OT: New York City

[HistoryMajor]

We purchased tickets for Army/UCONN football game at Yankee Stadium in November. We live in midwest now but even when we lived in Connecticut, we seldom visited NYC. We'll likely be staying somewhere on upper East side of NYC near Rockefeller Center. QUESTION - what are a few of the must see tourist attractions that you suggest we take in. And, in addition to the full day at Yankee Stadium, do you think two full additional days (i.e. a total of 3 days) is enough? Thanks

 

[alexrgct]

Broadway shows (visit broadway.com for what's showing and tix) and MoMa are musts.

 

[msf22b]

Hi:

Upper East Side unfortunately not close to Rockefeller Center;
My choices (if you like to walk)

5th Ave from the 50's South to say 42 St Bryant Park (don't miss); ogle the high-end shops, the rock skating rink, St.Thomas and St. Pat's; if you're there in the late afternoon you could listen to the wonderful choirboys sing a service at St. T.
From there it's only 2 blocks to Times Sq. get on line at the TKS booth and take in a show.

On the West side waterfront in the 40's is the Intrepid Museum; WW2 Aircraft carrier and the Circle Line; 3 hours around Manhattan if the weather's warm.

The Wall Street area combined with the Statue of Liberty and/or Ellis Island

Chinatown, Little Italy, and Greenwich Village…3 different ethnic meals in one day possible, don't miss the Dim Sum Palace on Mott/North of Canal.

The Central Park area including the Met Museum or if you find that a bit overwhelming; the Frick Collection; pound for pound one of the top small collections of great paintings in the world

If you like Classical Music/Opera?ballet: the MET opera, Philharmonic, and City ballet are all going great guns in Lincoln Center.

Hope this helps

Also: If the weather is good, you can rent and return bikes from almost everywhere I spoke about: CitiBikes

 

[j66kicker]

We purchased tickets for Army/UCONN football game at Yankee Stadium in November. We live in midwest now but even when we lived in Connecticut, we seldom visited NYC. We'll likely be staying somewhere on upper East side of NYC near Rockefeller Center. QUESTION - what are a few of the must see tourist attractions that you suggest we take in. And, in addition to the full day at Yankee Stadium, do you think two full additional days (i.e. a total of 3 days) is enough? Thanks

A lifetime is not enough (IMO), but you could start with:
- Central Park (check out Strawberry Fields at 72nd on the West side)
- Empire State Bldg or Freedom Tower if you like tall buildings
- Greenwich Village: Washington Square Park in the daytime for people or chess watching, John's on Bleeker Street if you like pizza, MacDougal Street at night if you like jazz, blues, rock or comedy
- Times Square
- Little Italy if you like Italian food ( my pick is Il Cotille)
- Chinatown if you like knockoff fashion brands
- MOMA if you like Andy Warhol or Picasso
- Whitney, Guggenheim and The Met are also in your neighborhood in Upper East Side
- South Street Seaport for tourist shopping & other stuff
- Battery Park for view of Statue of Liberty
- Etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc.............

 

[MilfordHusky]

The High Line. A great walk.

 

[msf22b]

The High Line. A great walk.

How can I forget that; 2 blocks from my flat.
As part of the Village sequence

Also (time permitting) a bike ride along West side park from the Village down

 

[alexrgct]

If you smoke cigars, de la Concha Tobacconist is excellent and not far from Rockefeller Center.

So many good places to eat it's not even worth recommending anywhere. There are a million places.

I like to spend some time in Brooklyn these days. Its development into such a hip and happening borough makes it a place to be.

 

[ThisJustIn]

My recommendation is always to do LESS well than MORE poorly.

You will walk your feet off (visitors are always surprised by that fact) and that, along with all the incoming sights and sounds will send you into sensory overload. It's exhausting.

Must sees (and arty-theater person that I am, I don't include museums or Broadway. Those are THINGs in NYC, not NYC):
Central Park, Strawberry fields, walk up to the Belvedere Castle and back. If you're taking the subway (Hopstop.com will help you get around) you should get off at 81st street so you can see the beautiful subway artwork.

High Line. Start from the upper end and walk the length. Not that far, but full of wonderful sights. And you can eat great food any where you get off.

Staten Island Ferry/Waterfront/South Street Seaport: We forget that four of the five boroughs are islands. Walk the waterway, hope onto the SI Ferry and look at the Statue of Liberty the way it was meant to be seen - from the deck of a boat....

Grand Central: If you're on the subway, make a trip just to get off at GCT and walk around the terminal.

on edit: Odd. I type t-h-e-a-t-e-r and it either doesn't show up or becomes "the lawer." That's almost as silly as sex getting a space added...

 

[ed4ourgirls]

I don't know if you enjoy art, but if so, the Metropolitan Museum is a national treasure. You
could spend a week in there and not do justice to the collection.

On the other hand, if you prefer a world class collection that can be perused in three hours
or so, the I would recommend the Frick Collection at 70th and Fifth Ave. There are only about
35 Vermeers extant, and the Frick has three of them!

 

[DICKG]

I agree with everyone. A lifetime in New York is not enough time. My only suggestion is to enjoy every moment you are in the City. It is really the city that never sleeps. Sleep as little as possible and see as much as your energy will allow you to do.

 

[Wally East]

Lots of good suggestions already. If you or anyone you're traveling with is a runner, a loop around Central Park is the iconic NYC run.

If you like baked goods, Two Little Red Hens is one of the best bakeries on the Upper East Side.

 

[mhshuskies]

McSorleys!!!!!

 

[vtcwbuff]

Ground Zero/Museum opens 5/21
MOMA

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

I think TJI did a good job - I've not done the High Line or Staten Island Ferry, but have heard them recommended many times.

I think you would enjoy the Circle Line, weather permitting (IIRC you get a Statue of Liberty look-see and could skip the ferry).

Hoboken, NJ is a short PATH train ride from Manhattan and features Carlos Bakery of Cake Boss fame. Yes, the baked goods are wonderful, the show is not fake.

Also, depending on your time - don't be afraid of doing something kitcshy like Carnegie Deli, etc. just to say you did.

 

[uc1974]

Skip St. Pats unless you're RC and just have to go for religious reasons. The church on 5th Av. to see is St. Thomas across the street. You'll see what I mean when you walk inside. St. Pats is built on a metal frame and is not, in any sense of the word, anything to see architecture-wise. The gem is across the street.

 

[msf22b]

Skip St. Pats unless you're RC and just have to go for religious reasons. The church on 5th Av. to see is St. Thomas across the street. You'll see what I mean when you walk inside. St. Pats is built on a metal frame and is not, in any sense of the word, anything to see architecture-wise. The gem is across the street.

Both of my kids were choirboys at St T's, one of the reasons I recommended it as well

 

[rvwsleep]

I've taken this tour of eateries with my sons. They eat so much I'm forced to find relatively inexpensive places to eat.
In the East Village, Crif Dogs. (113 St Marks Pl. between 1st Ave and Ave A) Try the hot dog wrapped in Bacon.
you can wash that down at McSorley's (As mentioned by MHS Huskies. 15 E 7 St . between 2nd and 3rd Ave)
My favorite place to eat BBQ at the moment is Mighty Quinn (103 2nd Ave at 6th St.) Try either the brisket or Dinosaur ribs. Great sides also (sweet potato and beans especially. A meal could be made out of the beans alone as they put in a large amount of their brisket in with the beans)
Have you noted a lack of healthy foods yet ?
In the West Village, John's Pizza (278 Bleecker, East of 7th Ave) is an institution. Whole pies only. NO slices.
After John's, take a very short walk East on Bleecker for dessert to Rocco's (243 Bleecker) for what are in the running as the best cannoli in the city.
Then call your cardiologist.

 

[JRRRJ]

McSorleys!!!!!

Not the same since they started letting women in...

... But still worthwhile, especially if you like darker beers.

 

[JRRRJ]

Colleen & I were in NYC at Xmas, and one thing I hadn't done in all my visits to the City finally got checked off -- up to the observation deck of the Empire State Bldg. It's kinda been turned into a theme park experience while you're waiting in line inside the building, but they've obviously put some of the large admission fees to use restoring these areas, and reading the history of the building whiles away the wait. When we got out onto the deck, it was serendipitously sunset, and not-so-serendipitously a 30+ MPH wind that you had to lean into to move around the west & south sides. But the scene was fabulous, both before & after the sun left. I stayed up there for about an hour.

Lunch at and browsing through Zabar's (Broadway between 80th & 81st) is a unique experience.

I'll 2nd and 3rd going to Times Square, but only if you do it at night. And I'd say the weekend crowds make it more memorable.

Macy's (34th and Broadway) is freakin' un-be-lieve-a-ble. World's largest store. Escalators (on the upper floors) like I haven't seen since Korvette's in downtown Hartford in the 60's (they're wooden). Departments larger than most stores. Things you didn't even suspect they make for sale. Helpful salespeople!

If you're at Macy's, then Penn Station is only a block away. I like it almost as much as Grand Central.

And...when you are walking, always look up! The buildings -- all of them, not just the famous ones -- have architectural details that are often beautiful, frequently awesome, sometimes puzzling. Yeah, you'll look like a tourist, but that's what you are anyhow and you'll have something the natives don't. This is particularly true in lower Manhattan, where the buildings squish against each other.

If you take the West Side river walk (Hudson River Greenway), near the Freedom Tower, at Vesey St and North End Ave (right next to the Greenway) is something that is surprising and quite moving. It's a tilted area of grass & gorse about 50 by 100 feet comprising the Irish Hunger Memorial. The soil & stones comprising it are from the West of Ireland. I spent a lot of time walking around the base reading the quotes...and upped my charitable giving deduction at work as a result. Even more moving than the Irish Memorial Monument in Philly.

Check out the gardens in Battery Park on your way to & from the Staten Island Ferry.

 

[rvwsleep]

Colleen & I were in NYC at Xmas, and one thing I hadn't done in all my visits to the City finally got checked off -- up to the observation deck of the Empire State Bldg. It's kinda been turned into a theme park experience while you're waiting in line inside the building, but they've obviously put some of the large admission fees to use restoring these areas, and reading the history of the building whiles away the wait. When we got out onto the deck, it was serendipitously sunset, and not-so-serendipitously a 30+ MPH wind that you had to lean into to move around the west & south sides. But the scene was fabulous, both before & after the sun left. I stayed up there for about an hour.

Lunch at and browsing through Zabar's (Broadway between 80th & 81st) is a unique experience.

I'll 2nd and 3rd going to Times Square, but only if you do it at night. And I'd say the weekend crowds make it more memorable.

Macy's (34th and Broadway) is freakin' un-be-lieve-a-ble. World's largest store. Escalators (on the upper floors) like I haven't seen since Korvette's in downtown Hartford in the 60's (they're wooden). Departments larger than most stores. Things you didn't even suspect they make for sale. Helpful salespeople!

If you're at Macy's, then Penn Station is only a block away. I like it almost as much as Grand Central.

And...when you are walking, always look up! The buildings -- all of them, not just the famous ones -- have architectural details that are often beautiful, frequently awesome, sometimes puzzling. Yeah, you'll look like a tourist, but that's what you are anyhow and you'll have something the natives don't. This is particularly true in lower Manhattan, where the buildings squish against each other.

If you take the West Side river walk (Hudson River Greenway), near the Freedom Tower, at Vesey St and North End Ave (right next to the Greenway) is something that is surprising and quite moving. It's a tilted area of grass & gorse about 50 by 100 feet comprising the Irish Hunger Memorial. The soil & stones comprising it are from the West of Ireland. I spent a lot of time walking around the base reading the quotes...and upped my charitable giving deduction at work as a result. Even more moving than the Irish Memorial Monument in Philly.

Check out the gardens in Battery Park on your way to & from the Staten Island Ferry.

I'll, enthusiastically, go along with all your recommendations except one. Penn Station ? Before they tore down the original (demolition was started in 1963) you're right. It was a beautiful structure. But they replaced it with Madison Square Garden and an office building, moving Penn Station completely underground.
In doing so they turned one of the most beautiful public spaces into one of the worst. It's demolition was also instrumental in the creation of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission which then prevented a similar proposal for Grand Central Station.

 

[rbny1]

Grand Central, yes -- a beautiful interior.

Penn Station, no -- not an inch of it is worth looking at.

I agree with many of the other recommendations.

The High Line is great, but not if the weather is really cold.

I happen to love the Staten Island ferry ride, and it's free! Half an hour to Staten Island, get on the return boat and half an hour back to Manhattan. Stand at the front of the boat, especially on the return trip for a spectacular view of the Manhattan skyline.

The Museum of Natural History on Central Park West is great for kids.

As others have said, Times Square at night with the crowds and all the flashing lights is a sight to behold.

Be sure to plan in advance exactly what you want to see in order to make the best use of your time.

New York is a wonderful city with many, many things to do. Enjoy yourself and have fun!

 

[mhshuskies]

Not the same since they started letting women in...

... But still worthwhile, especially if you like darker beers.

I hear they even have separate restrooms now!

 

[winlots]

I hear they even have separate restrooms now!

Bronx zoo very impressive if your family into that.
Certainly all sorts of good places to eat; Peter Luger's is just over the Brooklyn Bridge.....we've always liked the steaks and have always gotten a kick out of the ambience.....a very memorable and venerable place, but quite expensive, as are many of the top NYC eateries.

 

[iri10]

Grand Central, yes -- a beautiful interior.

Penn Station, no -- not an inch of it is worth looking at.

Sigh. To think that people arrived in New York at this, fifty years ago:




As an architectural critic said, "One entered the city like a god; one scuttles in now like a rat."

 

[alexrgct]

A lot of folks arrived in NYC on September 10, 2001 too. But we are all New Yorkers. And damn proud of it.