I’ve written some trip reports in the past, however have been put of by time constraints and mainly by the fact that it was no longer possible to use Photobucket to share pictures.

However since I discovered that you can easily share photo’s through the forum, and as there are less SPA’s to write during these summer months, let’s give this another try!

After 2 COVID-years which largely limited travel to Europe, it was time to travel further and thus it was time for a citytrip to New York over the easter holiday.

As the Miles&More double status Miles promo, together with the Compensaid promo, would make us requalify as FTL, flights had to be booked in the Lufthansa family.

Living in Belgium, Brussels is the obvious point of departure, however as we live near Lille, Paris is not that much further.

For some reason (compeition with La Compagnie?), business class tickets from Paris were significantly cheaper than from Brussels.
In the end we flew CDG-VIE-EWR on OS outbound and EWR-ZRH-CDG on LX on the way back.

Having enjoyed some very good St-Regis stays around the world, we wanted to see the original, so the St-Regis New York was the obvious hotel choice.

So let’s get this trip started.

Of course, the last day before a holiday means tuingrond up as much loose ends as possible, so I was behind my PC untill well after midnight.
The drive to Paris thus started with very small eyes.




No traffic on this early hour, so shaved quite some time of the time estimated by the GPS and we were in CDG by 5 a.m., well in time for the 7 a.m. flight to Vienna.

However, flying to the US still in COVID-times, online check in didn’t work and also at the counter in CDG a supervisor had to be involved before we could be approved fit to travel and boarding passes could be released. The processen to check us in did take about 15 minutes.

Boarding passes in hand, we were quickly through security. Unfortunately, there is only one lounge in terminal 2B which is the Sheltair lounge. The lounge was a total dump, tired furniture spread around with no real ‘decor’. Not something to come early for. Fortunatly they had a passable Champagne to start the day, and after a short wait it was time to head to the gate.

Priority boarding started quickly, however only meant you could go stand in a holding pen and wait for all other groups to get organised in their respective lines.

After waiting in our line for 10 minutes, it was finally time to board and I quickly found my favourite seat for Euro-business class.




Take-off was 30 minutes behind the sheduled departure time, however we still arrived on time in Vienna.

Shortly after take off, a hot breakfast of Croque Monsieur was served, which, although not a real breakfast food in my book, was very tasty.




We arrived on time Vienna and with a very shot layover made our way to the non-Schengen Austrian lounge, which was completely packed. We found two seats at a dirty table from people who just left and had just enough time for a drink and a toilet break before heading to the gate.

Luckily we left on time because (unnoticed for me) my boarding pass had SSSS on it so I was sent to another gate for secondary screening where all my luggage had to be emptied and I had to be scanned barefoot.

After this it was back to the gate were boarding was imminent.







I was looking forward to this flight. My first international business class flight was on Austrian, and they always held a place in my heart.

Priority boarding worked as it should here, and we quickly were in the familiar Austrian business class cabin, were jackets were taking away and champagne was offered as a welcome drink.




Allthough not the most modern seat I still liked it, especially for a daytime flight. Good legroom and nice view of the 777 cockpit.





Do&Co catering was as tasty as always, and I took veal as a starter and the pasta dish for mains, to enjoy with the latest Bond movie.





After this, the dessert cart was rolled around and flight attendants went around offering port and a very nice dessert wine, as well as specialty coffees. Unfortunately I don’t drink coffee so opted for the dessert wine to finish the meal.




After this, the short night before and the drinks caught up with me and I was down for a couple of hours in the lie-flat seats.

I woke up with about 3 hours to go and reviewed some more contracts and by the time I finished those, it was time for the pre-arrival meal, consisting of a shrimp dish and a chocolate cake.




Being on the left side of the plane offered a great view of Manhattan on descent in the Newark and we quickly landed on time where we were among the first of the plane.




Immigration was quiet a walk and had some lines but we were quickly through after some standard questions.

Opposite to what we’re used to in Brussels, priority luggage actually worked here and our luggage was on the carroussel by the time we arrived.

We ordered an Uber Black which arrived in a couple of minutes and were quickly on our way to the St. Regis.

Great TR! You had some nice OS catering!

I've been to Serbia for Easter, it was just unforgettable

Having landed around 1:30 pm, we were at the St-Regis well before the 4 pm check-in time.




Unfortunatly the room was not het ready, but luggage was quickly stowed. We were also informed that as we were staying 4 nights, the destination fee did not apply.
It being a nice spring day we headed to central park which is only one block away to get some fresh air after a day of flying.

Half an hour later we got a call from the front desk that the room was ready, so we headed back were we were quickly given our room key’s.

We had booked a grand deluxe room and were given such, however the room we received had connecting doors to the room next door which seemed to be occupied by a group of teenagers playing music videos and discussing their sexual experiences. Sound isolation because of the connecting was so poor that it felt like they were just sitting inside our room, which is not what we’re looking for at this price point.

The porter who brought up our luggage agreed with us so we were quickly back down to the reception desk and were immediatly given another room which was much more quiet.

The grand deluxe is quite spacious and the desk and seating area were usefull to do some teams meetings in the mornings.

Immediatly after settling in, the butler arrived to present herself and to offer the coffee and tea service, which was promptly delivered and which we would use each morning before breakfast.










It being the first time in New York, we of course wanted to see a Broadway show and this was planned on the first evening, the idea being that having had several meals on the flights we wouldn’t need an elaborate dinner. This with complete disrespect for any jetlag.

As Pamela Anderson temporarily took on the role of Roxie Hart in Chicago, that’s what we decided on.

Before leaving, we went for pre-show drinks in the famous King Cole bar where drinks aren’t cheap but the pours are very generous and the atmosphere is great for people watching.




The St-Regis has a great hotel car service which takes you 10 block for free, so transport to the ambassador theatre was quickly arranged. It’s a pity they no longer use the Bentley advertized on the website, but the Cadillac Escalade was also very luxurious.

The theatre was not far and the show was good, however during the second part the jetlag got me and our seats were good enough for Pamela Anderson staring at me falling asleep (at least that’s how it felt ).







After the show we did feel hungry, but as it was raining, we didn’t feel like searching for a place to eat so we took an Uber back to the hotel.

The King Cole bar was closing down and didn’t offer food anymore, so a room service pizza it was, before a well deserved rest.

Jetlag was still at work, so we woke up early on Sunday. Luckily, St. Regis offers coffee/tea service in the morning, so first order of business was to have the butler deliver tea!

This was followed by breakfast at the Astor Court, where the eggs Benedict came in a generous portion.




After breakfast, Paris-Roubaix was nearing the finish, so tried to catch the final on tv. Quite frustrating as apparently on US tv they manage to put commercial breaks in even the last 10 km of such a race.

As it was our very first time in New York we set of to see some of the famous sights. Mid Town, the Upper East Side and Times Square were on the plan today.
It was a fun day to visit, as 5th avenue was closed of for the Easter













Weather was a nice spring day, so during the walk, we went to look for a nice terrace to enjoy which didn’t prove to be easy. Luckily Tavern on the green offered some seats at the outdoor bar, where they also had a nice wine list.

I had hoped to eat at some of the top restaurants in NY (Le Bernardin, 11 Madison Park), however was a bit late planning. Trying to book tables one week out proved to be challenging and also the concierge of the St Regis didn’t manage to get us in any of the 3 star restaurants. So we settled for some lesser gods.

Dinner on Easter Sunday was at Marea, which at the time had one star.







The restaurant was quite crowded and food was good, although not special. For us not on a Michelin Star level. It thus doesn’t come as a surprise that the restaurant has since lost its last star.

I ate at Marea in 2012 when it had (well deserved) 2 stars. I didn't hear many good things about it last time, so it's no surprise it even lost the 1 star.

Okay, let’s get this trip report finished before the next Easter.



The next day again started with breakfast at the St. Regis.






As we had a helicopter tour planned which departed from the downtown Manhattan heliport, we decided to head downtown today.



We started out at ground zero, with the memorial and museum.

The lines to enter the museum were huge, and not having booked tickets before, we feared we wouldn’t have the time to wait in line for an hour in order to enter.

Luckily we discovered the members entrance, where members of the museum/foundation can enter at all times without any wait. And the good news is that you could by a membership for a year on the spot. As a result I am now a member supporting the 9/11 foundation.








After visiting the museum, we headed to Wall Street an its environments.








As we were still a bit too early for our heli tour, we decided to take an uber over to Brooklyn for some iconic pics.









After this, we ubered back to the downtown Manhattan Heliport.

We had booked a tour with HeliNY, which came recommended on the internet. We opted for their longest ‘deluxe’ tour of 30 minutes, which headed out to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island all the way to Coney Island, before going all the way up to George Washington bridge.



Upon arrival at the heliport we were given a safety instruction and life vest, before guided into the waiting tour and into a helicopter. Unfortunately places are allocated based on weight (I was hoping on the seat next to the pilot), and I ended up in the middle seat in the back.

Anyway, views were still good and certainly a fun way to see NY.












After the heli tour, we walked around Chinatown and Little Italy which were fun neighbourhoods, and then headed for the closes 7 for all mankind store, to stock up on new jeans, before heading back to the St. Regis.

As this trip was also meant to be as a culinary to tour of some of NY’s top restaurants, this night we had booked Cosme, which at the time held the 22nd spot on the world’s 50 best list.

Of course we started with a cocktail at the King Cole Bar, before taking the hotel car to Cosme.






It was our first experience with Mexican food (a trip to Mexico followed in September), but we started with some margerita’s and then followed with some of the dishes recommended by the waiter.

Food was good but not blown away. Restaurant has since dropped to number 69 on the world’s 50 best list.













One disturbance however was that they did not have a credit card machine that could be used with the chip of your credit card and a pin code, only swiping the magnetic strip. Our European credit cards of course don’t work with just swiping the magnetic strip so we were unable to pay.

They graciously let us leave without paying. We involved the concierge of the St. Regis to have them transfer the money some way, but Cosme is so busy that they don’t answer phone calls and e-mails, so we couldn’t settle the bill that way.

On our last day in NY we headed back to Cosme in the afternoon to try to settle the bill and once again, even after filling out lots of paperwork their credit card machine couldn’t manage so in the end we had to go and look for an ATM to withdraw the required cash. So conclusion, if you dine at Cosme and your from Europe: make sure you have cash on hand.

This looks very interesting. Meringue with vanilla cream?

The corn husk meringue, so meringue with corn mousse.
Not bad!

On our last full day in New York, it was time to head up to the top of one of the sky scrapers.



The Empire State Building has the disadvantage to not have a view of the Empire State building, so we headed over to ‘The Edge’ at Hudson Yards.



But first with a stop at the New York Public Library, which had a very nice interior.







After this we headed to the Edge where we were able to buy tickets for a time slot within 20 minutes at the vending machines, so we quite quickly were heading upstairs.

The terrace at the Edge is very spacious with a nice view of the most important landmarks. However due to bad weather and wind, half of the terrace was closed.

Another nice discovery was that up next to the viewing terrace is a rather nice restaurant called peak, where they luckily had some seats left at the bar where we had a nice bottle of Chablis as an aperitive while enjoying the views.

Next time, we’ll probably book a table at the restaurant and have the same view as the observation deck.






As the edge is right at the start of the Highline, we walked the whole Highline until the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Of course, liking food, we made a stop at Chelsea Market for a light lunch.








After finishing the whole Highline, we walked back to the St-Regis passing by the Flat Iron Building, which was unfortunately covered in scaffolds.

Finally, it was time for the culinary highlight of the trip, but first an obligatory stop at the King Cole Bar.




As none of the 3 star restaurants had availability for dinner, at the suggestion of the St-Regis concierge, we made reservation at the two star Michelin restaurant Gabriel Kreuther.



We received a nice table with a view of the open kitchen and opted for the Chef’s tasting menu.
















Only minor issue was that they offered Champagne for aperitive, but then waited to serve the amuse bouches until after we finished our glasses. After dinner the Maitre d’hotel acknowledged this isn’t how it is supposed to happen.

For the rest a very solid 2 star restaurant, and very much a recommendation when in New York.

With a flight back to Europe at 22:00, we had a last full day at New York.

one of the restaurant suggestions of the St. Regis we liked was Le Pavillon at 1 Vanderbilt, however as we didn’t have any more nights to have dinner, we decided to have lunch there before leaving the city.

With such a lunch planned, we skipped breakfast at the hotel and spend the morning at the MOMA.
not being the biggest museum persons, it was still a pleasant way to spend a couple of hours.









From the MOMA we walked to 1 Vanderbilt, which was a very new restaurant at the time.
the interior is sitting in a garden with an incredible view of the Chrysler building.

We took the lunch tasting menu (at dinner the tasting menu is more elaborate, which was a pleasant surprise.












it is not a surprise that this restaurant has since won one Michelin star, as this was far superior to Marea.

After lunch we walked of the calories by going to Cosme to settle our bill (see previous story).

It being a great spring day, we wanted to sit in the sun, so headed back to Central Park to Tavern on the green for some drinks, before heading back to the St. Regis.








Having checked out in the morning, we were offered to use the dressing room and shower in the gym, before taking an Uber black back to EWR.

From the St-Regis we took an Uber Black back to EWR.





Upon arrival to EWR we were quickly checked in and through security.
To my surprise, we weren’t stamped out of the US, but emigration apparantly works automatically at the gate.With half an hour to kill, we made a stop at the Lufthansa lounge, which was crowded. I didn’t take pics but it looks like every Lufthansa lounge in the world. Still a good enough place to have a gin & tonic.

Flights back to Europe were on Swiss, mainly because (within the Lufthansa group) they had the latest departure, around 22:00, giving us a full last day in New York.

The flight today was on an A330, where we were able to get seats in the mini-cabin just behind first class, which gave a very private feel.

The seats are similar to Austrian, but the inflight entertainment seemed more outdated.
After take off, dinner was served. I took the steak, and I must say to my surprise it was very nicely cooked (not overcooked).







Prior to landing in Zurich, a breakfast was served, however, once again forgot take a pic.
Swiss provides a fine way across the Atlantic, however within the Lufthansa group, I still prefer Austrian for longhaul flights. (Swiss is my favorite for shorthaul).

In Zurich, we made a quick stop at the Alpine lounge before getting on the final flight to Paris.

the flight to Paris was on an A220, always an nice spacious shorthaul plane, where a nice cold lunch was served.






After a 2 hour drive, we were home by noon, ready to fire up the labtop and catch up on work.