A few months back – it seems like years now – we had a lovely trip to the bright , bustling “Big Apple” that is the city of New York. While we were planning our holiday, we were overwhelmed by the choice of hotels. Where should we stay? In the heart of Manhattan, in Brooklyn or Queens or maybe on the other side of the Hudson in New Jersey? In the end we decided we had to stay on Manhattan island – at least for part of the time. Now, what was one of the most important things we wanted from a hotel apart from being next to where everything was happening? A resident cat of course!! Now we knew what we wanted our search lead us to the oldest operating hotel in New York The Algonquin.
Steeped in local artistic, literary and theatrical history the hotel is also home to a number of traditions such as supporting struggling writers and keeping a cat who has the run of the hotel (both courtesy of Frank Case who was one of the original owners). It’s was the second tradition that drew us to this specific hotel for a chance to find out about the legend of the Algonquin cat and to meet the current resident feline (more about that later).
When we arrived, we were amazed by the feline themed memorabilia collected over the years and displayed in the lobby area.
We did enjoy the breakfasts. Don’t worry, we did lots of walking afterwards to burn off the calories.
And our rooms were so beautiful. I’m sure Nubia would have made herself very cosy on the sofa or bed. And in fact we showed them to Oliver & Nubia when we face timed with them using our Three Mobile Feel-At-Home SIM Card kindly provided by our friends at Three Mobile UK to stay and not have to worry about roaming charges!
As was the rest of the hotel with the cat theme extending to the doors of the lifts… That reminded us that we were booked to see the Cats musical later on our trip.
And Matilda herself was there to welcome us with a gift of a couple of books for us to read before bed time 🙂
In Part two you can find out about our early morning meeting with the charming Matilda herself.
The hotel looks gorgeous. It’s cat history is a bonus. I hope you had a wonderful time in NYC. It is one of my favourite cities for visiting. My kids love to go up on the train for the day and just run around Central Park.
We certainly did. Staying at the Algonquin gave us a beautiful and relaxing space to recover after a full schedule everyday making the most of our trip.
That is a beautiful hotel, my hubby and I stayed there last year. Matilda snubbed me 🙁
Hush….
Oh no, sorry to hear that. I hope you at least got to see her in the window of the hotel. Without giving too much away about our meeting with Matilda – we were very lucky to get the chance. It involved a number of very early mornings 🙂
Wow, nice! =^..^=
Thank. The little one in your profile pic looks a bit like our Oliver. I wonder if s/he’s as mischievous 🙂
That’s my Dixie. She is not so much a mischief.cat though she does have that look. she’s a very calm quiet sleepy little girl.
it’s the cat’s meow!
Well said
It definitely was and gave us a very memorable first few days in NYC.
So cute..
I have been to New York once..
But didn’t have the chance to tour it as I wanted….
That’s a really nice hotel.
Waiting to hear ?? how your experience with Matilda goes
If you get the chance check it out, even just to take a look around and have a drink in the lobby. You never know you may be lucky enough to see Matilda in one of her favourite spot welcoming guests 🙂
Will keep that in mind
Reblogged this on ravenhawks' magazine and commented:
Glad you enjoyed your time in New York, thanks for sharing.
Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for the reblog.
You are welcome
There is a great book out now: MATILDA, THE ALGONQUIN CAT by Leslie Martini. The Algonquin has an exhibit of some of the art from the book. You can get the book from Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
Thanks for the tip, we’ll be sure to take a look…
What a great hotel…
wow, i was a pleasure to meet you guys in Brooklyn. never knew about this hotel’s attachment with kitties.
We very much enjoyed our time spent with you Pattie. And thanks again for including us in the poetry reading. It seems quite a few department stores and other shops in NYC have a long association with feline friends. We missed out on quite a few. All the more reason for us to come back again 🙂
WOW 🙂
Added to my wishlist!
Wonderful shots, stunning hotel!
Ciao
Sid
Thanks Sid. The little one in your profile pic looks very cute and content.
He’s Dexter, the owner of my blog, as well as of my heart, even though I have other three masters of mischief to deal with 😀
Ciao
Sid
Reblogged this on Rattiesforeverworldpresscom.
Thanks for the reblog.
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It seems like I am a bit late for the party here. Still, I also love the hotel rooms. They seem very cozy. So, I did read the article correctly. The hotel was a part of the overall package of the cats show that kind of made the cherry on top of a yummy ice cream, correct?
You went to New York for visiting the show, right?
How did you guys like it?
Ah we didn’t book the hotel as part of a CATS package but the hotel happened to be a partner of the show. 🙂
We went for a few things but CATS was definitely a highlight. Very much enjoyed it.