We just returned from three glorious nights at the Plaza. We used 171 points for a deluxe room. Upon check-in Friday at 2:30, we were wished "Happy Anniversary," then proceeded to have the bellman take our bags up to our room. Upon seeing our room number, he said to us, "Oh you have a fun room, it used to be part of Orson Welles' suite." When he opened the door, we couldn't believe it was our room. It was wonderful. It had a king-sized bed, two night tables, an armoire, a writing desk with two chairs, two club chairs with hassocks, a small table in between the two club chairs, a non-working marble fireplace with a ten foot mirror above it, a crystal chandelier, a lamp, two windows with floor to ceiling drapes, a fourteen foot ceiling, and room to spare. My husband estimated the room to be about 20x22. We were on the opposite side of the building from Central Park, so our view was of a glass high rise, but that did not bother us in the least. If we wanted to see Central Park, we just had to walk out the side door.
That first night we ate in the famed Oak Room of the hotel. A beautiful room, with comfy leather arm chairs, but everything was a la carte. It cost a fortune, with a ten-ounce bottle of sprite $5, a baked potato $8...you get the picture. If we go back for our 60th anniversary, we'd skip it. (ha, ha!) We went to see "42nd Street after dinner. It was excellent. Just to say we did it, we went to the Oak Bar for a drink after the theater. It was packed, we had to wait for a table, it was full of cigar smoke, but it turned out to be very pleasant. We sat at a table in the back where the smoke wasn't so horrible. We met a nice young couple who lived in NYC and we talked for quite a while. All in all, a great first day.
Because we were up so late on Friday, we slept in. We had an early lunch at the Palm Court. Food, service, and ambience were exceptional. That afternoon we window shopped on Fifth Avenue. It boggled the mind that everyone was walking by with shopping bags from Gucci, Bergdorf Goodman, Henri Bendel, etc. Too rich for our blood. The only fancy schmancy store we went into was Tiffany's. It was so mobbed, we couldn't even get onto the elevators for the upper floors without a wait, so we just looked at the diamond rings from afar and left. There was a street fair on 6th or 7th Ave. Lots of fun, we picked up $10 "cashmere" scarves, much more to our budget than the $15,000 diamond rings we gazed at earlier. We then sauntered back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. Dinner that evening was at Oceana, superb in every sense of the word. Our show for this night was "Aida," had to have a Disney fix. Wonderful, but no songs you left the theater singing. Day two came to a lovely close.
For Sunday breakfast, we found a little cafe across the street in the Trump Tower. Very reasonable. Went shopping at the DS in Times Square, small but managed to find some things for our Nov trip. We went to the "Beauty and the Beast" matinee. It was spectacular. Bought a $10 Beauty and the Beast rose. Love it. Back to the Plaza for high tea. So upper crust, we thought they'd find out we were imposters. We went to the off Broadway evening performance of "Our Sinatra," good but not great. Dinner at the revolving restaurant at the top of the Marriott Marquis was okay. Next time, just drinks. Day three ended too soon.
For our final morning we decided to eat at the hotel. It was very expensive, but not disappointing. Because the Metropolitan Museum is closed on Mondays, we opted for the Museum of Modern Art, the MOMA. It was so not to my taste. Yes, there were some wonderful things there, Van Gogh, Matisse, Pacasso etc., but there were so many odd things there also. I'm sorry, but I really don't consider a bicycle wheel sticking out of a stool art. I also didn't care for the large piece of corrugated board painted silver either. This is just my own personal opinion, I don't want to offend all the art lovers of the world. I am just saying that a lot of it was not my cup of tea. On the way back to the hotel we stopped at the DS on Fifth Ave. It was awesome. It had three floors. I picked up a few more things for Nov. We had lunch at a lovely Italian restaurant that we stumbled across by chance, Ciao Europa. Very good. After a leisurely stroll through Central Park, our fairy tale 30th anniversary weekend came to an end. It was worth the wait!
If you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them.
That first night we ate in the famed Oak Room of the hotel. A beautiful room, with comfy leather arm chairs, but everything was a la carte. It cost a fortune, with a ten-ounce bottle of sprite $5, a baked potato $8...you get the picture. If we go back for our 60th anniversary, we'd skip it. (ha, ha!) We went to see "42nd Street after dinner. It was excellent. Just to say we did it, we went to the Oak Bar for a drink after the theater. It was packed, we had to wait for a table, it was full of cigar smoke, but it turned out to be very pleasant. We sat at a table in the back where the smoke wasn't so horrible. We met a nice young couple who lived in NYC and we talked for quite a while. All in all, a great first day.
Because we were up so late on Friday, we slept in. We had an early lunch at the Palm Court. Food, service, and ambience were exceptional. That afternoon we window shopped on Fifth Avenue. It boggled the mind that everyone was walking by with shopping bags from Gucci, Bergdorf Goodman, Henri Bendel, etc. Too rich for our blood. The only fancy schmancy store we went into was Tiffany's. It was so mobbed, we couldn't even get onto the elevators for the upper floors without a wait, so we just looked at the diamond rings from afar and left. There was a street fair on 6th or 7th Ave. Lots of fun, we picked up $10 "cashmere" scarves, much more to our budget than the $15,000 diamond rings we gazed at earlier. We then sauntered back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. Dinner that evening was at Oceana, superb in every sense of the word. Our show for this night was "Aida," had to have a Disney fix. Wonderful, but no songs you left the theater singing. Day two came to a lovely close.
For Sunday breakfast, we found a little cafe across the street in the Trump Tower. Very reasonable. Went shopping at the DS in Times Square, small but managed to find some things for our Nov trip. We went to the "Beauty and the Beast" matinee. It was spectacular. Bought a $10 Beauty and the Beast rose. Love it. Back to the Plaza for high tea. So upper crust, we thought they'd find out we were imposters. We went to the off Broadway evening performance of "Our Sinatra," good but not great. Dinner at the revolving restaurant at the top of the Marriott Marquis was okay. Next time, just drinks. Day three ended too soon.
For our final morning we decided to eat at the hotel. It was very expensive, but not disappointing. Because the Metropolitan Museum is closed on Mondays, we opted for the Museum of Modern Art, the MOMA. It was so not to my taste. Yes, there were some wonderful things there, Van Gogh, Matisse, Pacasso etc., but there were so many odd things there also. I'm sorry, but I really don't consider a bicycle wheel sticking out of a stool art. I also didn't care for the large piece of corrugated board painted silver either. This is just my own personal opinion, I don't want to offend all the art lovers of the world. I am just saying that a lot of it was not my cup of tea. On the way back to the hotel we stopped at the DS on Fifth Ave. It was awesome. It had three floors. I picked up a few more things for Nov. We had lunch at a lovely Italian restaurant that we stumbled across by chance, Ciao Europa. Very good. After a leisurely stroll through Central Park, our fairy tale 30th anniversary weekend came to an end. It was worth the wait!
If you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them.
, James Woods, Heather Locklear and Danny DeVito was definitely a nice touch!
