I have been working in the area for a month now and my girlfriend is coming in town for a week in mid December. I am looking for the best things to do in one full week. I'll be free starting at about 3 p.m on the weekdays and all day Saturday and Sunday. We're both tourists in our mid-late 20's staying just outside Manhattan. What tourist attractions are must-sees? What restaurants, both touristy and local, should we check out?

Do you actually mean Downtown (as in the southern tip of Manhattan) or do you just mean in The City? (In New York Manhattan is not "downtown" - "downtown" is a specific area including the financial district and south. Most of the sights in Manhattan are midtown or uptown - not downtown.)

Assuming you mean all of Manhattan - what I would do is:

Top of the Rock
Central Park
The Met
Staten Island Ferry or another boat ride
Museum of Natural History
Incredible shop windows on Fifth Ave (from Lord & Taylor up to Saks, Rock Center, the tree, St Pat's and on up Fifth and across 57th to Bloomies)

What else you would do depends very much on your interests. I would do some of the gret museums - but your choice.

As for places to eat - you need to provide 1) budget, 2) cuisines you like or not and 3) atmosphere - casual or trendy or cheap and cheerful or romantic or ?

Dear Mal-

I suggest you either pick up a guide book or look at some past postings. It is discssed on a daily basis. Besides deer hunting there is something for everybody.

Ny: You are right in your assumption, I meant all of Manhattan. Thanks for the advice.

Further to nytraveler's advice, you may want to spend a day touring "downtown". Lot's of historical sites - colonial, revolutionary and modern. Here's a link to the Downtown Alliance website that contains lots of information about things to do and see.
http://www.downtownny.com/discover/

Also, if you visit before 12/15, there is a copy of the Magna Carta on display at Fraunces Tavern Museum.
http://www.frauncestavernmuseum.org/

And, the free Staten Island Ferry is located downtown. Great views of the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and of the Manhattan skyline.

Go to the Hong Kong Markt -- a huge Chinese supermarket, definitely the real thing and not for tourists -- on Hester Street between Bowery and Elizabeth. It's the new chinatown...

have pizza at Johns, on Bleecker just east of 7th Avenue, then dessert at Roccos, a bit further east on Bleecker, between 6th and 7th Avenue across from Our Lady of Pompeii

have Korean country food at Dosirak, on 13th between University Place and Fifth Avenue

Buy a NYC guidebook and a map. Then pick as you wish, where, when, how much, etc.