Mother/Daughter trip report, March 2007, and hotel review

Everyone through this site has been so helpful to us in planning our trip, and reading other questions and trip summaries helped us a lot. So, I%26#39;ll report on our (mother and teenage daughter) trip - hoping that some of the things that we did will help others in planning their trip to NYC. Since we%26#39;ve been to NYC several times before, this wasn%26#39;t a trip to see the usual tourist attractions - Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, etc. It was more of a get away from winter and enjoy walking around the city, shopping, eating out, and art trip.

We went March 11-14; right before the big snow storm at the end of the week. We had wonderful weather, and we walked everywhere. This site was very helpful to us in planing routes鈥攊t gives subway, bus, and walking directions and the number of miles. http://www.hopstop.com/?city=newyork We didn%26#39;t have time this trip to explore using the subway. That would have been top ';things to do'; if we had one more day there.

We arrived on Sunday night and checked into Hotel 41, 206 West 41st Street @ Times Square. About the hotel - I have nothing but the best to say for our room, the staff, the service, and the location. The room was plenty big for us, extremely clean, comfortable, quiet, had a refrigerator, and it had a safe for my daughter%26#39;s laptop. The bathroom was also perfectly clean and a good size for the two of us. It was wonderful to be able to walk downstairs each morning to get a complimentary bagel or pastry and juice so that we didn%26#39;t have to take time out of the day to go out for a breakfast. I was worried about feeling safe walking back to the hotel later in the evening, but at no time did I feel uncomfortable because there were lots of people in the hotel area.

The first night (Sunday), we went to the Hard Rock Caf茅 on Broadway for dinner. After that, we walked around Times Square going in the stores that were open. One of my daughter%26#39;s favorites was Sephora on Broadway where she had fun using their makeup samples.

Monday morning, we headed right to Ricky%26#39;s, 1412 Broadway, between 39th and 40th Streets. A cosmetic, wig, accessory store. I%26#39;d describe it as the cosmetic section of a local drug store and the cosmetic section of a department store. It has everything! A fun place for my daughter--and myself, too. After that, we went in and out of stores on the way down to Macy%26#39;s. After Macy%26#39;s, we checked out the teenage-type clothing stores on 34th Street.

In the afternoon, we walked to Chelsea to the art galleries. We thoroughly enjoyed walking along all the residential streets with row houses on the way to Chelsea. Unfortunately, we found that most of the galleries were closed on Monday. I had wanted to go through the Fashion Institute of Technology Museum, which was also closed on Monday. After touring Chelsea, we were tired, so we took a taxi to the street on the south side of Union Square (14th Street) to check out the stores there that are geared toward teenagers. After a break at Starbucks, we got some energy and walked up Park Avenue to see Grand Central Terminal. We kept walking after that and went up to Bloomingdales. We left Bloomingdales around 8:00 and went back to Times Square and again to Sephora to end our evening.

Tuesday morning, I reserved bikes for us to ride through Central Park. I reserved them trough Bite of the Apple Tours, 212-541-8759; $50 for three hours. We picked the bikes up at 44 West 62nd Street, at the Lincoln Plaza Garage. The bikes were very nice, and in good working order. We had a lot of fun exploring Central Park, and I%26#39;m glad I made reservations because when we returned the bikes at 2:30, there weren%26#39;t any available. Later in the afternoon, we went to the Museum of Arts and Design. We would have liked to have gone to the Museum of Modern Art, but that will have to be on the itinerary for another trip. We walked back to Times Square and checked out TKTS to see if we wanted to go to a play that evening. Our top choice was Wicked, and there weren%26#39;t any available for it, so we decided to skip going to a play.

Wednesday, we walked back to Macy%26#39;s and took a taxi (so we could get there faster) to Houston Street and Broadway in SoHo. We walked down to Canal Street (where all the street vendors are) and up and down the streets of SoHo in and out of all the stores and art galleries. We loved being in SoHo! We had excellent pizza for lunch at Famous Ben%26#39;s Pizza, corner of Thompson Street and Spring Street in SoHo. After spending the afternoon in SoHo, we had planned to take a taxi back to our hotel, but once we started walking, we walked, and walked, and walked all the way from SoHo to our hotel. We had an early dinner at Red Lobster Inn (right across the street from Hotel 41), and went to the hotel to get our luggage that the staff kindly locked up for us after we checked out. Then, we took a taxi to the bus station to get the bus back home.

Other restaurants we enjoyed in NYC: Heartland Brewery, Europa Caf茅, and Cosi Restaurant.

We had a wonderful trip, and we hope you also have a great time in NYC; we can%26#39;t wait to return.

Mother/Daughter trip report, March 2007, and hotel review

You really did a lot of serious walking. You should reward yourselves with pedicures!

I always forget about Ricky%26#39;s, it%26#39;s a fun destination for teens. Thanks for the great tips.

Mother/Daughter trip report, March 2007, and hotel review

That%26#39;s the great thing about return visits, you get to go what you want in a leisurely manner without having to race around to see the tourist sites.

It is also wonderful to be able to spend time with your daughter.

GREAT report!

quick question on the bike rental was it 25.00 for each bike for a total of $50.00?

Excellent TR whenever you visit NYC and get to Macys thats a good accomplishment.

Hi,mom%26amp; Daughter..I will be there tomorrow night w/my daughter! the walking is what I love(and miss so much since leaving the City)

there is so much to see,the walking is never boring,and you feel so alive,and part of something vibrant..where I live now you have to have a car..sigh..I always did love to be able to walk everywhere!

great report..I also like the Cosi restaurant;I%26#39;ll report back on our trip.

Hi sammyb - Sorry it took so long for me to respond. The price was $10 per hour per bike. For the two of us, it was $40 for two hours. We were offered an extra hour @ $5 per bike, so we decided to rent them for three hours; totaling $50.