New York city

[monkey]

My husband and I are going to go to New York city for 4 days for our first time. We will be staying near Times Square and are really excited about the trip. We will be seeing Ellis Island, Statue of Liberty and a play. (Can't decide between Lion King and Spamalot). Any suggestions on places to eat and things to do? (or not do) Thanks!

[mary oleary]

Winter in Manhattan is beautiful!!

Central park is lovely, and the fall colors may still be evident? The Carosel is really pretty.

Rockefeller Center is really nice too.

Have a great time!

Plan on more time at Ellis island than you might think.

[BGW]

My husband and I are going to go to New York city for 4 days for our first time. We will be staying near Times Square and are really excited about the trip. We will be seeing Ellis Island, Statue of Liberty and a play. (Can't decide between Lion King and Spamalot). Any suggestions on places to eat and things to do? (or not do) Thanks!

I forwarded your inquiry on to Little Miss Fordham. I am sure she will have some good ideas for you...I'll forward her reply on to you as soon as I get it.

[mary oleary]

The museums! are you planning on visiting any of the museums?
:yes:

[Patagoniamaniac]

thats so AWESOME! Go see Lion King!...??? I've always wanted to go to New York! your so lucky! have fun fun fun!

[Yosemite_Wolf]

Mama Leones for italian food. Mmmmm I went there back when I was chust a wee 16.
Also, make sure you walk to one of the many streetside pizzashops.... and order pizza by the slice.. its cool being able to walk up to a window and order a slice of pizza.

Check out the NYC Library too.

[SheilaMae]

Awwwwwww, Wolfie...NYC pizza is a waste of time. Chi-town is pizza city. If I was goin' to NYC I'd be havin' me some good Jewish food...REAL kosher bagels and matzo ball soup, the DELIS - the DELIS. And of course I'd go to the Art Museum.

[Yosemite_Wolf]

but this is NYC! ya gotta taste each cities pizza. Chi-town hotdogs rule! I chust loved the walk up windows from the street.. the pizza was chust pizza to me. :)

but Mama Leones.... oh ma gosh.. a ton of pasta on a plate.. and that was ala carte.

[monkey]

Mama Leone's is on the list. My husband went there oh so long ago when he was a youngster. Hopefully it's still open. Yep, we will be hitting a couple of museums. Thanks for the ideas, keep them comin'

[cak]

Fall/winter is a great time to go. Be prepared for wind and rain ... and puddles.

Get yourself a copy of Access New York (http://www.amazon.com/Access-New-York-City-12e/dp/0060834463/ref=pd_bbs_2/104-7105571-9040740?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1193783872&sr=8-2), which is a stunningly good guide book - it will help you figure out neighborhood-centric things to do.

When I go to New York, I walk, because it's such a refreshing change from most city life. In most parts of town, when you get tired of walking, you can find a place to stop and eat, or grab the subway or a cab to the next destination.

Off the top of my head - from Times Square, walk up Broadway into the 80s, stop at Zabar's for some food, and then cross the park and walk up 5th avenue to visit the Metropolitan and Guggenheim museums. Then you can walk down Park Avenue and gawk. If you're feeling really energetic, walk all the way down to the 30s and see MoMA! But that would mean you were pretty energetic - it's a long way (figure 20 N/S blocks is a mile).

The 2d Avenue Deli is open again, and well worth a visit. If you take the subway down, you'll have energy to explore Soho. That part of town is a fascinating counterbalance to the more expensive and urbane parts of Manhattan. Go there on your way to/from Ellis Island.

Go up the Empire State Building!

Eat foods that you've always wanted to try but never done so. You can find it all there.

Don't forget that there are five boroughs, not just Manhattan :) Lots of interesting places to visit in Queens, but it takes a while to get there, and things are a little more spread out.

[monkey]

I found out that Mama Leone's has been closed for quite some time, dang it! I'm sure we will find some good Italian foor. I think we are going to go the the Natural History Museum and the Guggenheim since I've been to several other Guggenheims and enjoyed them. Zabar's sounds like the perfect place for lunch one day. I'm getting excited even though we still have to wait for awhile, at least I have time to do more research on stuff.

[cak]

Another very New York thing to do is see Les Paul at the Iridium.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4678289

He plays two shows every Monday night: http://www.iridiumjazzclub.com/calendar.php

It's a small club, and there's a good chance you can sit right up front.

[monkey]

I'm so bummed! We bought $$$ tickets to see Cyrano de Bergerac starring Jennifer Garner and Kevin Kline. Now there is a strike and all the big theatres are closed. I'm hoping that things get resolved before we go. At least we will get out money back if we don't get to go.

[Dodgergirl]

That sucks, but on the bright side, I have a copy of the original Mama Leone's cookbook and it has all of her recipes plus some great pics...maybe we can get the Chef to try out some of the recipes for us...

[monkey]

We had a great time! Had a room on the 36th floor overlooking Times Square. We did a helicopter ride, a carriage ride through Central Park, Staten Island ferry to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, had dinner at Michael Jordan's steakhouse at Grand Central Terminal, pizza at Lombardi's, rode the subway, went to Museum of Natural History, Top of the Rock (Rockefeller Center) Yankee Stadium and a few other places I can't remember right now. Unfortunately we didn't get to see a Broadway show due to the strike, but we had an amazing time.

[jakobscalpel]

Glad you had a good time. I'm jealous. Also, this thread reminded me of one of my new favorite time wasters:

http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/

[BGW]

Monkey, it sounds like you and the hubby had a grand time!! We leave on our adverturesome journey is just two days!!!!

[monkey]

Have a great trip, BGW! You deserve some down time.