Murray Hill Area - Family Trip Report

Thanks again for all of your help/suggestions. We had a great time! Sunday, we took the train in from Westport and arrived at GCS around 3PM. We caught a cab to the Park South (28th %26amp; Park).

The Park South Hotel: The front desk staff was pleasant. We got a free upgrade to what would be considered an average-sized room in other cities. It was clean, nicely decorated, and comfortable. The beds were really hard, but not terrible. We rested for a while, then changed to head out for a very early dinner...

Chef 28 was a quick walk from the hotel. The value, service and food were all excellent. The dumplings, in particular, were outstanding. We enjoyed the meal, instead of rushing, and had time to spare to catch a cab to the New Amsterdam.

What a gorgeous theater! The seats were pretty uncomfortable for my husband and myself, but the show was amazing. My daughter, almost 6, was enthralled.

Monday morning, we woke around 7:30, got dressed, and walked over to Penelope. The service was great (no one else was there at 8), the coffee was terrible, and the food was pretty good. The menu was very limited. I didn%26#39;t want to pay $8 for an adult sized breakfast for my daughter, but we weren%26#39;t given any other options. The atmosphere was nice, very soothing.

Later while hubby was off to work, my daughter and I took a cab up to central park zoo. We spent about 1.5 hours visiting the animals, then had lunch at the Leaping Frog cafe. Not a great value, but convenient.

After admiring the horses waiting curbside with their cozy-looking carriages, we walked over to FAO. We walked around and looked at everything. It was extremely crowded, but fun. Oddly enough, as soon as my daughter had chosen a toy, she wanted out of there.

We walked down 5th and checked out some of the stores/windows there. We continued down to Rockefeller and watched the skaters for a while. We went down to the concourse and has some cocoa and a snack before catching a cab back to the hotel and taking a nap.

That night we met friends at Cowgirl. This place was pretty cool. Great decor, decent service, and the food was good. Hubby had ribs, I had fried chicken, daughter had mac and cheese. The ';baked potato'; dessert was so realistic, daughter refused to eat it until someone else had a taste.

We caught a cab back to the hotel and hit the hay.

Tuesday morning, we tried the hotel%26#39;s free continental breakfast. While I would get sick of it after a couple days, it was great! Lots of fresh, tasty bagels and pastries. Coffee was excellent. Free doesn%26#39;t hurt, either.

Daughter and I headed back up to the room to watch a movie and chill out until check-out. I checked my bags at the front desk, and we headed over to the ESB. We ate lunch at the Heartland Brewery, just because it%26#39;s there. The food was poor. The service was marginal.

After a long wait, we caught a cab down to the theater (Loews Kips%26#39; Bay). The customer service there was awful. Cashier barely looked at me and didn%26#39;t let me know where the theater was until I asked (twice). The concessions guy was asleep and slow to wake. We saw The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe (which was great!)

We walked back to the hotel to meet hubby and a friend at The Black Duck, the hotel restaurant. The service was wonderful, the food was very good, and the value was good. We shared fried oysters, a hamburger with fingerling potatoes, a shrimp and pasta dish, and the chicken tortilla soup.

After the meal, we picked up our bags and took a cab to Grand Central and headed back to CT.

Overall, it was a great trip. I think I did more walking that I should have, but it%26#39;s hard being back in NYC and ';taking it easy';.

My husband, who is a native of Los Angeles and not a fan of New York to say the least, finally had a chance to experience the city on his own. I think just the experience of walking around and feeling the rhythm of the city really changed the way he feels. He is looking forward to our next trip.

I grew up in Westchester and spent a lot of time in NYC as a kid/teenager. I consider it my home in a lot of ways, so for my husband to finally ';get it'; gave me great joy. I think my daughter gets it, too. Seeing a spunky 6 year old trying to hail a cab for her tired mommy is a thing of beauty.

Murray Hill Area - Family Trip Report

I%26#39;d love to have seen that baked potato dessert too. Seems like you and your daughter had a good time together just enjoying the city, a good way to do it.

Murray Hill Area - Family Trip Report

Nice report :) I%26#39;m assuming the baked potato desert looks like a potato? But what is it really?

Terrific! Thanks for the report and great restaurant reviews. I think you should enter them in menupages or citysearch. Very useful.

www.menupages.com

www.newyork.citysearch.com

Glad you had the ';baked potato dessert';. That keeps me going back to Cowgirl.

It is an oval mound of vanilla ice cream coated in brown cocoa powder, topped with a dollop of whipped cream ';sour cream'; and yellow icing ';butter';. It is split open a little lengthwise, and served in aluminum foil.

The image of your girl hailing a cab for you is adorable!