You gonna love me, like nobody’s loved me
Come rain or come shine
Happy together, unhappy together
Wouldn’t it be fine
Days may be cloudy or sunny
We’re in or we are out of the money, yeah
I’m with you always
I’m with you rain or shine
Ray Charles

– ‘Yes, that’s a great idea! Because then I can buy another guitar.’
So we searched the web for a decent hotel (and guitar shops) and booked a direct flight with the Norwegian Dreamliner. Departure was only two days after we had arrived home from Vienna. But two days is enough to relax and do laundry, isn’t it?
This time around I wanted to try something different. I had fallen for the good old fashioned rooftop photo from Hotels.com again. When I saw the photo of the view from the rooftop terrace at Hotel 50 Bowery NYC, I just knew we had to stay there.
Actually we ended up celebrating Norway’s constitution day at our hotel as well. Our original plan was to take part in a May 17th Parade on Broadway. But it turned out that the parade was postponed until the week-end. And the rest of the May 17th extravaganza was going to take place on the Thursday afternoon in Brooklyn. So when we accidentally discovered on Facebook that one of the biggest May 17th events was going to take place in our hotel, the choice was very easy. The event even had free admission! And thanks to the friendly staff at the reception, we made sure that we got on the guestlist.

- The service was probably some of the best I have experienced – the whole staff really did their best to make you feel welcome
- The hotel room was nice and the beds were comfortable
- The bathroom was wheelchair accessible with a wheel-in shower and I could actually reach the shower head (although complicated to figure out as usual).
- The mix of modern and old fashioned Asian decor was cool
- The Crown bar had good drinks and DJs – but if you like peace and quiet the place is not for you. As one of the older guys said before he left – “This is a place for millenials; not for me…”
- The sound levels in the hotel room were acceptable. Even if the hotel was situated in a busy intersection, we could still sleep even if we could vaguely hear sirens and car honking 24/7
- The carpets were easy to wheel, something which is hard to find in the US
The hotel restaurant Rice & Gold offered tasty and spicy Asian fusion dining, which was ok. But I must admit that I was a bit tired of Asian fusion food after having to eat there three nights in a week because of the awful weather. And the service in the restaurant did not match the one at the hotel.
Another issue, which might stop us from using this fantastic hotel again, was the location. Because the sidewalks of Chinatown turned out to be in a much poorer state than those of upper Manhattan. Several places curbcuts were missing completely and a few times we had to ask people for help to cross the street.
During our stay all the subway stations in Chinatown and Soho had lifts out of service, so we had to rely on wheeling ourselves or getting a taxi.

So the area was a challenge indeed. Perhaps a scooter would have been the solution because the worst curbcuts could usually be avoided. Or taking the bus.
But in a perfect world – I’d like to move the Hotel 50 Bowery NYC to another place in Manhattan. The problem is that then you would not have the fantastic view.