Home » Great Escapes
Great Escapes
HK Hotels New York
By Bruce Wildstein
Planning a great New York vacation can be formidable. And perhaps the most time-consuming aspect is deciding where to stay. With hundreds of hotels available, the choices may seem overwhelming. A small group of boutique hotels known as the HK Hotel Group may be your answer. Having four locations in Manhattan, each of these unique lodgings has something wonderful to offer. For starters, service is their number one concern. Guests are made to feel at home and the small size of the hotels offers a peaceful respite in a city of millions. All of the hotels are top rated by Citysearch and TripAdvisor. And all the hotels have smoke-free rooms. Throw in complimentary wine and cheese receptions before dinner, deluxe continental breakfasts, complimentary passes to nearby fitness centers, and the HK Group stands well above the crowd.
Hotel Elysée, has a legacy few hotels can match. Built in 1926 in the fine French style, numerous celebrities have called it home. From the literary world Tennessee Williams, Leon Uris, and Harold Robbins are just to name a few. Actors such as John Barrymore and Marlon Brando, baseball great Joe DiMaggio, and musician Vladimir Horowitz have all made the hotel their stay of choice. Walking into the lobby one is immediately immersed in traditional fine French furnishings. Fresh flowers abound with gleaming marble floors, ornate architectural details, and classic hardwood furniture. This is a hotel where style and class take center stage. Guest rooms include numerous amenities such as marble baths, kitchenettes, and terraces. In addition, guests enjoy complimentary robes and toiletries from Gilchrist and Soames. The hotel is also technologically current with in-room complimentary high-speed Internet and MP3 docking station clock radios. Guests can indulge themselves in the Club Room with the upscale continental breakfast. Fresh fruit, oatmeal, pastries, coffee and tea are available as are daily newspapers. And when guests return from a day on the town, the wine and cheese reception offers a relaxing prelude to the evening. With Hotel Elysee located on E 54th St between Madison and Park Avenues, guests are within walking distance to the city's finest shopping, the Museum of Modern Art, and numerous excellent restaurants.
Next move south to Times Square. Here, the Casablanca transports guests to the graceful time of Bogart and Bacall. With Moroccan inspired décor and furnishings, the forty-eight room Casablanca offers a most relaxing accommodation away from the nearby hustle and bustle. Rooms have numerous amenities which include robes, hairdryers, and fine toiletries. Rick's Café, located on the second floor, serves as a meeting place as well as hosting the daily wine and cheese reception and continental breakfast. With Times Square just steps away, entertainment, theater and shopping are close by.
Finally there is Hotel Giraffe. Located on South Park Avenue at 26th Street, this very modern hotel has 73 guest rooms with just seven rooms to a floor. The decor pays tribute the style of America's "modern" period of the early Twentieth Century. Each room has 10-foot ceilings, antique Rose velveteen upholstered chairs, and elegant baths. The stunning lobby is anchored by a grand piano. Amenities include flat-panel TVs, down blankets, bathrobes, slippers, and hairdryers. Hotel Giraffe also has a number of other services, which include pickup of same-day laundry and dry cleaning, daily newspapers, and wireless Internet throughout. Business services and concierge are there to assist you as well.
The final hotel in the HK family is as unique as any of the others. The Library Hotel is an adventure in literary landscape. Totally modern, each of the 10 guestroom floors takes its theme from one of the categories of the Dewey decimal system such as History, Language, Literature, Technology, and Philosophy. Rooms on each floor have a collection of books relating to its category. As one of New York's top rated boutique hotels, amenities include HK's deluxe continental breakfast, daily wine and cheese reception, wireless high-speed Internet access, and complementary cable TV including premium movie channels. Flat-panel TVs, bathrobes, slippers and toiletries from Thymes Azur are also on hand. In addition, there is a secluded writer's den and reading room. A stay at the Library Hotel is indeed an adventure in fine accommodations. HK Hotels website: http://hkhotels.com/.
The Luck of the Irish Be With You in Northern Ireland
By Rita Cook and Russell Dandridge
Belfast is a good place to begin to look for the luck of the Irish. Begin with a Black Taxi Tour (world-renowned actually) offering a Van Morrison tour, a Titanic tour and a political tour all rolled into one. You will be picked up in the City Centre then move through the Shipyards to see where HMS Titanic was built and launched and then on to the political districts, which have bore the brunt of conflict over the last 30 years. It is here too that you can see the peace wall and the many political murals that are as much a part of Belfast as its people.
Before heading into the countryside you will also want to visit St. Georges Market and if you are there on a Saturday there will be on overabundance of local produce and specialty foods. The Irish Farmhouse cheeses and pates include up to 50 different kinds of Irish cheeses including Drumkeel, then there's the Drumgooland Smoke House and Ditty's Home Bakery. Your mouth won't stop watering.
Finally, to get the best view of the city take a ride on the Belfast Wheel located on the grounds of City Hall which offers an amazing views at 200 feet, but is not for the weak at heart.
After a few days in the capital it's time to tour the country so begin by heading north to Ballymena. The drivetime in Northern Ireland isn't long, its just you'll find you want to keep stopping to look at old ruins or castles. As you keep driving the coast and north be sure and take what is called the coast road. It's a windswept look at the ocean and a part of Ireland that you must see - you do indeed feel you are at the edge of the world.
Most people in that area will also stop at Giant's Causeway, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and recognized as one of the natural wonders of the world. Giant's Causeway has quite a few legends attached to it, but basically it sits on the ocean and consists of thousands of hexagonally-shaped basalt columns - formed 60 million years ago from volcanic lava. The Irish like to say it was built by a giant who created it as a path to Scotland.
Also in your Irish wondering be sure and stop in the city of Derry. A guided walking tour will be your best bet as your walk around this 17th century walled city that is now more than modern. Built between 1614 and 1619 the original walls are preserved so well that Derry is classified as a wonderful replica of a European walled city. On your tour be sure and stop in at St. Columbs Cathedral, an Irish saint who founded a monastery in Derry in the sixth century. The cathedral was completed in 1633 and the chapter house on the property offers a great look at ancient relics and artifacts.
You might have also heard the city referred to as Londonderry and that would be correct too, the name Derry coming from the old Irish Doire, a reference to the Oak Grove where St. Columb founded the monastery. The walls of this stronghold are over a mile in circumference and stand 26-feet high and 30-feet wide in some places. There are also 24 original cannons still placed at the sentinel. It might also be worth a look in the Harbor, Tower and Workhouse museums offering a look at the economic, political and social history of this very important city in Northern Ireland.
A tour of Northern Ireland will take about a week to see a good portion of what is offered, but if you can spend a few more days the luck of the Irish will take on an even more poignant light as you discover that this Emerald Island is truly magical indeed.
For more information contact the Northern Ireland Tourist Office - www.discovernorthernireland.com
Best Places to Stay:
Hilton Hotel
4 Lanyon Place
Belfast
Ten Square
10 Donegall Square South
Belfast
Galgorm Resort and Spa
136 Fenaghy Road
Galgorm, Ballymena
www.galgorm.com
Bushmills Inn Hotel
Bushmills
Lough Erne Golf Resort
Belleek Road
Fermanagh
www.loughernegolfresort.com
Places to Eat:
Apartment
2 Donegal Square West
Belfast
Tedford's Restaurant
5 Donegall Quay
Belfast
The John Hewitt Bar and Restaurant
51 Donegall Street
Belfast
www.thejohnhewitt.com
Roscoff Brasserie
7-11 Linenhall St.
Belfast
River Inn Bar and Cellar
36-38 Shipquay Street
Derry
Scoff's Restaurant
17 Belmore Street
Enniskillen
Franco's Restaurant
Queen Elizabeth Road
Enniskillen