If you are going to museums, the girls can get their tickets for 2 for $5 and I believe one adult can also get a $2.50 ticket. Go to http://www.highfivetix.org/splash.aspx.

Someone on this board recommended that site to me and it saved us $40.50 on tickets to the Guggenheim last Sunday.

Missy: No such thing as the yellow line. Trains in NYC have letter names and numbers, they're not referred to by color.

If you go to the Met, and you should definitely go to the Met, have pizza at the little joint on 82nd and Lexington. I think it's Famous Ray Bono's Pizza. The price of the Met is suggested donation, not an admission price. You can pay less.

If you are staying at the Holiday Inn Soho, you are only a 15-20 minute walk from Century 21, and you will pass by Canal street, City Hall, The Brooklyn Bridge--all worthwhile.
Not "out of the way" at all!

Okay, it's the line that will be yellow on your subway map and the line where the letters on the sign are in yellow circles. It's actually the N R W line.

If I can make one suggestion: if you assemble a list of stores or restaurants you definitely want to try to find, take the time to google them and get the street address and maybe even look at the picture on google maps to get an idea of what it looks like. In the past in big cities I've made the mistake of noting recommendations such as "right across the street from..." or "two blocks away from..." Two blocks in what direction? Recently, one "right across the street from" turned out to be across the street and 5 blocks down from."

I'm not criticizing anyone's directions here. Most of us are relying on memory. It's just that you can save yourself some walking (and perhaps complaints from the teens) if you know the exact address.

If you ask a NY'er where's the yellow line, I hate to think what answer you may get.

As BigRuss noted people use letters and numbers or nicknames like the Lex local, the 8th Avenue, or the Shuttle not colors.

I was assuming they would be looking at the subway map or the subway signs. If anyone had told me to go to the Lex local or the 8th avenue, I would have been lost.

Always ask. New Yorkers who do not know where they live know the subway lines and stops in Manhattan below 86th street and are always proud to share their knowledge with you.

They will not know, however, the bus routes other than the ones they take. Just another NY idiocyncratic characteristic.

You might pick up New York Magazine, they list sales and sample sales all over the city. Also Daffy's will be one of the girls favorites and they are all over the city. The biggest is in Herald Square near Macy's. Daffy's is all designer at great prices.

For CHEAP jeans and tees and accessories, you CAN"T BEAT Conway.
Conway is also in the Herald Square area, 35th and Broadway and 34th between 7th and 8th. Designer look jeans $10, tees $5 or less.

Filene's is also in the city at Union Square so you might check there as well.

Hope this helps and have a great time.

My D's walked straight in and out of Conway and spent about 2 minutes at Daffy's. (They also hated Macy's.) It's very hard to tell what the 16 year olds will love and what they will dislike. Just try to go to a variety of places you don't have at home, for the adventure of it.

Also, for any stores or restaurants that you're making a special trip to visit, check the web site or call to see if they are still around...the recession has hit a lot of restaurant and retail locations nationwide. A store that was a big deal six months ago (the Virgin Megastore, for example) might not exist anymore.

My DD lives in NYC and her fave store is still Urban Outfitters - and we have one in Austin!
Fave place for her to eat _ Cafeteria, 17th/7th. She likes Bottega for dinner - so do I.


Your girls would probably love "In the Heights" on Broadway.

Near Cafeteria is Le Zie, where we ate the other night and everthing was superb, the satff was extremely cordial and not one dish was less than excellent. It is Venetian cooking. We have eaten there many times over the years, and for some reason I always forget to recommend it.

You need to purchase a good guidebook, read it and take notes. Then come back and ask specific questions. NYC is not a city you can "do" in 3 days, so you do have to choose what you want to do from the options.

Even though you forget to recommend Le Zie, Adu, I don't and have been recommending it for years here.

However, I don't think teenage girls would like Le Zie.

Here is another resto the snappers may like:

www.kittichairestaurant.com

Thin

Here's my advice on restaurants: unless you are planning an entire evening around a "destination restaurant", figure out where you are going to be at meal time, then post a question like "Does anyone know of any good restaurants around 17th and 7th?" Folks on this board know so much that I can pretty much guaranty that whatever neighborhood you'll be in, someone will have a great suggestion. You don't want to be eating a nice dinner in SoHo, being a nervous wreck looking at your watch, knowing you have to race uptown in a short while for a show.

One more thing...with respect to asking directions (e.g. subway lines and busses) from locals...If you are a tourist, you will likely be spending lots of time where the other tourists are, and it may be difficult to actually find a New Yorker...the employees in the stores live there, but they are swamped with customers. On both of our recent trips to NYC, foreign tourists have asked us questions, thinking we were locals. So get a subway or other good map.

True Thin, you often mention Le Zie. It was mixed aged crowd the other evening but for the most part it is usually a 30 year old and over crowd.

Younger crowd

Xunta-tapas bar
Veselka-Eastern European
Lombardi's-pizza
Virgil's-BBQ

I'd also suggest a trip to the Lower East Side as a fun day for the girls. St. Marks Place from 3rd to 1st Ave has lots of stores they will like, some good restaurants and lots of college age kids.

Around the corner on 2nd AVe, just south of St. Marks is Pomme Fritte, with THE BEST fries, and lots of sauces to choose from, they will love that stop.

Hope you all enjoy your trip.

There are a number of designer/owener shops, mainly owned young women from East 9th to East 12 from Aveneue A to 2nd Ave.

There are also unique clothing stores on Mulberry and Elizabeth south of Houson.