Quake3World

Flying this friday to JFK airport, staying in Midtown Manhattan for 6 days with the miss.
First time for me to visit the States. I'm really curious about the American culture and excited to see the Big Apple.
Going to see all the touristy and hip places (if possible). Anyone got a few supertips?

If art is your thing, set aside at least a couple of hours for the MoMA, best thing I did there. Don't pass up a chance to go to the Hell's Kitchen flea market either. Otherwise just do the usual touristy stuff, and watch out for the rats :>. gl hf etc

soundslike an awesome excursion!

never been there but i am sure its packed with tonnes of awesome u wont miss it lol

eeyy best bon voyageing fromplainedland~!

phantasmagoria wrote:If art is your thing, set aside at least a couple of hours for the MoMA, best thing I did there. Don't pass up a chance to go to the Hell's Kitchen flea market either. Otherwise just do the usual touristy stuff, and watch out for the rats :>. gl hf etc

The MoMa is nr. 3 in the to-see-list. I heard the Guggenheim is less awesome than its reputation, we shall see.
I'm just a few blocks away from Hells Kitchen, Times Square, Central station etc. Really centered, but it's probably still a lot of walking/subway.

plained wrote:soundslike an awesome excursion!

never been there but i am sure its packed with tonnes of awesome u wont miss it lol

eeyy best bon voyageing fromplainedland~!

thx plained...where's plainedland - the Midwest?

kinda i'm in the plains canada lol

The Met?
Or a Broadway show?
Or a Yankees game?

Depends on what sort of thing you're into...
And NYC will give you a taste of culture not entirely representative of the US.

So don't hate the rest of us when you get shoved along the sidewalk by some pushy Italian.


Anyway, have fun. I still haven't ever been there but I hope to go sometime. Too many other great places to visit in this country in the meantime.

The MoMA for sure, The Whitney, Guggenheim...

Also head to Greenwich Village and check out some live music. Lot's of gems to discover, friendly people and great bars with great music (lots of awesome jazz).

Have an egg cream at a Jewish Deli.

tours..Rockefeller Center, Empire State Building.
I read somewhere that they reopened the Statue of Liberty.

you could always try to get into a showing of snl, letterman, or fallon


or.. http://www.thedailyshow.com/tickets

go check out ground zero maybe?

and in case you have a sweet tooth make sure you check out the greek pastry shops in astoria. Best shit around

GO SEE THE MONKEYS!!!!

werldhed wrote:The Met?

The Met is amazing. You could probably spend all day checking out all the stuff in that place.

You could also see a New York Philharmonic show, if you can get tickets. They are at Avery Fisher Hall on 63rd and Broadway I think.

ew nyc.

Get out of the city for a couple days and see some other sites.

America!

I just noticed you'll be there for 6 days. IMO, use some of that time to head out of the city and check out the surrounding area.

If you can get to Boston or vicinity, do that.

And if you're willing to travel, try getting into upstate NY or Vermont or somewhere similar. Fall colors are starting to turn.

edit: what xer0s said.

While in Manhattan, for the love of God, don't drive anywhere. People on the roads are insane and are nearly as aggressive drivers as the massholes in Boston. Take the bus or train.

Take a ride with the Staten Island ferry. Cheap (or even free?) and a great view. Does Webster Hall still exist? 15 years ago it was a quite good club to spend the night...

HM-PuFFNSTuFF wrote:Also head to Greenwich Village and check out some live music. Lot's of gems to discover, friendly people and great bars with great music (lots of awesome jazz).

Great tips guys...thinking about seeing the Blue Man Group or the Phantom of the Opera. Surely gonna visit Greenwich village, Soho, Tribeca, East Village, Chinatown. Maybe Brooklyn Heights.

It's 6 days, but that's including the the day of arrival and departure. Not that much time to venture outside the realms of Manhattan/New York.

We're staying here, could it get more cheesy?

Shit, that's the hotel I stayed in, it's fairly standard as hotels go - a room to sleep in if nothing else. I don't remember it having those big red letters on it. tho i never looked up o.O. There's a good little pizza shop the next block north

saturn wrote:Great tips guys...thinking about seeing the Blue Man Group or the Phantom of the Opera. Surely gonna visit Greenwich village, Soho, Tribeca, East Village, Chinatown. Maybe Brooklyn Heights.

It's 6 days, but that's including the the day of arrival and departure. Not that much time to venture outside the realms of Manhattan/New York.

Walk over the Brooklyn Bridge into Brooklyn. The views are incredible and you should definitely visit Brooklyn while you're there.

just returning from the city tonight, in fact sitting at gate 20 in JFK.
Midtown is sweet, it's kind of in between the best places, with a TON of fantastic restaurants.
I'm listing my favorite spots in order of nearest to farthest from Midtown:
Blue Dog Cafe - best coffee and breakfast hand stuff
Chelsea Hotel - sid vicious died here, tons of famous authors and artists have stayed / stay there. You can't even peek inside at the famous staircase unless you have a gun, lots of money or prestige.
Black Door bar - swing open up the front windows and have a few drinks, professional young and fun.
Nisos - off 8th and 19th Mediterranean style standard fare but the best of that. http://www.nisos-ny.com/
Times Square - get a pastrami on rye at the Carnegie deli off 7th ave - reasonably priced and hands down the best genuine NYC deli http://www.carnegiedeli.com/
Central Park -cool, but not much to say other than it's a massive park. The Boathouse is rumored to have good food, but always has a 2 hour wait, so I don't know.
Union Square - tons of stunning architecture all around, just wander a bit, you'll be amazed.
East Village - Grano Trattoria off 9th st and 6th ave.--best Italian and feels like home. http://granonyc.com/
Little Italy - get a Cannolli, some Gelatto and a fat zepoli anywhere. The San Gennarro festival may still be going on down there, which is a clusterfuck of good food and craziness. There are these pancake cornbread things with mozarella sandwiched in between, i think they're called mozepas-they are fantastic. Noho, Soho, Chinatown--all in the same general area, all have their distinctions. Get some cheap gear, perfume, handbags, etc. etc. but definitely get a stuffed pork sweetbun, there's a place at the southwest corner of Canal and Baxter, can't remember or maybe even pronounce the name but on my nut, I swear it is good.
Caracas - off 7th Street and 1st ave, which is near st. martin's, where the thrashcore fuckheads hang out and sing folk songs and pass doobies after piercing their skulls, scrotums and sacks. http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/caracas-arepa-bar/
Ground zero's boring but lots around it--plain old construction site, most of which is obscured by fences and cranes.
Wall St. - take a ride on the bull and get a picture of it for us.
City Hall - check out the oldest park in NYC--still lit up with gas lanterns after dark.
Battery Park- southernmost tip of Manhattan, launch point from which you can launch to tour the statue.

TIPS: walk everywhere when you can, there's too much to see, but when in a hurry, ride a subway!
http://www.mta.info/nyct/maps/submap.htm
While the stations are dirty, they are totally safe and more importantly, the quickest route around the city during rush hour. Get THE MAP from any manned subway Kiosk. The 1 takes you from the bottom of the island to Central park in less than 20 minutes. If you need to get to the airport quickly, take the LIRR to Jamaica from Penn station--always roughly 40 minutes--taxi cabs are hit and miss, i've been fucked by traffic any time of day there. If you have time, the E train will take you to Jamaica, which you can catch the Airtrain to JFK for about 7 bucks a person. These seem to be the most modern and the locals I work with claim it almost never breaks down