Woohoo! It’s my first actual vacation (minus going camping when I was a kid) since… ever. I’m staying with my friend at her apartment in Brooklyn but getting a weeklong subway pass so I can go most anywhere (I love walking, too).
I’ll get there around noonish on the 10th, but my activities will end the 14th since my plane back the next day is really early in the morning.
I’m sure I’ll end up doing some touristy things, but what are other things that I should make sure to check out?
I’m definitely doing some flea markets, and my friend’s girlfriend’s birthday party is gonna be that Saturday on Coney Island. Other than that… I’m wide open! I’m a funky nerd geek at heart who likes crafting, reading, VERY MINOR gaming, loves learning and cultures (so museums are probably a go, I’d say) and loves awesome experiences.
The Museum of Sex was surprisingly good - not at all tawdry.
There is a gaming store near the Empire State Building that has a HUGE selection of board games and RPGs - The Compleat Strategist (11 East 33rd). I’m not the gamer, my husband is, and he said it was the best selection he’s ever seen.
One note if you decide to check out the Statue of Liberty. There is EXTREMELY THOROUGH security to pass through in order to go into the statue and stand on the observation deck. It took us forever to get through. And while you get a great view of Manhattan, since you’re actually ON the statue, you can’t SEE the statue. If I had it to do again, I would have just wandered around the park - I can still see Manhattan that way, and I can get my pictures of Lady Liberty. IMHO it wasn’t worth the time spent.
I was also captivated by Ellis Island - husband got museum fatigue before I did, so we had to cut our visit short before I got to inhale every single thing.
There’s a Tibetan Museum on Staten Island that’ll let you get the Staten Island Ferry in as well. The page has public transportation options.
Do you drink? There’s a tasting hour/happy hour on Friday in Williamsburg in Brooklyn at the Brooklyn Brewery. They make an excellent sparkling malt beverage and their sample prices are very reasonable. Plus, the peoplewatching at this particular happy hour is incredible. Williamsburg is a hipster enclave in the form of a gentrified former Hasidic neighborhood, so you get a bunch of arty tools hanging out in the very cool brewery area, which is quite industrial. (Plus, there’s a sweet brewery cat who keeps mice out of the grain sacks.)
That’s probably one of the most important questions to have answered before giving suggestions. If the answer is yes, I have plenty of ideas. In not, then I don’t (besides the obvious tourist attractions).
Of course, many of the museums now have happy hours, so that’s definitely an idea.
Coney Island is ass. Seriously. It’s more overrated than that cheese that smells really bad but people pretend to like. Except Coney Island smells worse.
The new subway station there is cool, though.
The Circle Line is pretty cool if you want to get a good view of Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty (sans tyranny).
There’s also the Staten Island Ferry which travels a much shorter route, and is free.
Brighton Beach, however (just a ways down the beach from Coney island) is cool. Its a Russian immigrant neighborhood, and I’ve heard it said that the Brezhnev era of the Soviet Union is frozen in time there. Regardless, just walk under the train trestle and you’ll see all manner of cool things, like signs completely in Russian and little old ladies selling peroshki (um, fried dough things, with either sweet or savory fillings) on the streetcorners.
If you want a good gander at the Statue of Liberty, ride the Staten Island ferry - its free and makes a close pass to Liberty Island.
The Metropolitan Museum and Natural History Museum are actually “by donation” - you have to pay something but you don’t have to pay $17 or whatever the “recommended donation” is. However, the Museum of Modern Art is a private museum and you gots to pay if you want to see “Starry Night.”
If you are in midtown and looking for a bite, head over to 9th Avenue and AVOID the touristy, crowded, overpriced, neon-drenched, cardboard food chain places in the Times Square area. 9th Ave. has tons of choices of infinite variety and price ranges, they are all yummy and most of them are the only one of their kind. One of my favorites is Turkish Cuisine at around 44th or 45th Street. Westway Diner - also at 44th - is one of the best examples of the traditional New York diner you can find, and it’s open 24 hours. It’s also a good place to spot Broadway (and Off-Broadway, and out-of-work) actors on their dinner breaks or during post-show revelry.
Basically if you walk along 9th between, say, 42nd and 56th and something looks good to you, you can’t go wrong. Just don’t make the mistake of getting to 8th Avenue and thinking that you are close enough to 9th. It is a whole different world over there. If there is a Cold Stone anywhere in sight - AVOID!
Since you’re staying there, don’t forget Brooklyn! Tom’s Diner on Washington Ave. and Sterling Place has the best pancakes in town (but watch out - they close at 4pm). The Smoke Joint in Clinton Hill just might be the best barbeque in town. Fifth Avenue in Park Slope is a great place to find eats though it is starting to lean a little too far toward the quaint bistro (beware of the stroller brigade), although the farther south you go the more likely you are to run into a fantastic and cheap Mexican place. There’s a great divey rock-n-roll bar called Lucky 13 at 13th Street near 5th Ave. Williamsburg has loads of good spots too, if you aren’t allergic to hipsters.
If you’re going see the Statue of Liberty. Give yourself more time than you think you’ll need. I could have spent the entire day between Liberty Island and Ellis Island.
Aw, I like Coney Island. It’s fun, but a very special kind of seedy fun. You’ll go home with a smile, a sunburn, and possibly Hepatitis B. I do recommend the aquarium out there. The walruses are cute.
Summertime in NYC is filled with free outdoorsy stuff. Check out the schedule for Celebrate Brooklyn, an on-going music and arts festival. Also the River to River fest.
We went on a Monday morning at around 10, and there was hardly any line. But as we were winding our way through the labyrinth TO GET TO THE ELEVATOR and then more labyrinth BETWEEN ELEVATORS and more AT THE TOP I was so glad the line was short. And you have no idea whether or not those areas are full of people when you first walk in. It could look empty but just beyond the first gate it’s a madhouse.
I was also extremely put off at all the shit they wanted us to buy. A map, an audio guide, here take your picture behind a fake fucking backdrop, oh, here’s a giftshop… It was the most commercial thing outside of Times Square we saw when we were there. It was actually irritating to me. (But I’m a bit of a grump, so YMMV.)
Yes, the ESB can be a trial. But there are some things you just HAVE to do if you are a first time visitor to Manhattan. Just go first thing in the morning (opens at ??? - better check). Or go around twilight, though the air gets very hazy throughout the day.
Better than the ESB is Top of the Rock (observation deck at Rockefeller Center).
Heed the warning by Scout1222 about the innards of the Statue of Liberty - it took us over an hour to get through the extra security screening. Wasn’t worth it.
My short list:
walk across the Brooklyn Bridge (from the Brooklyn side into Manhattan)
The Strand Bookstore is a must if you love reading and bargains.
Go to IKEA in Brooklyn.
Well, you see they have this free water taxi from IKEA to the South Street Seaport. So in the AM go to IKEA*. They have a good cheap breakfest, then ride the water taxi and you’ll get good views of the Statute of Liberty, Governor’s Island, lower Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge with the new ‘waterfall’ it has.
*free shuttle buses run from a couple of points in Brooklyn to the Red Hook location.
I’ll be watching this thread with interest, as I am spending three days at the end of my honeymoon in NYC next month. (Next month! Holy crap I’m getting married!)
Re the Empire State Building, I have heard that the Top of the Rock (Rockefeller Center) is a less jam-packed alternative. Is this still the case?
I believe the Top of the Rock controlls the crowd better by selling tickets for certain time slots which means you go up at a certain time and come down at a certain time.
The Cloisters is a reconstructed medieval monastery at the far northern tip of Manhattan. It features incomparable medieval art and architecture, as well as gardens and sundry historical stuff. It’s an arm of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Some people (like me) love that stuff, but others might be bored to tears.
Getting there and back takes a while if you’re staying mid- or downtown.
