eventually won in 5).
Back at the hotel we showered and had an OK dinner at a local restaurant - we had not made a booking so we could not get into our first choice. It was an early night for us.
Friday Sept 4
So another hot and humid day but a little overcast which helped. We walked along the Highline Park then went to the famous Museum of Natural History. We had a quick sambo at the Museum then walked through part of Central Park ending up at the Plaza Hotel where we took a quick walk through of their food hall but didn’t stay to eat anything as we’d already had a light lunch. From here we returned to the river front area near the WTC - a great part of the redevelopment of this whole area. We had fives’es before going back to our hotel for showers.
We had dinner at a seafood restaurant one block from our hotel - AquaGrill - excellent.
Saturday Sept 5
It was a gorgeous day - sunny, clear and a few degrees cooler than previous days. We took a taxi to the historic seaport district which is being re-developed and walked around. We continued on to the Statten Island ferry where we took a return trip (i.e. over - off - back) - this took about an hour but was essentially a free river tour - this ferry is extremely popular with tourists as it affords fantastic views of the Statue of Liberty and Manhattan.
After our ferry trip we walked through Battery Park along the river front ending up in the area near the WTC where we had lunch at PJ Clark’s - 2 steamed lobsters.
From here we took the subway to Union Square and walked through the farmers’ market, Greenwich Village and onto SoHo. We did some window shopping along the way and finally stopped at a bar/restaurant for a happy hour cocktail and a bit of tennis on their TV.
We had dinner at an excellent restaurant in SoHo - about 15-20 minutes walk from our hotel, Peasant - an excellent meal particularly my swordfish.
Sunday Sept 6
Yet again another clear sunny and hot day. We started out by taking the subway uptown to 72nd street and walking across Central Park to the Frick Museum. From here we again took the subway and had brunch at Les Halles - a good choice - I had a smoked salmon crepe and Dieter had eggs Florentine.
Again on the subway we headed towards Times Square where there was a massive street fair going on - they had closed several major streets for several blocks. Action and people everywhere.
We went back to our hotel as we had to get ready for our theater night out - since the show (Beautiful, the Carol King Story) started at 7pm we had a few tapas at 5pm then headed back Times Square for our show. The show was very enjoyable and played to a packed house. Then it was home to bed.
Monday Sept 7
Our last full day in the Big Apple - it was another hot and sunny day. We took the subway to Brooklyn and walked along the river side park - we checked out (but did not try) the world famous Brooklyn Ice Cream shop and Grimaldi, considered by some to serve the best pizza in the world - clearly they haven’t tried Ventuno’s. We then walked across the famous Brooklyn Bridge - packed with people on this Labor Day holiday Monday. The walk offers great views of Manhatten.
We took the subway back to Battery Park and had lunch at a waterfront Italian restaurant - the location won the day as the food was only average.
For our last night in NYC we went to a local French bistro - highly recommended in Trip Advisor but in our opinion the overall experience was only about a 5 out of 10.
Tuesday Sept 8
It was up early and off to Montreal. We picked up our hire car at a very small Hertz location - about a 10 minute walk from our hotel. The car was probably the smallest car in North America - the doormen at the Trump SoHo took 10 minutes helping us jam all our luggage into it.
Anyway, we set off about 8:15am and drove to Montreal arriving about 3:15pm - a great effort as we did not get caught up in traffic leaving NYC and we did not get lost.