nelsonian

Just 8 weeks to go to our big adventure to the US, from the 11th April - 15th April we will be in New York city staying at Radio City Apartments. I have planned out the following, would appreciate any suggestions or improvements.

Wed 11th Depart approx 9am Columbia Maryland either by train or bus (undecided as yet), advice needed, arrive New York around midday. Check bags at hotel, do some sight-seeing around Times Square hotel area, visit Central Park spend time there, back to hotel, have pre-theatre dinner then go to Wicked.
Possibly leave Central Park until another day and instead get tickets for 48 hour Hop On Hop Of Bus Tour

Thurs 12th

Staten Island Ferry
South St Seaport area check out discount tickets at TTKS booth
Brookly Bridge walk, Grimaldi's pizza, Ice cream Factory,
stroll to Chinatown
Dinner at Grenwich Village then check out some jazz places, any suggestions?

Fri 12th

Morning Central Park and neighbourhood.
3pm or so catch train to Nassau Coliseum for Andre Rieu concert at 8pm. Leaving early to avoid rush hour and to give us time in case we get lost which is very likely. A bit worried about getting back to Manhatten after the concert, apparently there can be a shortage of taxis. Wll have to check out last train from Westbury also.

Sat 14th

Breakfast at Grand Central Station
Shopping including Manny's Music Shop
Any other suggestions welcomed, museums/art galleries etc
Top of the Rock at dusk
Broadway probably Spamalot(huband's choice) or Les Mis (my choice)
Birdland Jazz after show

Sun 15th
Depart La Guardi 10.05am for Anaheim so leave hotel approx 7am. Is that soon enough?

Does this make sense, any additions to the itinerary appreciated.

Thanks

Margo_Chester

Just thought you might be interested that there is a little public park about 2 doors from your hotel with tables & chairs and a waterfall. If it's warm enough you might want to grab coffee, breakfast to go somewhere, (or sandwiches or a pizza for dinner) and eat in there - great people watching! There is another park across the street with tables & chairs, but no waterfall.

If you haven't been to NYC before I think the hop/on hop off tour is a great way to get oriented, maybe do it the day you arrive? And although others will put Times Square down, it's pretty exciting at night with the lights/people etc. not as much as a "wow" factor during the day though.

The Seaport is fun but mostly a large shopping mall; perhaps a walking tour of the near by financial district? Tons of history there. Or maybe you are interested in walking the Brooklyn bridge?

nelsonian

Thanks Margo, people watching is a must thing to do in New York City we will look out for the parks.

nytraveler

If you look at the Long Island Railroad schedules you'll see that it takes only about 30 minutes from Penn Station to Westbury. And once you get there - there's nothing to do until you get to the concert. (If you're going to have dinner beforehand you'll need to organize that by cab too.)

Frankly - rather than worry about trains and cabs to and fro - esp after the concert - I would rent a car for the day. If you do Enterprise or another bargain rental it probably won;t end up costing any more. And it will allow you time - and transport - to have something to eat before the concert.

shirley82

I'm curious as to why you'll be going into Westbury to go to the Nassau Coliseum? Was that recommended by someone? The Mineola station is a little closer...it's probably pretty negligible but may offer you better options for departure times. Also, don't leave too early for the show. There's next to nothing to do at the Coliseum. Don't cut it too close, but don't waste your whole afternoon hanging around there either.

There shouldn't be a last train as the trains usually run all night, but they do slow down late at night. As for the cab, get the number from the company you take on your way TO the Coliseum. You should be able to call them and arrange for pickup after the show.

PS - My vote's for Spamalot

nelsonian

The Nassau Coliseum web site says take the LIRR to either Hempstead or Westbury and in a previous post it was suggested Westbury would be the better option.
Sounds like there is no need to leave so early and we would be better to eat before we left Manhatten and then take the train maybe at 7pm. Gives us more time for sight-seeing that's for sure. A rental car is not an option, to stressful with my bad navigational skills and driving on the other side of the road.

shirley82

I was actually going to reply that getting a car would not only be entirely too stressful, but take twice as long. Traffic out there is terrible. The train is easy, fast, and predictable.

It's curious that the Colisseum sends you there. DO NOT go to Hempstead. It's a terribly unsafe area and the trains are on the worst schedule. I recommend Mineola b/c they have a taxi company directly next to the arriving platform at the train station. I've taken them before without trouble. I don't know about taxis at Westbury.

ALSO, note that the cabs out on the island are not yellow cabs (although the cars themselves may be yellow). They will charge you per person to ride, and you may have to share with others. I've never found it to be a big deal, just something to note beforehand.

I also agree with getting a 6:30 or 7 o'clock train. There's really no need to get there early.

nelsonian

Thanks Shirley 82. Have you actually gone to the Nassau Colisuem via Mineola, if so that seems a good option. The Coliseum web site does say you can get a taxi or bus from Westbury also so maybe both ways would work okay.

nytraveler

You need to be aware that taxi fares on Long Island are not regulated - there is no meter. They can charge whatever they want and usually will charge for each person. And from Westbury or Mineola to Nassau Coliseum could easily be $25 per person each way.

Do not rely on buses. They are few and far between (may be one per hour) and they do stop running at night. Trains run - but much less frequently.

From Mineola into the city the trains run every 25 or 30 minutes after 11pm until about 2 - then only a few until 6am.

shirley82

I actually went to Hofstra University for college, which is spitting distance from the Coliseum. I never paid more than 10 dollars per person(usually 5 or 6) for a cab to campus from the train. NY traveler's right -don't bother with a bus. It'll be worth it to spring for the cab just for the piece of mind.

I'm sure if their website says Westbury that it'll work too. But then I'm also inclined to doubt them because they would also send you to Hempstead. Which no responsible person ever would.

I just did a quick search and came up with these cab services. It might be worth it to call one of them before you leave and sort it all out.

Westbury Cab Service (516-334-4800). Stuarts of Westbury (516-334-2900 or 516-333-1111) Mineola Taxi Service (516-746-2500) East Meadow Taxi Corp. (516-735-3333).

Hope I've helped!

nelsonian

Thanks Nytraveler and Shirley82 your information is a great help.

escargot

I recently asked for info on jazz clubs in nyc, so you might find the responses I rec'd on that post helpful: the link to it follows -
http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...1&tid=34921697

if that doesn't work, you can put 'jazz, nyc" into the search bar and you should be able to find it.

I might add, if it interests you, a visit to the Tenement Museum, it is a short one hour tour and quite interesting, there is also a short 20 min film in the main building, and you can walk from there around Orchard St area a bit and on through Soho for some cute shops, restaurants, etc.

the site for that is tenement.org and we recently did the Confino Living History tour which was our favortie of the ones we have done. We felt it was an excellent view of the early history/immigration.

Before going to central park, I would also check out the web site to see what areas might interest you most, to perhaps save you some walking time -
centralparknyc.org and centralpark.com

Spamalot and Les Miz are so different - if you haven't seen either, it's up to you - but we left Spamalot with our faces hurting from smiling and laughing so much and Les Miz, well, that's just different - you can certainly read all about them online and it's a personal choice.

nelsonian

Thanks Escargot, I have just got home from work and the first thing I did was check the replies to my question. I have had a quick look at your thread on jazz in NYC but will study it in depth later. My daughter and son-in-law are professional jazz musicians in Wellington New Zealand so we are being sent to suss out the jazz scene for them as one of their dreams is to play jazz in New York. May or may not happen I guess.
Also I have seen Les Mis twice in New Zealand and absolutely loved both productions. However I think a Broadway production would be even better. My husband thinks though we should go see something different and he is a Monty Python fan. Hmmm decisions, decisions.
Thanks for the info on the Tenement musuem I will check out their web site, the Living History Tours sounds great.

escargot

You can't go wrong with either show - I am a Monty Python 'marginal' fan, my husband and daughter are not, but we all loved the show - actually, I've seen it twice

I must add I am extremely jealous you are in New Zealand - our family trip to NZ remains my all time favorite vacation and I hope to return some day.
Enjoy your stay in NYC !

nelsonian

Another question, reading your thread Escargot, I see several of the jazz places are in the West village. Is this the same as Grenwich village or somewhere completely different. Friends of my daughter's have said we should check out Grenwich village as there are a lot of jazz venues there, although they haven't come up with any specific places.

escargot

Someone from NYC can probably answer this better, but my understanding always was that Greenwich Village was the area of Houston St adn 14th - once you got South of Houston (SoHo) you were in the area referred to as SoHo, once you got north of 14th you were in the beginning of MidTown - and that the West Village was the west area of Greenwich Village if that makes sense, so the WV is part of Greenwich in my mind - or as my husband would say 'the same but differenet' - hopefully a New Yorker will plug in and explain it exactly or maybe you want to start a new post -