made a trip to NYC to use up my 100k expiry Krisflyer miles. turns out that I quite like NYC.
22hrs journey was a drag=12hrs S'pore to Frankfurt+2hrs transit+8hrs to JFK airport..business saver on SIA 747-400 europe/usa flights are getting extremely limited, now only LA/NYC with latter transit at Frankfurt.
got hold of the 7-day New York pass for USD155 online. this is really worthwhile=I got to visit Metropolitan Museum of Art, Solomon & Guggenheim Museum (love it!), American Museum of Natural History, MOMA aka Museum of Modern Art (Love it!), Empire State Building, the pre-historic Skyride (simulation ride) from 1995 at the Empire State Building piloted by Kevin Baker, Top of the Rocks (Rockefeller Tower), Madame Tussauds (found out who Miley Cyrus is=no consequence!), went for 2 really good walking tours =Alexandra Hamilton Financial District Tour (the guy was George Washington's Finance Secretary) which ended with Trinity church, St Paul's church where volunteer rescue effort was based for 8 months post 911, and ending at One World Trade Centre (former Ground Zero); and the George Cohan Theatre District Tour. also went for behind the scene tours of NBC studio (SNL=saturday night live & Tonight with Conan o'Brien=who?; Radio City Music Hall (where Grammy & Tony awards were held and the recent MVA 2009=music video awards where kayne West grab the award from Taylor Swift, were held; and the Madison Square Gardens (where Marilyn Monroe sang Happy Birthday to the President JFK=well that was a different MSG location)..and the awesome St John the Divine=truly the largest cathedral in the world..all these for free with the NY pass.
also got the 7-day subway pass for USD27=really good deal. Day 1 was a breeze as I called (as intructed) and gotten a free airport pickup from Pan-American Hotel(about USD117/night all-in inclusive taxes etc) which is only 20mins from JFK. stayed 2 nights and remaining 6 nights at Howard Johnson Expess Inn- Queens slightly cheaper at USD 108/night all-in which is a newer hotel albeit smaller room breakfast included+more important for me broadband & wifi in room..got the 7-day subway pass from Grand Ave station (4blocks about 15mins walk from hotel) and went to Times Square Planet Holywood to collect the NY Pass. decided to activate the NY Pass only next day so after walking round Times Square, nice lunch at Le Rivage (USD22+3 for USDA ribeye=USD32 inclusive tax+gratuity for nice lobster bisque, ribeye, NY cheesecake and coffee), walk round Rockefeller Plaza, went to Chinatown & Little Italy (1 street in Chinatown) at Canal Street station. had a USD5.50 roast duck+roast pork early dinner (huge portion but only finish 1/2=decided that really cannot take any chinese food as w/o proper chilli these things are just not to my apetite)..
had really nice time trying out the various restaurants. the 2 best turned out to be Ichi Umi (of all things a buffet restaurant!) and a brit restaurant Maze (The London NYC Restaurant by Gordon Ramsey)..Ichi Umi USD28.95 dinner buffet is fantastic in the spread (so many types of fish sashimi but really not worth taking except for the 2 shell fish mirugai=geoduck & hokkigai=orange atlantic surf clam), sushi also not worth taking. why? cause the uni, ikura, teppanyaki lobster (not so the cold snow crab leg which is just about Kuishinbo standard), the wafu(Jap-styled) strip steak, the kabli steak and the 8 kinds of whole fish (flounder best, chilean seabass super, giant garupa good etc) are no less than fine dining...went Ichi Umi twice for buffet lunch (USD18.95) and dinner..and twice lunch at the fine dining Maze (the 2 course lobster bisque, aged ribeye ADD USD5=USD41 include tax+gratuity is superb worth taking everytime)...also went for Peter Luger's USD39.95 (USD51 include tax+gratuity) 1.5lb (680g) ribeye, Sea Grill @Rockefeller Plaza's USD55 (USD70 include tax+gratuity) 3 course lobster tasting menu, twice lunch and dinner at McCormick & Schmicks' Seafood restaurant.
all in all a rather satisfying trip...only the 22hr flight is a deterent to future visits...
