I recently attended the International Media Marketplace in New York City. This event brought together over one hundred travel writers to meet with dozens of visitor bureaus, P.R. firms, and cruise lines in a match-making party. It was a blast.
While in New York City I stayed at the renovated Intercontinental Barclay Hotel on 48 St. and Lexington Avenue. Of all my NYC trips this hotel was probably the best for location and luxury.
Intercontinental Barclay Hotel NYC
On the first night in the city I asked the concierge where I could find good tapas. He steered me to Socarrat, a Spanish restaurant on 953 2nd ave. Their happy hour went form 4-7 and I was just a tad early for the half-priced tapas and bargain wine. I walked the area for fifteen minutes and returned for happy hour to have some of the best Spanish food and wine I’ve experienced on the East Coast. The octopus with potatoes paired with a Spanish white wine I cannot pronounce was excellent.
Socarrat Spanish restaurant’s octopus and potatoes
Heading to the top
After the blur of speed-dating with visitor bureaus and other reps on Thursday NYC&Company took all of us to the Empire State Building’s 80th floor for a cocktail reception in a open-top bus.
Empire State Bldg. on approach
Once we made it to the 80th floor someone said to catch the New York City sunset before it faded into the night. Damn good advice as I was instantly drawn to the photos of this iconic structure’s construction phase and might have missed a great shot. I snapped this photo looking south towards the financial district.
Sunset from the Empire State bldg
A day at the museum
On Friday morning ten lucky participants went to the Met (Metropolitan Museum of Art) for the EmptyMet Tour. We had a tour-led journey through 5,000 years of art without the crowds blocking our view. Our guide, Lauren, has been coming to the Met for over forty years and knew it intimately.
EmptyMet Tour in NYC
After the Greek statue gallery we advanced to the South American gold gallery. Lauren pointed out huge nose-rings, earrings, and breastplates made of nearly pure gold.
South American gold earrings
Onward we traveled into the future where we saw this striking mural depicting the industrial era in the U.S. that took up an entire room. Too bad I didn’t have my wide-angle lens to capture it better.
Mural in the Met NYC
One of the wildest works of art was a taxidermy deer encased in glass orbs of many sizes. Bizarre!
Glass deer at the Met
It was a trip like no other to the Big Apple and I got to know this amazing city so much better. I made excellent contacts to make future trips exciting and educational to share with my readers. Perhaps in the spring I’ll return and take another bite of New York City?
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2018 Kurt Jacobson
Nice sunset picture from yhe top of the Empire Stae building! During a bright sunshine day, I was wowed by how the buildings were like legos from so high up.
Nice sunset picture from the top of the Empire State building! During a bright sunshine day, I was wowed by how the buildings were like legos from so high up.
Thanks!
Great article, Kurt. I will definitely go to those places the next time I’m in NYC.
Thanks, it is very informative