Visiting New York?

When my hubby and I went to NYC for a day, we started at Penn Station (came from Denville, NJ on the train), stopped by Central Park to take in the zoo and other sights, then walked through Union Park and stayed downtown in the financial district at the Hilton across the street from Ground Zero (I'd wanted to see it, and got A LOT more than bargained for, because our room faced the cleanup and was on the 22nd floor so we got a complete view). Went to Battery Park that early evening. Next morning we walked through Chinatown and Little Italy (Casa Bella was delicious!), through Museum of Sex, and then back to Penn Station.

Of course, that was TONS of walking, we did over 100 blocks the first day, and had part of a 2nd day before leaving.

We always wanted to go to the observation deck of the Empire State Building, but not for $40/person and 1hr+ wait!

The parks are beautiful. Museum of Sex was ... interesting . I liked going to Little Italy because I love Italian food & connecting with my Italian side.

That was the 2nd time I've ever been to NYC (even though I lived 40 miles away for 17 years ) The first time we didn't see much, 2nd time we saw much more, but took more time than what you probably have!

Wow. One day. Hmmmmm.....definitely Central Park. This is a great walking city, so wear good, comfortable shoes! I could spend all day walking around Central Park, but I know there are probably other things you want to see. Ground Zero, and then head over to Battery Park, where they have the De Koenig globe, which used to stand in the plaza of the WTC. The artist put the pieces back together, but it shows the damage - quite a testament to that day. It moves me every time.

Let's see....Rockefeller Center, (the skating rink is open now and the tree is up). Just walking down (or up) Fifth Avenue on a Sunday is interesting and that's where you'll find Saks Fifth Avenue, Lord and Taylor (which is down near the library on Fifth Ave. in the 30's). Around Rockefeller Center you'll see St. Patrick's Cathedral on Fifth Avenue. Times Square is cool now, around the TKTS booth.....the street has been made into a pedestrian mall, and there are places to sit, also you can sit on the red steps at the booth and get a great view of the Times Square area.

Restaurants.....in Times Square, my two favorites are O'Lunney's, which is on 45th Street, just east of Broadway, (btwn Broadway and 6th Ave./Ave. of the Americas). Then there's Emmett O'Lunney's on 50th Street, just west of Broadway. I love these two places, and they're reasonable....for NYC.

Oooh have fun Kass!
NYC is on my "to do" list, but we still haven't made it there for a weekend. I'll have to get tips from you when we finally do go.

1. What attractions would you go to see?
David Letterman


2. Where would you eat?
Have no idea


3. Who has the best deals for shopping?
Don't know about deals, but I'd love to go to Macey's

I'm late with this answer but ..... Statue of Liberty, macrobiotic food, Century 21 for deals on clothes (open til 8pm on Sundays), ABC Carpet and Home for oohing and ahhing at home furnishings (don't expect any deals; everything's pricey), Fishs Eddy (similar to ABC but with a focus on plates and cups (Corningware-ish things/tableware?)(It's near ABC, across the street I think)(Not so pricey)).

Edit to say the last time I went to the statue I was about 9 years old! Apparently there seems to be only 1 privately owned boat company authorized by the government to bring people to the statue at $12 per person. http://www.yelp.com/biz/statue-cruis...t_by=date_desc

Oh okay Here's a list of December events. It's alot to scroll through because it covers 31 days, but at least events are listed by date. http://legacy.ny1.com/content/in_you...12/31/2010#top

Ooh! I forgot about Fishs Eddy!! I love that store! I must go down there sometime.

Also, the Staten Island Ferry is a free ride, and it takes you past the Statue of Liberty on its way to Staten Island. Sort of a cool ride. And you can turn right around and come back.

Kass, you may want to start at your hotel and map a walk up to Central Park. You can start at ground zero, walk East across Vesey St. to Park Row (see the Brooklyn Bridge) where you then head North, up through China Town (see the Manhattan Bridge) and Little Italy (to do that continue on Centre St. from Park Row to get to Canal); - Turn right on Canal St. You can walk down to the East End of it to see the Manhattan Bridge if you want, but don't head North from there - you don't want to see "alphabet city" (unless you want to score some drugs and maybe get mugged). So instead, head back to Mott Street or Mulberry Street, and head North up through Little Italy. They both run out at Bleeker St - jog a little West to Broadway, and head up to Fourth. You can head a little East (on Bleeker or 4th - or zig zag between them) to see East Village, then head West to see Greenwich Village - find some place to grab a bite for lunch.

Then keep heading North on 6th or 7th Ave or Broadway (which goes diagonally) (don't really want to be too far west of 7th there - some not so nice neighborhoods) and walk up through Chelsea, the garment district (not exciting), up to Times Square (which is basically where Broadway and 7th intersect). Then head over to 6th Ave on 48th St. to see Rockefeller Center (the rink and such are between 48th and 49th St. on 5th Ave) - then keep going up 5th Ave. (or Madison) to see Central Park (which is up at 59th St.). St. Patrick's Cathedral is worth a visit - it's on Madison (one block east of 5th) between 50th & 51st St. Don't know if DH is any kind of "techie" or not, but Sony is on Madison between 55th and 56th. And FYI, Central Park is at 59th St, and spans 5th Avenue to Columbus Circle (the bottom end of it).

But the "ritzy" fun window shopping is on 5th and/or Madison (Avenues next to each other), between 50th and 59th basically.

Note: Distance between "streets" is like a normal block - distance between Avenues is long - like the equivalent of 2 or 3 "street" blocks.

You may be exhausted by then, so while I hate that the carriage rides exist, you may want to consider a carriage ride through Central Park - and take a cab back to your hotel so you can pass out.

Central Park in the fall/winter with nothing blooming and the leaves off the trees isn't as exciting as in the summer or during fall colors - so if you want to sight see in central park, get a map and go find things like the Promenade or the statue of Alice in Wonderland - that kind of stuff.

Just remember - Avenues go North and South. There are some avenues with "names" and not numbers - Broadway, Madison, Park, and Lexington (going from West to East - well in Midtown, because Broadway slices diagnoally from West to East and heads all the way down to the bottom tip of the island at the Ferry to Staten Island/Battery Park), and the Avenue numbers get smaller as you go from West to East (from 11th next to the West Side Highway) to 1st Ave (near to the FDR Drive, though for a good part up North York Ave is inbetween the FDR and 1st) - which just kind of abruptly ends at Houston St. Because the island gets skinny as you go south, 11th Avenue actually starts at 23rd St.

And the "streets" (as opposed to the avenues) get larger (higher numbers) as you go North.

...but below 4th St (East Village, West Village, Greenwich Village, Soho...and neighborhoods south of there like little Italy, China Town and the Financial district), there are a million little crazy streets, and the number system doesn't really work LOL.

Canal Street (towards the East side) divides China Town and Little Italy.

OH! Another note: 5th Avenue is the "divider" between "East" and "West" in NYC. Fifth Avenue "ends" at Washington Square (4th St) - and I think Broadway (which crosses 5th avenue around there) then marks the divider between "east" and "west" streets - but not for long, because the numbers run out around there and then it's just the crazy little streets LOL.

...and if you want a TRUE Jewish deli experience (if you're looking for new experiences), stop at Katz's for lunch. That's basically on E Houston at Ludlow. If you're walking up Mulberry or Mott, Houston is about a block or so before they run out. You could turn right (head East) on Houston over to Ludlow, have lunch at Katz's, then walk back west to 1st, head North up to 4th (East Village), and then head west on 4th over to Greenwich village.

My dream since I was a little girl is to see Macey's

I used to live in NYC as a poor grad student. If I had one day I would

1. see the MET or as much as I could in 3-4 hours.
2. shop, probably at Macy's or there is a strip of big box stores from 14th to 24th-ish on 6th that are actually in old victorian department store buildings, real cool.
3. Good food can be found anywhere. I would head to the Union square area for restaurants that are nice but won't break the bank. I lived there almost 10 years ago now so any places I knew may have closed/moved...

Oh, if you are there from about now thanksgiving to Xmas Union square and other areas (like behind the AMNH) have street markets with craft/ food vendors for the holidays. Great fun!

Personally I am a huge fan of the Village. You see some of the most interesting things there like the guy walking around with a tuxedo kitty sitting on his head.

I would also say the museums like the Met or the American Museum of Natural History esp. since both get decorated for the holidays and have awesome trees.

If you like Macy's also give Bloomingdale's a try. There is a place to eat IN Macy's but the food is only so so (its a resturant/pub type place)

oh but December is the best time to go window shopping since the stores usually have awesome displays in their windows.

oh and like another person said there are tons of street markets this time of year.

Laurie - excellent mapping out of a day in NYC! Just a little note, though. St. Patrick's Cathedral fronts on Fifth Ave. It does stretch all the way to Madison, but the entrance is on Fifth.

And the carriage rides are so expensive these days - and they only do a small portion of the park....not to throw a wrench into the plans for the day, but be prepared, Kass, if you want to do the carriage ride.

The Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle is pretty in December with lights on trees, giant snowflakes, Christmas atmosphere, etc. It has shops like Williams-Sonoma, Sephora, Bouchon Bakery. Basically a fancy squeaky-clean mall. Also near the Time Warner Center is a "German Christmas" stand (operates in December) located on the eastern part of Circle. http://www.germandelights.com/holidaymarket.htm
Zoomable map: http://bit.ly/h73S00

I hope you start early if you plan to do all this in one day! LOL! I personally am NOT a fan of cities! I belong in the suburbs!! DH and I went with my FIL in January 2009. On the coldest day of the year to be exact. LOL! We didn't get headed into the city till like 10. Took the subway. The first car we got on had a homeless man. There were several locals who had no problem hiding their disgust at the smell....it was bad. I'm glad I wasn't pregnant yet. Poor guy. We got off in Grand Central Station because my FIL insisted on showing us that, got back on and went to the Empire State Building. That was really interesting. It wasn't too long after that plane landed in the Hudson so my FIL was full of information showing us where that all happened from the top of the building. We went into Macys and ate at a little place there in the basement. We went to the Museum of Natural History for a short time before they closed. All we bought was a penny smooshed out to show we'd been to the museum of natural history. And lunch. LOL! We got to ride through time square after dark. That was pretty crazy. Like I said; I belong in the burbs.

The one time I went to NYC I went to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island that was like 13 yrs ago. Id go back in a heartbeat to see Ellis Island again it was amazing to see.

The only thing I would go and visit in NYC is Coney Island to ride the Cyclone roller coaster, that is, during the operating season. I was there quite a few years ago for this very reason and the Cyclone is awesome, if you are a roller coaster fan. Other than that, I have no interest in NYC. I may go see the WTC site as well.