GO CITYBREAK:This weekend marks the anniversary of its most tragic day, but wherever you go in New York its indomitable spirit is palpable, writes first-time visitor
SANDRA O'CONNELL
WHEN YOU think of New Yorkers, what is one of the first adjectives that spring to mind – loud? Exactly.
How embarrassing therefore to be sitting on a bus back to Manhattan from Woodbury Common, the outlet shopping complex, happily comparing purchases with a travel companion only to be told by some randomer in front to pipe down.
Were I a native New Yorker I’d have mustered a loud and cutting response, with a great deal of finger jabbing for emphasis. Being Irish, however, the woman’s complaint elicited endless rounds of “Sorry” and flaming cheeks instead.
Well, the cheek of her. Ever since I’d arrived two days earlier, a New York novice, the entire city had been one long series of noises, whether honking cars or wailing sirens and, even more volubly, the animated conversations constantly being declaimed in shops and on streets. Never mind sleep, it’s the city that never speaks – it shouts.
To be fair to the lady on the bus, I guess I was pretty pumped. Woodbury Common is that kind of place. You arrive with no other intention but to see the place, and maybe spend just a little money, so you start off browsing at a gentle pace.
Then you round a corner and see that the complex in fact stretches farther than the eye can see, and panic sets in. You realise you only have six more hours before the return cab to town and you start running.
If you see something you like you have to buy it, because goodness knows there’s no way you’ll make it back to this spot again, such is the inexorable pull of the next corner, and the next. It’s exhausting and much of it is the mental stress of wondering whether the credit card will hold out.
It was, to be honest, a relief to get on the bus back to Port Authority and the short walk to the InterContinental Hotel.
The staff here was only just getting over its recent foray into showbiz, with the season finale of Glee– the one where Mr Schuester brings the class to New York – shot here.
In the show, he arrives at reception and tries, as you do, to book the boys into one room and the girls into another, only to be told by the receptionist that school groups these days are divided up by sexual orientation.
Regardless of your roomies, the hotel is a great location to stay, being just around the corner from Times Square, yet – courtesy of the triple glazing on the windows – totally silent.
Although beds aren’t normally worth writing home about, these ones were. They were unbelievably comfortable, to the point that I found myself eyeing up the pillow like a criminal but, fortunately, with a suitcase already jammers thanks to Woodbury Common, pilfering was out of the question.
But boy was that bed appreciated. One of the reasons New York is so exhausting is that it was built for walking, literally – thanks to the genius grid system, you just can’t get lost.
Just in case, however, there are two great ways to get your bearings before you start out. First is a dinner cruise on the World Yacht, a short walk from the hotel at Pier 81, for which prices start at $40 (€28) per person.
The food you could probably take or leave, but as the sky darkens and the lights come up across that famous skyline, head up to the top deck lounge bar for a show as spectacular as any you’ll see on Broadway.
The night we were there President Obama was in town and the search lights of security helicopters filled the sky like something from Blade Runner.
Just before the boat turns for home it pauses beneath the Statue of Liberty for a rendition of The Star Spangled Banner.All passengers, there for birthday parties, anniversaries and even marriage proposals, stop their revelry and stand to attention. It's surprisingly emotional.
IF THE RIVER cruise gives you a fish’s eye view of Manhattan, a trip to the Top of the Rock the next day will give you the bird’s equivalent.
Right in the centre of midtown, tickets for the observation deck on the Rockefeller building cost $23 (€16) and offer the kind of vista that makes ace photographers of us all, out over the Empire State and the Chrysler Building, with Lady Liberty a mere speck down on the harbour. It is ear-poppingly spectacular.
Except that what's down below is even more interesting. The building is home to NBC Studios and, for $20 (€14) more, you can tour the Saturday Night Livestudios and see the corridors where Tina Fey has her meltdowns in 30 Rock.
You even get guided along by a page, unfortunately not Kenneth but some ambitious young postgrad starting out in TV.
The studios are just around the corner from NYC Co, the New York tourist authority headquarters on Times Square. It’s the perfect place to start any leisure visit with interactive screens that let you devise your itinerary thematically.
To get to the tourist office, you pass the TKTS booth, the place to go for half-price tickets to that night’s Broadway shows. Queuing is inevitable here, but there’s so much street theatre going on around you – more honking, more shouting – that time passes in a jiffy.
Of course, Spidermanwith music by Bono and the Edge at Foxwoods was a must. That said, the funniest thing about it was the Saturday Night Livejoke which suggested that instead of the usual merchandising, this one should sell T-shirts saying, "I saw Spiderman – and survived". It's more than the show's original director, and indeed some of the stuntmen, can say.
Though it had rather more “Huh?” than “Wow!” factor, the audience enjoyed it immensely, and, while there’s no way of knowing how many of them were there on discounted tickets, the house was packed.
Like closing time of old in Dublin, Broadway shows all seem to disgorge their punters at the same time, so a word of warning if you’re going with kids: the crush outside is unreal. Holding hands isn’t enough, you need to tie ropes around each other, mountaineer style, to get back to your hotel in one unit.
FOR AN ANTIDOTE to all that noise and bustle, head down to the financial district, one of the city’s most historic parts.
Admittedly, it’s a bit of a ghost town at weekends, but it comes alive at 6am on Monday mornings when an army of trainer-footed workers marches on it.
For security reasons, it is no longer possible to tour the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street. Amazingly, however, you can still visit the fortress- like Federal Reserve around the corner.
Even though it must be the best-guarded building in the world, with 7,000 tonnes of gold bullion inside, they actually let you into the gold vault.
From Monday next, visitors can also pay a visit to the official 9/11 Memorial, on the site of the former World Trade Center.
Although guided walk companies such as Big Onion Tours, one of the best in the area, have studiously avoided Ground Zero over the past 10 years, not wanting to make a tourist attraction out of a tragedy, the opening of the official memorial will surely put this part of town more squarely on the tourist map.
After all the skyscrapers of Midtown, historic little gems here such as Fort Clinton, the sandstone fort on the very tip of the island that predates Ellis Island as the entry point for immigrants, are a welcome relief.
Indeed, the streets around nearby historic South Street Seaport are like something you’d find down by the quays in Dublin, only with more outdoor restaurants, bars and clubs.
For one of the most interesting walking routes in the city however, look up.
The newly-opened High Line is an old elevated railway track that has been reborn as a little sliver of green high above the city’s meatpacking district, just to the north of the financial centre.
The unique park is one and a half miles long, with food provided along the way by artisanal suppliers and a little lawn with wooden benches on which to sit and eat. It makes a truly delightful spot to observe what is, if I may just say, one very noisy city, lady.
- Sandra O’Connell travelled as a guest of NYC Co (nycgo.com) and Continental Airlines (continental.com). Continental flies to Newark, New Jersey, a 50 minute transfer from midtown Manhattan. Economy seats are available from $812 (€575). See intercontinental.com for the Intercontinental Hotel Times Square or phone 00-1-212-8034500.
Get there
Aer Lingus (aerlingus. com) flies to Kennedy Airport, in New York, from Dublin and Shannon. Continental Airlines (continental.com) flies to Newark Airport, in New Jersey, from Dublin, Shannon and Belfast. Delta Air Lines (delta.com) flies from Dublin and Shannon to Kennedy Airport
Manhattan where to . . .
Stay
Value:The Gild Hall, 15 Gold Street, 00-1-212-232-7700, thompsonhotels.com. If you're happy to stay in the financial district, then this might be for you. Trying very hard to be a boutique rather than a small hotel (designer condoms in the mini-bar) there is no doubting its target market are the masters of the universe in Wall Street next door. Think black walls, leather headboards and lots of cowhide rugs. A night's stay in October from Tablethotels.com will cost $312 (€220) – great value for NYC.
Midmarket:The London NYC, 151 West 54th Street, 00-1-866-690-2029, thelondonnyc.com. Fantastic, all-suite hotel with a bedroom and a sitting room for the same price you'd pay for a room elsewhere in this city. Handy location, beautifully designed rooms and thread counts off the scale. Although the rack rate is much more, we found overnight rates for just €325 in October on Hotels.com.
Upmarket:The Setai, 400 Fifth Avenue, 00-1-212-695-4005, capellahotels.com. Who would have thought it, but according to the folks at Capella (which used to own Castlemartyr in Cork), Fifth Avenue was a five-star hotel short until this one opened last year. They might be right, already you'll have to fight off visiting UN dignitaries for one of its super smart suites. A night in a 37sq m standard room in October will set you back $725 (€510) according to the hotel's website.
Eat
Value: Fitzpatrick’s Grand Central, 687 Lexington Avenue, 00-1-800-367-7701, fitzpatrickhotels.com. For a bit of home from home, check out its Wheeltapper Pub, with a railway theme appropriate to its location right across the street from Grand Central Station – worth the walk just to see. Breakfast, lunch and dinner is served at its Patio restaurant out back.
Midmarket: MAZE by Gordon Ramsey at The London NYC,
151 West 54th Street, 00-1-212-468-8889. This is a surprisingly informal venue based on Ramsey’s Michelin star restaurant of the same name in London. You can, if you like, go the whole hog and into Gordon Ramsey at the London, which is more expensive again, but the night we visited it was easy to see which was the more popular – the latter was virtually empty while MAZE was hopping.
Upmarket:Ai Fiori, Setai Hotel, 400 Fifth Avenue, 00-1-212-613-8660. Chef Michael White, who, according to the New York Times, is determined to be "the king of Italian cooking" in NYC has set about it with gusto. A four-course prix fixe dinner is $84 (€60) a head.
Shop spot
Catch the Hampton Luxury Liner bus outside Starbucks on 45th and Broadway for the one-hour journey to Woodbury Common at $42 (€30) for a round trip. There are more than 300 stores here with everything from Jimmy Choos to Disney offering discounts of up to 60 per cent. If you’re in the financial district, don’t miss Century 21. It’s not pretty, but the bargains are handsome indeed. Sharp elbows required.