Holidays For Couples
April 2004

by Lee Mylne

Everyone looks at him; he looks at no-one. That’s the way it is when Woody Allen turns up on Monday nights to play clarinet at Café Carlyle in New York.

The eccentric film director has been jamming with Eddy Davis’ New Orleans jazz band for years. If you miss him, you might be lucky enough to catch the legendary crooner Bobby Short, who’s been playing Café Carlyle for 35 years with a cabaret act of Porter, Gershwin and Ellington standards

Be warned: it’s an expensive night out, with a cover charge of US$75 weeknights and US$90 on Friday and Saturday, when there are two sittings.

Tucked between glittering shop windows of Madison Avenue with its galleries, antique stores and designer boutiques, The Carlyle is one of the most understatedly elegant hotels in New York. Nicole Kidman moved in the day we before we moved out; Jack Nicholson had just slipped away from the suite most favoured by the rich and famous.

Princess Diana had gasped at the beauty of Madison Avenue at dusk, her penthouse lit only by candles for her arrival, the silent traffic creating ribbons of light 22 storeys below.

“Will you do this for me again next time?” the princess asked hotel night manager Paul Goldenberg, who had lit the candles for her.

“Of course,” he mourns now, “there was no next time.”

At The Carlyle, the staff is friendly, the food incomparable and the location unbeatable. The room rates are sky-high, but this is New York and this is among the best.

If Café Carlyle is booked out or beyond your budget, and the classic French elegance of Dumonet restaurant not your scene, at least have a drink in Bemelmans Bar. A legend since 1930, the bar walls are adorned with murals by Ludwig Bemelman, creator of the popular Madeline children’s books.

An Austrian émigré who came to America in 1914 to avoid reform school, Bemelman was commissioned to create the murals for the hotel walls in 1947. He negotiated 18 months accommodation for himself and his family in exchange for the murals, which are the only surviving ones open to the public today.

It’s an almost surreal setting. The murals are a fantasy based in Central Park, complete with picnicking rabbits. They were restored in 2002 as part of a renovation of the art deco bar, which has brown leather banquettes, black glass tabletops, and candle lamps casting a soft glow on the 24-carat golf leaf covered ceiling. The long black granite bar is studded with glass columns, and live music plays every night except Sundays. Beware the cover charge of US$20 a head after 9.30pm, which will be added to your drinks bill.

If you’re on the trail of celebrities, dine at “21”, the former 1920s speakeasy which is now the haunt of the rich and famous. We ate in the exclusive new The Upstairs, which seats only 35 and has no prices on the menu, but the buzz was downstairs in the famous Bar Room, where the walls are crammed with sporting memorabilia and the ceiling is hung with model planes, donated by famous patrons.

Splurging on a hotel (even for a few nights only) and a few great meals is worthwhile in New York, because it’s possible to revel in the rest relatively cheaply. Even shopping may not hit your hip pocket so hard with today’s rising Australian dollar.

For budget sightseeing you can use City Pass, which gives discount entry to the city’s major attractions - the Empire State Building, Guggenheim Museum, Museum of Modern Art, Intrepid Sea Air Space Museum, the American Museum of Natural History and a harbour cruise on the Circle Line.

The scene at the top of the Empire State Building is nothing like the one in Sleepless in Seattle. The reality, sadly, is somewhat less romantic with wall-to-wall tourists jostling for the best vantage point for their photos of what must nevertheless be one of the world’s most romantic cities. At 102 storeys high the Empire State is once again – after the tragic events of September 11, 2001 - the highest building in New York.

While the Statue of Liberty was closed to the public indefinitely for security reasons after the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre, it is still worth taking the ferry to Liberty and Ellis Islands from Battery Park. You can walk around the statue on Liberty Island, continue on to Ellis Island to explore the free Immigration Museum, or just stay aboard for the round trip. And it only costs US$8.

The bronze sphere which once stood between the World Trade Centre towers as a symbol of global peace is now – bearing shocking battle scars but still intact – in Battery Park as a temporary memorial to those who died in the buildings.

From Battery Park, wander through the financial district to Ground Zero. Now a construction site as plans are underway for a permanent memorial to those lost, it remains a focus for visitors and locals alike…and you will still find tears being shed there.

For the past 150 years, the heart of Manhattan has been Central Park. What better place for a romantic horse and carriage ride? The carriages line up along 59th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, at the southern end of Central Park. Rides cost about US$35 for 20 minutes.

At weekends, the park is packed with joggers, cyclists, skaters, buskers, tourists, but it’s all part of the energy that’s such a part of any visit to New York.

New York, New York. It’s impossible to say it just once. Frank Sinatra has a lot to answer for.

FACT FILE
Getting There: United Airlines flies daily to San Francisco and Los Angeles from Sydney and Melbourne, with connections to New York. www.unitedairlines.com.au or call 131 777 toll-free.
Where to Stay: The Carlyle, Madison Avenue at 76th Street, New York. www.thecarlyle.com. Rates from US$495 per night for standard rooms to US$825 for a Premium Room, suites from US$900 to US$3200.
Where to Eat: 21 Club, 21 West 52nd Street, New York, www.21club.com. Bar Room is open for lunch and dinner Monday to Friday, and dinner only on Saturdays. The Upstairs is open for dinner Tuesday to Saturday.
What to See: CityPass is a booklet containing admission tickets to six top attractions. It costs US$45, about half price and avoid main entrance ticket lines at most attractions. It can be purchased on-line at www.citypass.com, or at any participating attraction.