New York, Not Your Typical Port of Call

A cruise leaving out of the city can be amazing, not only for what you will experience on your cruise ship, but for the endless opportunities while your in New York. We planned a weekend stay there, so we could fully taste what the city had to offer. Flying into LaGuardia was a little rough, unusually high winds made landing over water and between skyscrapers a bit treacherous. Once landed the airport is pretty easy to navigate, we had arranged for a car and driver, which is a bit on the pricier side, but worth the ease. You can choose to grab a taxi, there are a hundred of them and will cost you around $35-$40 to get to Midtown, or keep it cheap and hop on the bus!

Our hotel The London, was quite the sight, as you pull up you see 5 doormen all waiting to help you and a gorgeous ivy covered skyscraper that hurts your neck trying to see the top! Our room was unlike any normal city room, we were upgraded upon arrival and were given a lavish one bedroom suite on the 12th floor. I would rate this hotel a 9 out of 10, for its great location, first class restaurant with chef Gordon Ramsay and modern decor.

We arrived later than expected due to flight delays, but we managed to still make it out to our dinner reservations, so we dropped our bags and headed to Atlantic Grill for wine and sushi. We had crab cake and tuna  appetizers and then ordered more rolls of sushi then we needed, our table was covered with fish! On our way home we stopped at a few places to have a drink, just to get a feel for the city at night.

We woke up early the next day and headed to the park, Central Park that is!

It’s something so rare that it’s more like walking through a fairytale with horses, castles, row boat rides, soft music playing in the background, great lawns, and a zoo. In a city thats filled with concrete and metal and glass as tall as the eye can see, out pops this amazing green park and its just breathtaking. After our day at Central Park, we headed back to our hotel to get ready for dinner and some NYC nightlife. First, drinks at Rare View Bar, a rooftop bar on the 16th floor with great views of the Chrysler building and the rest of the city skyline. Then, Dinner reservations were at a Mexican restaurant, welll known and recommended to us, called Dos Caminos. The guacomole and fried cheese starters were outta this world and our entrees even better! After some tequila and a few margaritas our night was complete, and we headed back to get a good sleep for the day ahead.

We started off our morning with a light breakfast at The Maze, the in house restaurant at The London, and then headed out to meet with friends of ours, from our Tahitian honeymoon that happened to live in the city. We had a full day planned, starting with our first ride on a crowded

subway, the easiest way to get to the Bronx, and since we were going to see a Yankees game thats where we were headed! We took the train at 86th, about 15 min to the Bronx, Yankee Stadium, the new stadium was an awesome sight. Our seats were perfect, the day was hot and sunny and the footlongs were hot and tasty. After the game we headed back on the train to Manhattan, said goodbye to our friends and went to be touristy in Times Square. It’s everything that you see in movies, nothing added, its skyscrapers and huge digital screens, people everywhere! After all the hustle and bustle of Yankee Stadium, the subway and Times Square it was time to head back to the hotel to relax before dinner. Once again we choose another rooftop bar, called 230 Fifth, on the 20th floor the view of the Empire State Building was dead on, quite the sight and

worth every penny of our overpriced cocktails. We had a late reservation at a known steak house, BLT Prime, so we enjoyed our perfect view and then grabbed a taxi to head over to dinner. All the appetizers we ordered were delicious, but the popover bread basket was melt in your mouth amazing.

Our last day in the city we wanted to make sure we saw everything we wanted to, so we headed over to the Empire State Building to get a view of it all. The 360 degree view of the whole city was overwhelming. Being able to see the downtown skyline, where there is an obvious empty space from the missing twin towers, the statue of liberty, Central Park in its entireity, its all just breathtaking! We only had a

few hours left before we had to head out of town so we decided to go back to what we found to be our favorite spot in the city, Central Park. Laid around in the park, people watched and just took it all in.

New York City has the charm of centuries and it will make an impression on everyone. It’s definitely a city that everyone should expieience, and I can’t wait to go back!