# A Day in New York City



## Conan (Feb 14, 2011)

I wrote this (partly cribbed from a three-day itinerary via Frommer and the New York Times) for a relative who's going to visit this Spring. He's unwilling to stay overnight in Manhattan (bedbugs!!!), so he has to do it all in a day.

What do you think?

1. Metro-North Train to Grand Central Station

Buy your ticket in the station, since there’s an extra fee to buy it on the train. Buy a round-trip ticket while you’re at it. Get “Peak Return” if your return train is going to leave Grand Central before 8 PM; otherwise get “Off-Peak Return.” 

If you haven’t had breakfast, there are lots of food choices on Grand Central’s lower level. It might be early for cheesecake, but Junior’s has the best in New York (which makes it the best in the world). At ground level in the Terminal, look up at the sky ceiling, then follow signs to the Subway, buy a Metro Card, and take the #6 Subway uptown to 77th Street. 

2. Metropolitan Museum of Art (82nd Street) or Frick Collection (70th Street)

Walk West from the 77th Street Station to Fifth Avenue (Lexington to Park to Madison to Fifth). New York avenues are 10 to the mile, so that’s 3/10ths of a mile. Look down Park Avenue as you cross it. The coop apartments in these buildings sell for $2 million to $20 million, plus maintenance of $3,000 to $15,000 per month. 

Both Museums are on Fifth Avenue (and both are closed on Monday) so you’ll turn right for the Met or left for the Frick. The Metropolitan (opens at 9:30) is a huge collection (like the Louvre or the National Gallery) so you’ll only see a little bit of it (admission is pay what you wish). The Frick Collection (opens at 10:00) is a rich man’s mansion decorated with dozens of masterpieces, and you can see all of it in an hour or two (Senior admission with audio guide is $12).

3. Walk or Bus Down Fifth Avenue to 53rd or 51st Street

New York streets are 20 to the mile, so it's one mile down Fifth Avenue from 71st Street to 51st Street. There are plenty of buses (they take the same Metro Card that you bought in Grand Central), or if you walk you’ll get a better look at the sights along the way (Trump Plaza Hotel at 59th; Tiffany’s at 57th; Saks Fifth Avenue, Henri Bendel, the NBA Store, Bergdorf Goodman, FAO Schwarz, the Apple Store, etc.).

4. Museum of Modern Art (Optional Museum visit if you didn’t go to the Met or the Frick) (53rd Street between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue (Ave of the Americas))

This is the only Museum that’s open Monday (it’s closed Tuesdays). Senior admission is $16.

5. St. Patrick’s Cathedral (Fifth Avenue at 51st Street)

6. Rockefeller Center (49th Street between Fifth Ave and Sixth Ave (Ave of Americas))

If you have time, you might do the 70-minute NBC Studio Tour (Senior tickets $17 but they may be sold out). Or you can just see Radio City Music Hall and 30 Rockefeller Plaza from the street. If you did not get advance tickets for the Empire State Building and you don’t want to wait on their line, you can take the elevator up 70 floors to Top of the Rock for almost the same view you would have at the Empire State Building.

7. Empire State Building (Fifth Avenue and 34th Street) (Optional)

There’s not much to see on Fifth Avenue between 49th and 34th so you can take the bus down Fifth Avenue. If you’re planning to go up rain or shine, buy tickets in advance; if you only want to go up if it turns out to be a clear day you’ll have to wait at the ticket booth. Or you might skip this.

8. Times Square (unless you’re seeing a show tonight)

If you’re skipping the Empire State Building, turn right (west) from Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street. If you did go to the Empire State Building, you need to walk back up Fifth Avenue and left (west) at 42nd Street. The walk from Fifth to Seventh is kind of seedy but it’s only 2/10ths of a mile.

Times Square is the center of tourist New York, where Broadway crosses 7th Avenue at 42nd Street. If you didn’t have cheesecake in Grand Central Station, there’s a Junior’s Restaurant on 45th Street between Broadway and 8th Avenue. 

9. Statue of Liberty

From Times Square, take Subway 1 to South Ferry.  If you didn't go to Times Square, walk from Fifth Avenue to Lexington Avenue and take Subway 4 or 5 to Bowling Green.

Ferries leave from Battery Park every half-hour. On Liberty Island, you can take one of two tours. The Promenade Tour takes visitors through the monument lobby, past the original torch to the Statue of Liberty exhibit for a 20- to 30-minute ranger-guided tour and then outdoors to the lower promenade. The Observatory Tour incorporates the promenade tour and makes a visit to the pedestal observation platform where you can view the statue's interior framework through a new glass ceiling portal.

10. Ellis Island

Your Statue of Liberty ferry ticket also includes a stop at Ellis Island; ferries to Ellis Island leave Liberty Island every half-hour. The Immigration Museum is worth visiting.

11. Lower East Side Tenement Museum (108 Orchard Street)

You’ll take a taxi (yellow cab) to get here. This is a prototype of a Lower East Side tenement where many of the Ellis Island immigrants lived. The guided tour leaves every 40 minutes on weekdays (Seniors pay $15).

12. Il Laboratorio del Gelato (95 Orchard St., between Broome and Delancey)

Just across the street from the Lower East Side Tenement Museum is an ice-cream-and-gelato shop. Pick up a cone or cup for the walk to the subway. 

Take the F or V train at Second Avenue and Houston Street two stops uptown to West 4th Street.

13. Washington Square Park

This is the center of Greenwich Village. On the north end of the park, you'll see a row of elegant late-19th-century town houses and Washington Square Arch. For more people watching, walk west to Christopher Street.

14A. Back to Times Square (if you’re seeing a show)

The subway from West 4th will take you back to 42nd Street; After the show there’s a subway Shuttle from Times Square to Grand Central Station.

14B Chinatown (if you’re not seeing a show)

If you’re not going to a Broadway show, take a taxi from Greenwich Villlage to Chinatown (get out at the corner of Canal Street and Mott Street) and have dinner in a Chinese restaurant. 

The #6 Subway at Canal Street Station goes to Grand Central Station.


----------



## DeniseM (Feb 14, 2011)

I take it that you are this person's heir, since you are apparently trying to kill him?  :rofl:

I recommend the hop-on-hop-off bus pass.  You can see all the major sights and the transportation is all arranged.


----------



## billymach4 (Feb 14, 2011)

"1. Metro-North Train to Grand Central Station"

Where are you arriving from? Connecticut, Westchester, or further north?


----------



## wackymother (Feb 14, 2011)

I feel totally exhausted just reading this!


----------



## Conan (Feb 14, 2011)

billymach4 said:


> "1. Metro-North Train to Grand Central Station"
> 
> Where are you arriving from? Connecticut, Westchester, or further north?



Connecticut - - the 7:28 gets in at about 9:00


----------



## Conan (Feb 14, 2011)

DeniseM said:


> I take it that you are this person's heir, since you are apparently trying to kill him?  :rofl:
> 
> I recommend the hop-on-hop-off bus pass.  You can see all the major sights and the transportation is all arranged.



No jury will ever convict me!!


----------



## shagnut (Feb 14, 2011)

Even I couldn't do this even when I was in good shape!! 
I like the idea of the hop on hop of bus.  shaggy


----------



## bdh (Feb 14, 2011)

DeniseM said:


> I recommend the hop-on-hop-off bus pass.  You can see all the major sights and the transportation is all arranged.



While the hop-on-off bus routes do hit all the major sights, be aware that during busy high tourist seasons that some busses can fill up fast and you can wind up waiting a while for a bus that isn't full to take you back your destination later on in the day.  As an example, if you take the bus down to the Financial District, they'll advise you to be on a bus headed back uptown before 3:00. 

Not all the routes are like that, so its best to keep it in mind and inquire about the return bus when you initially get on.


----------



## schiff1997 (Feb 14, 2011)

LOL sounds like my cousins husbands tour, we call it Steve's tour of New York,  whenever family come to visit them, its a really fast paced one day tour of NYC.   But we always end up late at  night at Carmines to eat.  He's a born bred Italian New Yorker and one of  NYPD's finest at that, so it can be done, just make sure you wear great comfy shoes.


----------



## radmoo (Feb 15, 2011)

OMG !  As a native NYer, I say "what you been smokin'?"

Anyone old enough to remember the flick "If It's Tuesday, It Must Be Belgium"?  NY is to be enjoyed and this itinerary is just over the top.  It also assumes that the Metro North will run on schedule, which it usually doesn't, that the traveler will have absolutely no problem figuring out streets, Metro card machine, subway stations, etc and that there will be absolutely NO TRAFFIC on NYC streets so that the buses can cruise up and down the avenues. 

I agree with Hop On, Hop Off fans.  You'll get an overview and go back to what interests you.  It isn't ideal but it is surely a plan.


----------



## dmorea (Feb 15, 2011)

Step 7 and 8 --- I  think the NY Public Library  (the lions steps and pigeons) 42nd and Bryant Park are worth a mention .


----------



## Conan (Feb 16, 2011)

OK, I've stripped it down - - here's the new version.
(I refuse to endorse the hop-on hop-off; I've seen hundreds of people lined up for them and anyway I think bus tours aren't the same as "being there.")


*A Day in New York City*​ 
*1. Metro-North Train to Grand Central Station*

Buy your ticket in the station, since there’s an extra fee to buy it on the train. Buy a round-trip ticket while you’re at it. Get “Peak Return” if your return train is going to leave Grand Central before 8 PM; otherwise get “Off-Peak Return.” Also, buy a Metro Card for the NYC busses and subways at the same ticket window when you buy the Metro North ticket (I think the choice is 2 trips or 10 trips).

If you haven’t had breakfast, there are lots of food choices on Grand Central’s lower level. It might be early for cheesecake, but Junior’s has the best in New York (which makes it the best in the world). 

*2. IF YOU’RE NOT GOING TO THE STATUE OF LIBERTY*

*Choose A or B*

*A. Frick Collection *(Fifth Avenue at 70th Street) (closed Mondays)

At ground level in Grand Central Station, look up at the sky ceiling, then follow signs to the Subway and use your Metro Card to take the #6 Subway uptown to 77th Street. 

Walk west from the 77th Street Station to Fifth Avenue (Lexington to Park to Madison to Fifth). New York avenues are 10 to the mile, so that’s 3/10ths of a mile. Look down Park Avenue as you cross it. The coop apartments in these buildings sell for $2 million to $20 million, plus maintenance of $3,000 to $15,000 per month. 

Turn left on Fifth Avenue and walk to 70th Street. The Frick Collection (opens at 10:00) is a rich man’s mansion decorated with dozens of masterpieces. Senior admission with audio guide is $12.

*When you’ve finished with the Frick Collection, walk or take a bus down Fifth Avenue to 51st Street*

New York streets are 20 to the mile, so its one mile down Fifth Avenue from 71st Street to 51st Street. There are plenty of buses (they take the same Metro Card), or if you walk you’ll get a better look at the sights along the way (Trump Plaza Hotel at 59th; Tiffany’s at 57th; Saks Fifth Avenue, Henri Bendel, the NBA Store, Bergdorf Goodman, FAO Schwarz, the Apple Store, etc.).


*B. Museum of Modern Art* (53rd Street west of Fifth Avenue) (closed Tuesdays)

At ground level in Grand Central Station, look up at the sky ceiling, then exit onto 42nd Street, turn right onto 42nd Street (look behind you to see the Chrysler Building) to a bus stop on Madison Avenue. Take the M3 or M4 bus up Madison Avenue to 53d Street and walk west across Fifth Avenue. (You could also walk all the way - - start by taking the escalator up from ground level in the Terminal and continue north up Park Avenue and left on 53rd Street).

The Museum of Modern Art has the world’s greatest collection of 20th Century art, in a newly renovated building. Senior admission is $16.

*When you’ve finished with the Museum of Modern Art, walk back to Fifth Avenue and turn right to 51st Street*

*C. St. Patrick’s Cathedral* (Fifth Avenue at 51st Street)

*D. Rockefeller Center* (49th Street between Fifth Ave and Sixth Ave (Ave of Americas))

You might try to take the 70-minute NBC Studio Tour (Senior tickets $17 but they may be sold out). Or you can just see Radio City Music Hall and 30 Rockefeller Plaza from the street. The view from Top of the Rock is supposed to be almost as good as from the Empire State Building.

When you’re done, walk west to 7th Avenue and turn left towards Times Square.

*2. IF YOU’RE GOING TO THE STATUE OF LIBERTY*

*A. Statue of Liberty*

Follow signs to the Subway inside Grand Central Station and take Subway 4 or 5 Downtown to Bowling Green.
Ferries leave from Battery Park every half-hour. On Liberty Island, you can take one of two tours. The Promenade Tour takes visitors through the monument lobby, past the original torch to the Statue of Liberty exhibit for a 20- to 30-minute ranger-guided tour and then outdoors to the lower promenade. The Observatory Tour incorporates the promenade tour and makes a visit to the pedestal observation platform where you can view the statue's interior framework through a new glass ceiling portal.

*B. Ellis Island*

Your Statue of Liberty ferry ticket also includes a stop at Ellis Island; ferries to Ellis Island leave Liberty Island every half-hour. The Immigration Museum is worth visiting.

*Choose C or D*

*C. Lower East Side Tenement Museum* (108 Orchard Street)

You’ll take a taxi (yellow cab) to get here. This is the typical Lower East Side tenement where many of the Ellis Island immigrants lived. The guided tour leaves every 40 minutes (Seniors pay $15).

When you’re done with the tour, there’s an ice cream/gelato shop across the street at 95 Orchard Street. Pick up a cone or cup for the walk to the subway*. *Walk to Second Avenue at Houston Street and take the F train uptown to 47th-50th Street Rockefeller Center.

*D.* *Lunch in Chinatown*

You’ll take a taxi (yellow cab) to Chinatown. For a New York experience, have the driver go to Nice Green Bo Restaurant, 66 Bayard Street, and start your meal with “Soup Dumpling.” When you’re done, walk north on Mott Street, left on Canal Street to Broadway and take the N or Q train to 49th Street Station and walk east to Sixth Avenue (Avenue of the Americas).

*E. Rockefeller Center* (49th Street)

If you have time, you might do the 70-minute NBC Studio Tour (Senior tickets $17 but they may be sold out). Or you can just see Radio City Music Hall and 30 Rockefeller Plaza from the street. The view from Top of the Rock is supposed to be almost as good as from the Empire State Building.

*F. St. Patrick’s Cathedral* (Fifth Avenue at 51st Street)

To get from St. Patrick's to Times Square, walk west, back to Seventh Avenue, and turn left.

*3. Times Square and a Broadway Show*

Times Square is the center of tourist New York, where Broadway crosses 7th Avenue at 42nd Street. If you didn’t have cheesecake in Grand Central Station, there’s a Junior’s Restaurant on 45th Street between Broadway and 8th Avenue. If you didn’t buy theatre tickets in advance, TKTS in upper Times Square (under the red steps at 47th Street) sells tickets for available shows at half price plus a commission.

*4. Return to Grand Central and Metro North *

The S Train in Times Square Station is a direct Shuttle to Grand Central Station.


----------



## radmoo (Feb 16, 2011)

Much more reasonable. .. now just pray for good weather


----------



## legalfee (Feb 16, 2011)

I would highly recommend the Foods of New York walking and tasting tours. We've done the Greenwich Village and the Chelsea Meat Packing District tours and both were great. Also +1 for the Gray Line hop on hop off bus tours.

http://www.foodsofny.com/


----------



## kwilson (Feb 16, 2011)

We outlanders are often admonished not to call "Grand Central Terminal" "Grand Central Station". You used GCS without anyone correcting you. Is this the common name used by New Yorkers?


----------



## Conan (Feb 17, 2011)

kwilson said:


> We outlanders are often admonished not to call "Grand Central Terminal" "Grand Central Station". You used GCS without anyone correcting you. Is this the common name used by New Yorkers?


 
You wouldn't be admonished - - a New Yorker would call it "Grand Central" or "Grand Central Station."

You may be admonished, however, 
-- if you call Sixth Avenue the "Avenue of the Americas"
-- if you stand still in the middle of a busy sidewalk
-- if you pronounce Houston Street the same as the Texas city
-- if you don't leave a 15% tip (double the tax) for the waiter/waitress


----------



## DonM (Feb 17, 2011)

Conan said:


> You wouldn't be admonished - - a New Yorker would call it "Grand Central" or "Grand Central Station."



Absolutely



Conan said:


> You may be admonished, however,
> -- if you call Sixth Avenue the "Avenue of the Americas"
> -- if you stand still in the middle of a busy sidewalk
> -- if you pronounce Houston Street the same as the Texas city



Absolutely


----------



## Conan (Feb 18, 2011)

Conan said:


> -- if you stand still in the middle of a busy sidewalk


 
I just saw this in "Overheard in New York" (I had to add the *#%* for TUG)

*Young woman leaving Macy's employee entrance*: f*#%*, will you people just f*#%*ing walk!?

*Little boy*: Mommy, why is the elf in different clothes? And why is she saying bad words?

*Random passerby*: It's because she's a New York elf.

*Little boy*: Oooooooooohhhhhhhhh.

*Mom*: s*#%*!

*Little boy*: You could be a New York elf!!!!!!


----------



## hvacrsteve (Feb 18, 2011)

They will never complete it unless its a slow day in NY.
They should start with the Statue of Liberty, be on the first boat over, if not that alone can take the entire day.

Just trust me on this one!


----------



## Conan (Feb 18, 2011)

Yes, I put Statue of Liberty first, if they choose it (2(A))


----------



## kwilson (Feb 24, 2011)

Conan said:


> You wouldn't be admonished - - a New Yorker would call it "Grand Central" or "Grand Central Station."
> 
> You may be admonished, however,
> -- if you call Sixth Avenue the "Avenue of the Americas"
> ...



Thanks, I knew most of that except "Houston" so I looked it up on Wikipedia. Long story. Pronounced "house-ton"." Houston Street is named for William Houstoun, who was a Delegate to the Continental Congress for the State of Georgia from 1784 through 1786 and to the United States Constitutional Convention in 1787." I learn something new every day.


----------



## Jennie (Mar 12, 2011)

I was born and raised in New York City and have explored every nook and cranny of it for more years than I care to acknowledge. I now live in a small town 20 miles north of midtown Manhattan. It takes most of the day to go to "the city" for lunch or dinner and a Broadway play, and I know my way around the complicated train and bus routes. There's no way on earth that anyone could do even half of what's on your list in less than a week, and even that would be pushing it. And you indicate that your "victims" are seniors! 

There are millions of people living and working in NYC. Traffic is a nightmare. It can literally take an hour to go 20 blocks by car or taxi--not all the time but more times than not. The taxi fare could be astronomical. The sidewalks are so crowded that walking can be a real challenge. If you slow down to look at an interesting building, you run the risk of being pushed or shoved by irate or oblivious pedestrians. There's also the threat of  pick-pocketing, being accosted by homeless beggars, thugs, mentally ill people, etc... Some of the "sites" on your list are in dangerous neighborhoods that my husband and I (both retired armed law enforcement officers) would not venture into. 

To commute in from Connecticut is insane. It's complicated, expensive, and will waste too much time and energy. They should stay at the Manhattan Club or the Radio City Apartments, both of which are right in the center of the city. It would give them about 4 more much needed extra hours per day to see some of the interesting sites on your list (maybe 5 if they're very lucky). The bedbug situation is way overblown. We do not know one person who has personally encountered it when staying in a Manhattan hotel. Obviously the hotels where a couple of guests had a bad experience have taken drastic steps to make sure it doesn't happen again. They have used specially trained dogs to sniff out each room. In the rare case where a bug is found, a cold ice treatment is said to kill the bugs quickly. If your friends have that level of fear about bedbugs, then perhaps NYC is not the place for them. God only knows what real threats they may encounter on the streets of New York. I really love New York and am so proud to share it with visitors. But there are too many bad apples in the Big Apple with the knack for identifying and preying upon people who do not have the "street smarts" necessary to be safe in a huge city.

We have had many relatives visit from Ireland, Sweden, and the Bahamas and have personally escorted them around the city. Each had done extensive homework on their own, and arrived with a list of what they thought    they wanted to see and do in a week. Even with our extensive help, including lots of chauffeuring and waiting for them outside of their chosen sites, no one has ever completed more than 1/2 of what was on their "must do" list *in a week*.


----------



## Jaybee (Mar 12, 2011)

ROTFLOL! I agree! :hysterical: 




DeniseM said:


> I take it that you are this person's heir, since you are apparently trying to kill him?  :rofl:
> 
> I recommend the hop-on-hop-off bus pass.  You can see all the major sights and the transportation is all arranged.


----------



## Egret1986 (Dec 13, 2012)

*Thank you for your whole post, Jennie.*



Jennie said:


> I was born and raised in New York City and have explored every nook and cranny of it for more years than I care to acknowledge. I now live in a small town 20 miles north of midtown Manhattan. It takes most of the day to go to "the city" for lunch or dinner and a Broadway play, and I know my way around the complicated train and bus routes. There's no way on earth that anyone could do even half of what's on your list in less than a week, and even that would be pushing it. And you indicate that your "victims" are seniors!
> 
> There are millions of people living and working in NYC. Traffic is a nightmare. It can literally take an hour to go 20 blocks by car or taxi--not all the time but more times than not. The taxi fare could be astronomical. The sidewalks are so crowded that walking can be a real challenge. If you slow down to look at an interesting building, you run the risk of being pushed or shoved by irate or oblivious pedestrians. There's also the threat of  pick-pocketing, being accosted by homeless beggars, thugs, mentally ill people, etc... Some of the "sites" on your list are in dangerous neighborhoods that my husband and I (both retired armed law enforcement officers) would not venture into.
> 
> ...



Great reminders and insight to those visiting the Big Apple.  My husband and I first visited in the early 80's.  We were two very naive and unworldly young adults.  We did some things, unknowingly at the time, that was quite risky behavior.  We were blessed to have not found ourselves in a very bad or dangerous situation.

Now in our 50's, we will be back in New York City for 3 days and nights and look forward to experiencing some more of what this exciting City has to offer.  We can't wait.  However, we will use caution, wisdom and suggestions on this visit, as well as not try to see and do too much.  There will be opportunities for follow-up trips in the future.


----------

