Help me plan my couple days in NYC

[NecroJoe]

I'm being sent to Boston from Tuesday night to Thursday afternoon. After which, I plan on getting to NYC somehow, and spending Thursday night through Sunday afternoon in NYC, before coming back to Boston to fly back to San Francisco.

Having never been there, I want to fit in a few tourist-y visits.

Where would be the best neighborhood to stay, so I'm not spending hours and hours getting to other parts of the city to see...whatever I need to see?

I'm at a bit of a loss, as I've never just gone to a city to visit for no reason. I've gone to Chicago for a concert, and to Boston for a graduation...but I've never taken a "vacation" before and I'm drawing a blank when it comes to things to do in NYC.

I believe the Statue Of Liberty opened back up yesterday...worth visiting, or is it good enough taking some boat tour and just seeing it from down below?

I understand I'm supposed to hit up "Shake Shack" and should try and find a cronut.

 

[Eye-Q]

I'm being sent to Boston from Tuesday night to Thursday afternoon. After which, I plan on getting to NYC somehow

Let me recommend taking an Amtrak train from Boston to New York Penn Station, the track runs near the shoreline for about 100 miles (sit on the left side from Boston to NYC, on the right side from NYC to Boston). If you have checked luggage it's only about an hour more than flying, but you have more space etc.

and spending Thursday night through Sunday afternoon in NYC, before coming back to Boston to fly back to San Francisco.

Having never been there, I want to fit in a few tourist-y visits.

Where would be the best neighborhood to stay, so I'm not spending hours and hours getting to other parts of the city to see...whatever I need to see?

We stayed at Long Island City in May, it's not that expensive and you are in 10-30 minutes in Manhattan, depending on where you want to go. It's not fancy, but decent. We stayed at Hotel Vetiver, that has been renovated not long ago and it's just 2 minutes from the next subway.

I'm at a bit of a loss, as I've never just gone to a city to visit for no reason. I've gone to Chicago for a concert, and to Boston for a graduation...but I've never taken a "vacation" before and I'm drawing a blank when it comes to things to do in NYC.

I believe the Statue Of Liberty opened back up yesterday...worth visiting, or is it good enough taking some boat tour and just seeing it from down below?

I understand I'm supposed to hit up "Shake Shack" and should try and find a cronut.

You can take the Staten Island Ferry, it's free, but the route isn't that close to the Statue Of Liberty.

When I was in NYC back in May I did the following:
- Visited the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum (the Space Shuttle Pavilion reopens on July 10th)
- Rented a bike and biked around Manhattan at the waterfront (most of Manhattan has separate bike paths at the waterfront)
- Went up the Empire State Building, that's pretty impressive, but expensive, too
- Took the Staten Island Ferry
- Went to Roosevelt Island with the Roosevelt Island Tramway
- Visited the High Line which is a former elevated railroad which has been converted to a public park

 

[Aston Martin]

A friend came back from there last week. She said Shake Shack was amazing, but then she showed me the picture of the queue. She said she was in the queue for 45 minutes.

Nope, I'd rather go to McDonald's and get served instantly.

 

[ahpadt]

A friend came back from there last week. She said Shake Shack was amazing, but then she showed me the picture of the queue. She said she was in the queue for 45 minutes.

Nope, I'd rather go to McDonald's and get served instantly.

Comparing McD to Shake Shack is like comparing a Toyota Corolla to a 911 GT3.

 

[prizrak]

A friend came back from there last week. She said Shake Shack was amazing, but then she showed me the picture of the queue. She said she was in the queue for 45 minutes.

Nope, I'd rather go to McDonald's and get served instantly.

Shake Shack sux, don't even bother with it.

Eye-Q more or less covered it.

Also check out Grand Central it's very pretty both inside and out. There is also the bull over in the financial district, long ass line for a picture though. Statue of liberty was just reopened for visiting as well. You could catch a ferry over to governor's island (free) it's a nice little walk. Definitely do Central Park, go around where Columbus circle (59th street) is. Look into Citi bike for biking around the city if thats your cup of tea.

Double decker tour buses are a good way to see stuff, just make sure you are on the top. Also it's hot as balls in here take lotsa water.

 

[Heathrow]

I'm being sent to Boston from Tuesday night to Thursday afternoon. After which, I plan on getting to NYC somehow, and spending Thursday night through Sunday afternoon in NYC, before coming back to Boston to fly back to San Francisco.

Having never been there, I want to fit in a few tourist-y visits.

Live music venues, gotta be worth looking into for the trip.
Either Google the sort of things you like or get some NY FG members to recommend somewhere. I just never had time to do live music the times I 've been there, too much other stuff to do.

As you are a musician, you should visit Greenwich Village for the cultural history:

Dozens of other cultural and popular icons got their start in the Village's nightclub, theater, and coffeehouse scene during the 1950s, 1960s, and early 1970s, notably besides Bob Dylan, there were Jimi Hendrix, Barbra Streisand, Peter, Paul, and Mary, Bette Midler, The Lovin' Spoonful, Simon & Garfunkel, Liza Minnelli, Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Eric Andersen, Joan Baez, The Velvet Underground, The Kingston Trio, Carly Simon, Richie Havens, Maria Muldaur, Tom Paxton, Janis Ian, Phil Ochs, Joni Mitchell, Laura Nyro, and Nina Simone among others.

Other stuff:

Empire State building, because it is so famous and King Kong, etc. An other Art Deco masterpiece is the Chrysler building, you need to check the visiting availability, if they are even open now.

Newly refurbished MoMA has re-opened after nearly ten years.

There is a Concorde there now at the USS Intrepid Museum on the West side, Peir 86, plus lots of other stuff to see.

Where would be the best neighborhood to stay, so I'm not spending hours and hours getting to other parts of the city to see...whatever I need to see?

.

I'd say Midtown, for ease of getting around. but it can be expensive but you will save time just getting around.

I believe the Statue Of Liberty opened back up yesterday...worth visiting, or is it good enough taking some boat tour and just seeing it from down below?

Yup, do the boat tour or the ferry. Depending on your family history, it may be interesting to see Ellis Island on the same trip. As you will be in Lower Manhatten, you can also see the Battery / Park and pay your respects to the WTC monument. if you wish.

PS I like the sound of the Amtrak option from Boston as well, you also save the long, hot and crap Taxi ride form the airport.

 

[prizrak]

Empire State building, because it is so famous and King Kong, etc. An other Art Deco masterpiece is the Chrysler building, you need to check the visiting availability, if they are even open now.

Newly refurbished MoMA has re-opened after nearly ten years.

Chrysler building is not open for visiting, it's an office building these days basically. Unless I went to a different MoMA it's definitely been open in the past 10 years.

There is a Concorde there now at the USS Intrepid Museum on the West side, Peir 86, plus lots of other stuff to see.

Fuck Concord they have a shuttle prototype!

I'd say Midtown, for ease of getting around. but it can be expensive but you will save time just getting around.

Extremely expensive. I'd say look into maybe Queens near Queensboro bridge or on the 7 line somewhere or Brooklyn near Brooklyn Heights (also not that cheap).

Yup, do the boat tour or the ferry. Depending on your family history, it may be interesting to see Ellis Island on the same trip. As you will be in Lower Manhatten, you can also see the Battery / Park and pay your respects to the WTC monument. if you wish.

Battery park is kind of boring, they are still rebuilding it after Sandy (I see out of the window from my work )

PS I like the sound of the Amtrak option from Boston as well, you also save the long, hot and crap Taxi ride form the airport.

Chinese bus! They go into China Town and take about 3-4 hours, cost like $20 last I took one might be $30-40 now.

If you do end up near WTC and want a burger check out Zaitzeff at 72 Nassau St pretty expensive but amazing burgers. If you get bored with Manhattan, Brooklyn Heights is not a bad place to see it's the really old parts of Brooklyn very different to the rest of the city. Also take a walk on the Brooklyn Bridge it's pretty damn awesome (the entrance is near WTC).

Good food can be had in Hell's Kitchen, Upper West Side, SoHo, China town (if you are adventurous tho being from SF you are probably used to it). In Brooklyn the Williamsburg hipster area has quite a bit of good food and very random things like a barcade (it's a bar and old timey arcade).


EDIT: If you have a smartphone absolutely get yourself a subway app with directions and such, there are a few free ones for both droids and apples. The system is confusing as a motherfucker with random changes throughout the day due to all kinds of construction.

 

[Momentum57]

Visit the Paley Center for Media - Formerly known as the Museum of Television and Radio - Its a great experience they have different shows running everyday, speakers, and always the library of television shows and radio... so try to think of the most obscure show from your childhood that you haven't found online.

Dinosaur Bar-B-que - 700 W. 125th St at 12th 10027 - Delicious BBQ from New York and a great selection of beers and a wonderful atmosphere don't be thrown that its listed as Harlem its all chill.

 

[Heathrow]

Chrysler building is not open for visiting, it's an office building these days basically. Unless I went to a different MoMA it's definitely been open in the past 10 years.

Yes, I went to a temporary one in Queens, there may have been others since.

 

[NecroJoe]

Great suggestions, everyone. Thank you very much!

One thing that I know people do on vacations...but never grabbed me: making a point to go somewhere and spend time where something significant may have happened...but that three's nothing real to see. Like...Boston Common, or, like how I imagine Central Park. "Okay, we're here. Here's Central Park....yep...it sure is a park...OK, now what? What's next?"

Or when I first moved to San Francisco:
"Oh: you should check out Haight and Ashbury."
"OK, why?"
"Cuz...you know...it's Haight Ashbury...lots of famous artists and musicians used to live there in the 70s."
"What's there now?"
"...houses...and...a tattoo shop...and a couple vintage clothing stores...and...a couple shitty cafes..."
"Yeah...sound great...How about the Winchester Mystery House?"
"Nah, that's too far. Oh, I know! How about we go to The Mission?"
"What's there? Oh, it's famous for...like...lots of hippy stuff...and Mexican food..."
"...and it's worth seeing because...?"
"Um...cuz there's lots of...like...hippy shops...and...um...lots of Mexican food...I guess."
"Yeah, sounds real...umm...I'm going to Alcatraz."

I guess if there's not something ACTUALLY interesting or beautiful, I just don't know what to do when I get there and am bored instantly.


edit: Is this somewhere I'd want to stay (location wise?)
http://www.hotels.com/hotel/details...valDate=07-18-13&departureDate=07-21-13&rooms[0].numberOfAdults=1&roomno=1&validate=false&previousDateful=false&reviewOrder=date_newest_first#reviews

 

[prizrak]

Great suggestions, everyone. Thank you very much!

One thing that I know people do on vacations...but never grabbed me: making a point to go somewhere and spend time where something significant may have happened...but that three's nothing real to see. Like...Boston Common, or, like how I imagine Central Park. "Okay, we're here. Here's Central Park....yep...it sure is a park...OK, now what? What's next?"

Or when I first moved to San Francisco:
"Oh: you should check out Haight and Ashbury."
"OK, why?"
"Cuz...you know...it's Haight Ashbury...lots of famous artists and musicians used to live there in the 70s."
"What's there now?"
"...houses...and...a tattoo shop...and a couple vintage clothing stores...and...a couple shitty cafes..."
"Yeah...sound great...How about the Winchester Mystery House?"
"Nah, that's too far. Oh, I know! How about we go to The Mission?"
"What's there? Oh, it's famous for...like...lots of hippy stuff...and Mexican food..."
"...and it's worth seeing because...?"
"Um...cuz there's lots of...like...hippy shops...and...um...lots of Mexican food...I guess."
"Yeah, sounds real...umm...I'm going to Alcatraz."

I guess if there's not something ACTUALLY interesting or beautiful, I just don't know what to do when I get there and am bored instantly.


edit: Is this somewhere I'd want to stay (location wise?)
http://www.hotels.com/hotel/details...valDate=07-18-13&departureDate=07-21-13&rooms[0].numberOfAdults=1&roomno=1&validate=false&previousDateful=false&reviewOrder=date_newest_first#reviews

Central park itself is very nice, got a bunch of randomness like statutes and little plazas and even a tiny little castle. I think you can also canoe and shit there.

Yep it's a good location, it's midtown so lots of trains to everywhere else.

 

[NecroJoe]

What a miserable time so far.
Weather isn't helping.

11 hour trip from Boston to NY on Amtrak because of a train derailment, food has been awful, laundromat lost almost all of my clothes, every meal has been screwed up or terrible. Oh, and the Empire state building: don't bother with the 102nd floor upgrade. on the 86th floor, you are outside on a 360 degree outdoor "observation desk." On the 102nd floor, you're in a 360 dergree...room. While you're a little higher, you can't see as much because you have to look through dirty windows. Statue of liberty over-booked, so I couldn't get in even with a reservation.

...and now T-storms in the forecast, I'm not feeling well, and I finally got my work email running, and there's a fucking mess back at work back home.

What a fucking waste of money/time, this trip was. I don't know why I bother.

 

[Momentum57]

im sorry its not as pleasurable as you could have wanted. If you start feeling better and its still raining go to the Paley Center and review their library its impressive and great to do with foul weather.

 

[NecroJoe]

A friend came back from there last week. She said Shake Shack was amazing, but then she showed me the picture of the queue. She said she was in the queue for 45 minutes.

Your friend has low standards if she said it was amazing. Serviceable simple burger, but my favorite restaurant burgers are one step from just a normal burger...like...a slightly different bun, or a couple toppings. Nothing too crazy. While it was serviceable and seasoned well, it was overdone and it was no better than most any other dedicated (non fast food) burger joints. I don't know how big of a chain they are, but I prefer Super Duper Burger, I think. They also screwed up my order, first by giving me no fries (which were O, but unseasoned so they reminded me of the well-done fries from in-n-out) and the wrong burger. They replaced it, and then I ordered a shake. Wrong shake. Then the wrong shake again. Once I got the right one, it was for sure very good, but I was in the mood for something more inventive...but as a simple, made-right shake, it was very good.

 

[NecroJoe]

Aaaaand I've been pickpocketed at the farmer's market-type street festival on broadway. Wallet was in my back pocket, but my pocket was buttoned and had a rubber band around it (I've heard the rubber helps grab onto the fabric inside the pocket to help you feel something tugging it's way out. Well, neither helped.

Not a HUGE deal because I emptied it except for my 2 credit cards, which I immediately cancelled. (kept my driver's lic in my front pocket) Well, besides the leftover $300 cash I had left in my wallet that I didn't spend at the Sapphire strip club last night.

I had the wallet in my pocket after I pulled out $3 to buy a couple slices from 2 Brothers, buttoned my pocket, and walked down Broadway with my pizza (one cheese, which was burned underneath, and one meatball and peperoni, which was quite tasty, but needed more cheese, and wasn't super fresh. By the time I got to the other end, I turned around and came back to 35th. I reached to my back pocket to get my hotel room key, and my wallet was gone.

The laundry place found my clothes, and called me. When I went to pick it up, they had not cleaned them. They just found them. I took them to New Absolute on 33rd street. I think my laundry is dirtier than it was when I put it in the machines.

I tried one of those open-topped tour busses. After about 40 minutes, and only making it about 20 blocks, the combination of the sun, the heat, the humidity, the fumes from the stopped-up traffic, and the smell of piss made me start to become ill, so I had to hop off the bus and get into AC, ASAP.

After I came back to the hotel room for a couple hours, I was just about to leave to buy some more water. The interior doors for the elevators are malfunctioning on my floor, the 19th. The elevator makes it to my floor, but the doors don't open. I could take the stairs, but I'm not sure that would be a good idea until I'm 100%...especially for the return trip back up to the 19th.

 

[Heathrow]

Jeez Joe, sorry as you seem to be having a nightmare visit to NYC.

Hope things improve before you leave.

 

[GRtak]

Why did you leave Boston again?


Sorry, couldn't help myself. But this is why I avoid big cities.

 

[NecroJoe]

Ha! I left Boston because I had already visited that city a couple years ago, and...c'mon, it's New York!

Thankfully, while u was posting that last post, the elevators are working again.

So far the only good point have been the 86th of the Empire State Building, and "Christina" the Siberian dancer at the strip club :lol: I'm sitting outside a different self-serve laundromat, because my "clean" clothes honestly started to smell...and rain clouds are coming in, so I guess I won't be walking anywhere for dinner.

Honestly, I believe I've been coming down with some sort of depression the last couple if years, but holy shit has this trip just simply kicked my ass. If I was't so responsible, I'd have walked in front of any one if the billion taxis or jumped our if my view-of-the-alley hotel rim window.

 

[Heathrow]

Something to cheer you up Joe, "New York" by Paloma Faith.

What a voice! (Looks a bit nuts, though!)

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

Next time go see Chicago. It's got more charm and humanity* than NYC, IMO.



*besides all of the murdering.