What should I do with my time?
Although I moved to New Jersey almost 4 months ago this is going to be my first trip into the city, more or less. My problem is that there is so much I want to do, and I will have so little free time. I need to stay walking distance from Penn Station, but other than that I am open to any suggestions.
What say you people of the SDMB?
Edit: My time in the city will be between 10 am and 2pm if that makes a difference.
Grab a nice lunch, obviously.
And unlike me, don’t make it Burger King.
Excellent start.
Say no to burger king. Check. Anyone have a nice suggestion for an alternative? I was actually thinking of hitting up the Shake Shack, I am told it’s quite good. But I am open to suggestions and I eat almost anything.
What are you interested in? Get out on the 7th Ave side of Penn. Walk east down 32nd street away from Penn Station and in a few blocks you’ll be in Koreatown (Ktown).
Keeping walking until you get to Madison Ave. Turn left, and walk north to 36th St. Spend a couple hours at the Pierrepont Morgan Library & Museum.
Backtrack to K town. On the lefthand (south) side of the street between Bway and 5th is a little cafeteria-type place called Woorijip (sign is a little mushroom) which is quite good, quick, cheap, and fresh. You can choose from boxed dishes, cold Korean-style sushi, fancy ramen, or their hot foods table. It gets super packed at 1pm, so try to be earlier than that. Almost next door is Pho32, a vietnamese Pho (noodle soup) joint which is also good and fast for lunch.
ETA: Shake Shack has extraordinary lines. You might spend an hour or more on line there. To me, not worth it.
Assume I am interested in everything except shopping.
They type of thing you outlined in your post sounds like fun. I love Korean food so that might be a winner for lunch.
Ah, good to know. Maybe some other time then.
Shake Shack is quite good, but it is not exactly what I would recommend for someone who wanted to have a quick NYC experience. They tend to take a while, especially during the lunch hour. If you just want a decent lunch and a stroll through Times Square they would be great, but you would miss out on Madison Square Garden and The Empire State Building which are both a stone’s throw from Penn Station.
So here is a question about the Empire State Building…is it really worth it? I am told the lines are long and tickets are expensive. It’s a very iconic thing to do, but is it worth the hassle for a guy on a tight time schedule?
No. In fact, even if you’re not on a tight schedule, Top of the Rock (Rockefeller Center, nowhere near where you are) is a better observation point. For one, you can see the Empire State Building. 
But seriously, its expensive and time consuming.
You could do it. After all, you have four hours. 
Worth it to go to the top? I don’t know, I’ve never been. It would probably be worth your time to go see the building though, maybe take some pictures. It is one of the more famous buildings in the world and it is quite interesting to see it up close. I’ve seen people actually freak out and feel a little queasy just standing on the ground and looking up to the top of the building, especially if they are from places that build outward instead of upward and aren’t used to seeing that kind of thing. Unfortunately with a 4 hour time limit you aren’t going to find much that you can do in that time, unless maybe it is Christmas and you have the opportunity to go check out the tree in Rockefeller Center or something. Otherwise you are going to spend a good deal of time looking at the outside of buildings and people watching, which is tons of fun and lots of people have a great time doing just that, but if you want a more in-depth experience you will need to make another trip with a little more time available to you.
If you just want to have a really kick-ass dining experience in your 4 hours I would recommend picking a truly fabulous restaurant that is a short cab ride away (Russian Samovar, Trattoria Del Arte, 21 Club, Le Bernardin, etc.) and make a reservation and plan to spend a decent amount of money on really, really fabulous food that isn’t available to you anywhere else.
And that will be two hours right there.
I don’t think the OP is interested in getting a handjob.
For food, there are millions of choices. I go to a deli (Stage, Carnegie) since I live in the Bay Area and am starved for good pastrami.
Check out the exhibits at museums. The Morgan mentioned above is indeed nice.
You can hop on a subway and get nearly anywhere worth going to in a few minutes. Giant museums like the Met and the Museum of Natural History might be overwhelming, but the Guggenheim is of reasonable size also. I haven’t been to the UN since my father stopped working there, and I don’t know how tours work since I never needed to be on one, but there is a lot of history there. And there are tons of architectural landmarks to look at for free if you like to do that.
Have we met?
I don’t know what’s special about Madison Square Garden. To me it’s remarkably unremarkable. Should I have gone inside?
If you have tickets for a Knicks game or a concert. Otherwise there isn’t much point.
I’ve felt that about the new Bank of America tower in Bryant Park (also a good place to stop by - on 42nd next to the Library). It’s like lookup up at a thousand foot sheer wall of glass.
That’s what I thought. When I was there last year I met some people that were very excited about being there. But that was March Madness.
If you like giant inflatable happy sculptures, Friends with You has an installation on the lot on 30th ST near Highline park called Rainbow City. It’s really neat. That’s pretty close to Penn Station.
Awesome! I am so going there. Thanks I wouldnt have ever found that on my own.
Hit up The Strand - amazing, giant new and used bookstore. http://www.strandbooks.com/ . It’s a good half-hour walk from Penn Station, but you could grab lunch between the two, and The Strand is absolutely worth visiting. Their rare books floor in particular is fascinating.
So, whadya do?
Get yourself to 30th and Tenth and go up onto the High Line. It’s not the New York you expect, but a whole new perspective on it.