Johnnyman7

Thanks to all of your help (thank you!), I've finally put together a rough itinerary. Feedback is encouraged!

Key questions:
1) Should we go to Harlem and the NYC Greenmarket on Saturday....or Brooklyn and their Farmer's Market? We want to see both neighborhoods, but I think it may be too much.

2) Thursday afternoon - is a walk though Chinatown and Little Italy enough? Or should we plan on seeing other neighborhoods down there?

3) Am I missing anything major?

We're staying right next to Rockefeller Center. We're both in our late 20's, we love food. I kinda like museums, she doesnt like them so much.

Sunday Oct 7th: Arrive after flight from Cali

Monday
Morning: Gray Line Bus Tour
Lunch: Shops at Grand Central Station
Afternoon: See Midtown sights - ESB, Trump Tower, Chrysler Building, Grand Central, Times Square, etc - utilizing the hopon/hopoff buses.
Evening: Top of the Rock or ESB?

Tuesday:
Morning: Statue of Liberty / Ellis Island
Afternoon: South Street Seaport, Ground Zero, Lower East Side Tenement
Evening: 5:45 Dinner at The Little Owl (reserved)
After Dinner: Broadway show

Wednesday - Chill Day
Fiance wants to do shopping...I'll see some museums. Nothing set in stone today.
Evening: Circle Line Harbor Lights cruise

Thursday
Late morning: Free Wall Street Walking Tour
Afternoon: Walking through Little Italy, Chinatown...any other places?
Dinner: ???
Evening: Broadway show

Friday:
All-Day: Upper East and West Sides and half of Central Park
Evening: Have drinks and see art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Dinner: 830PM at Eleven Madison Park

Saturday
Morning: Either the NYC Greenmarket or the Brooklyn Farmer's Market
Afternoon: Either Brooklyn or Harlem...
Evening: Dinner reservations at Sushi Yasuda

Sunday
Morning: NY Foods Tour of Greenwich
Afternoon: Spend it at Central Park!
Evening: ?? Broadway? Opera? Any suggestions? Maybe the Yankees will be in the playoffs with my beloved Angels!

Monday
NBC Studio Tour
Fly home!

kealalani

I am very impressed with how you are hitting this trip head on. My one suggestion, and I haven't looked at you schedule too closely is to keep the days flexable. I would not consider doing a double decker bus tour if it was cold and rainy....best to be above to take in the architecture then simply be in a bus. Same for the rest of your plans. Days look good, but plan it so you can swap them out due to weather.

My rainy day fave if I didn't mention it is taking in a movie at The Ziegfield Movie House......well worth the visit with a few moments to take it all in before the movie.

Fun!!!

travelbuff

Honestly, I live north of Harlem, and there really isn't much to see. You might consider going up to the Cloisters which is the 190th St stop on the A train and walk up through Ft. Tyon Park to the museum. The Cloisters is one of the gems of the city and not visited as much by tourists.

Harlem is mosly residential, there is of course just south of Harlem, Columbia University, St. John the Divine, Riverside Church all south of 125th St. If you look at a map of the city, you will see north of 110th ST, which is the top of Central Park, it is all residential. There are a couple of historic houses and a several lesser known museums, but I'm not sure with the amount of time you have its worth a half day walking around. You might want to stop off on 125th St to see the Apollo Theatre and there's quite a bit of shopping now on 125th St as well.

Have a great time while you are here.

ggreen

Looks good!!

On Thursday if the weather's nice, you could easily continue your walk in one of two directions:
- Walk over the Brooklyn Bridge into DUMBO for artsy shops, good food, great chocolate and some of the city's best pizza (Grimaldi's). Then take the F train back to Rock Center. (Another alternative is the footbridge on the south side of the Manhattan Bridge - with views of the Brooklyn Bridge - then return to Manhattan via the latter. If this interests you, let me know and I'll give you some tips!)
- Walk north from Chinatown into SoHo or the Lower East Side, ending in the West or East Village, accordingly - and lots of options for dinner. (Alias and WD-50 are just two off the top of my head...)

I can't remember if I've mentioned this before, but if you're going to invest in a map, you might want to look for the Not For Tourists guide to NYC. These little black books - stamped with NFT on the cover - are sooo useful for the type of wandering you are interested in pursuing! (They're also invaluable for locals like me when we're suddenly thrust into an unfamiliar neighborhood LOL.) Each area has maps to identify things like Essentials (ATMs and the like), food, transportation, etc. Check out their website to see pdfs of the info...

dmlove

Walk over the Brooklyn Bridge into DUMBO for artsy shops, good food, great chocolate and some of the city's best pizza (Grimaldi's). Then take the F train back to Rock Center. (Another alternative is the footbridge on the south side of the Manhattan Bridge - with views of the Brooklyn Bridge - then return to Manhattan via the latter. If this interests you, let me know and I'll give you some tips!)

ggreen, what is DUMBO (I assume its an acronym, but for what?). Is Grimaldi's walking distance of the Brooklyn side of the bridge? I assume they do not take reservations? Any other tips, including whether we are nuts to consider doing this the day before Thanksgiving? (I'm a born and raised New Yorker, but I've lived in California my entire adult life, and have never been across the Brooklyn Bridge, except maybe when I was a kid in a car). I'm not even sure where the access points are (on either side). It would also be helpful to know if the F subway is right there in the neighborhood at the Brooklyn side. Thanks much.

nytraveler

Harlem is a neighborhood - with some very interesting architecture and a lot can be seen in a half of a day.

Brooklyn is a separate borough (county) within NYC and is enormous - with about 2.5 million residents and a whole host of neighborhoods - from quit upscale to quite unpleasant. It wouls take a week to see all of it.

Dumbo is an interesting are right across the river from Manhattan and can be explore in a reasonable time. for the rest of Brooklyn - you would have to decide what you want to see - Prospect Park, Brooklyn Museum, Coney Island or dozens of other areas.

ellenem

DUMBO stands for something like Down Underneath Manhattan Bridge Overpass.

dmlove

Since we would go for lunch, and obviously, so would everyone else , what time of day is best to avoid crowds (we'll be on vacation, so we don't care when we eat!)

RobinBinNYC

Hi, I just had visitors from CA last weekend, and we spent Sunday 11:30a.m. (the time we got on the ferry) until 5:00p.m. on Ellis Island alone. I don't think you'll be able to do both the Statue and Ellis Island in one morning, just my opinion for what it's worth! (also, geographically, it might be easier after that to first go to the World Trade Center site, and then South Street Seaport) Have a great time!!

Johnnyman7

Awesome suggestions.

kealalani - Thanks for reiterating the need to keep things flexible. I've tried not to "overplan" this trip (like I think we all tend to do on this board).

ggreen - I'll look for these "little black books" and try not to mix it up with my other "black book" ;-)

dmlove, travelbuff, nytraveler - so it looks like you would rather spend a day in Brooklyn than a day in Harlem, correct? I realize that Brooklyn is HUGE, but we would only concentrate on the big "attractions" - the Farmer's Market, Brooklyn Botanical Garden, Prospect Park, 7th Avenue...whatever the day allows. How does that sound...better than a day wandering in Harlem?

A few random questions:
- Has anybody been to the Brooklyn Farmers Market? Is it good...or should we go to the NYC Greenmarket instead?

- Besides (another) Broadway show, does anybody have a recommendation for a great night activity on Sunday? comedy club, symphony, etc?

- Is it better to walk around Central Park, bike? Can we rent rollerblades? (sorry...that may just be a Californian thing!

Thank you all.

ggreen

ellenem is correct: DUMBO is an acronym for Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass. It's an old manufacturing area that became an artists haven and is now turning over to luxury condos and the like (similar to what happened in SoHo in previous decades).

If you look at a map, you'll see that the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges both hit Brooklyn quite close to each other; the DUMBO neighborhood lies roughly in between. York Street is the first stop on the F train. It puts you on Jay Street at the Manhattan Bridge end of the area; the first stop on the A train (High Street) is at the other end and quite close to the pedestrian entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge. The 2/3 stop at Clark Street is also close to the neighborhood. I just noticed that if you do a Google maps search for "dumbo brooklyn ny", it will show you these subway stops and the general layout of the neighborhood.

Grimaldi's is a popular lunch spot about a block or two from the base (anchorage) of the Brooklyn Bridge. I don't know if they take reservations, as I've never tried! Most recently, I went at about 2pm and had no problem getting a table, though it was still bustling. They do close down for about an hour every day around 4pm to clean the ovens - I think if you do a google search, you can find out more details.

My local favorite is a restaurant called Superfine, but it's definitely more of a dinner/drinks spot. A new place I like is called reBar, with an extensive bar selection and great small plates for snacking. Both of these are on Front Street.

And I always have to mention Jacques Torres! If you'll be walking around in November, a cup of his renowned hot chocolate is a must! His chocolate shop is on Water Street. If you're up for it, a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge will still be worthwhile - but it may be blustery across the span!

owlwoman

It sounds like a great schedule and I agree with all others, stay flexible...sunny days for walks, rainy days for museums/shopping.

You are going to two of my favorite restaurants, it's great you got a res at Little Owl, it's difficult, but they do take some walk ins. Make sure you have the meatball sliders, they're awesome. Eleven Madison will be exceptional, best pork I've ever had. The dining room is really comfortable, be ready to settle in for a nice 2-3 hour meal, it's wonderful.

For pre-theatre dining, we head over to 9th Ave., there's a ton of ethnic restaurants that are reasonable, one of our favs is Breeze between 45-46th (I think), there's also Le Madeline, a cute french bistro, Roberto Passon up on the corner of 54th.

When I was young we used to have lunch in Chinatown then dessert/expresso in Little Italy. It's also a fun place to walk around. You can also fit it Greenwich Village/Soho/Meatpacking district if you're ambitious. There are a lot of fun restaurants in this area too, but you may want to rest before the show!

Have fun!

dmlove

I'm not a huge fan of "blustery", but knowing that a Jacques Torres hot chocolate awaits -- that might change my mind!!

ggreen

johnnyman, while the Brooklyn farmer's market is nice, the one in Union Square in Manhattan is the "jewel in the crown" of the NYC Greenmarkets. It's open Mon-Wed-Fri-Sat, so there's plenty of opportunity to browse - but Saturday is understandably by far the largest and busiest. (I haven't been to LA in years, but from what I remember, that market dwarfs ours!) Don't laugh: if you like pickles, look for the Rick's Picks stand at the Union Square market. Unusual, delicious pickles! If you want a light lunch while there, check out Tisserie on the northwest corner of Union Square.

My recommendation for Brooklyn would be to take the 2/3 subway to Brooklyn Museum, which is also the entrance to the Botanic Garden. (Check out the museum for its modern new entrance juxtaposed with the classic McKim, Mead & White architecture of the main building.) When you're done there, head over to 7th Ave in Park Slope as you've planned. You'll probably want to check out 5th Ave, too, since that's where the funkier shops and lots of restaurants are. If this occurs on a day when the Brooklyn farmer's market is in operation, you'll get to pass through it from the museum/botanic garden to Park Slope. (Note that you should use the main entrance to the botanic garden on Eastern Parkway, as it's much easier to navigate to your next location.)

Prospect Park is lovely, but IMO Central Park is better for people-watching and wandering. I love Prospect Park because it's so much easier to do things in: lots of local bikers, walkers, softball leagues, etc. It's worth checking out, especially in comparison to Central Park. But I'm not sure how much time you'll want to spend wandering around...

(BTW, we have an excellent local shop for all things bike-run-swim, called Jack Rabbit Sports on 7th Avenue in Park Slope. They have a new larger location in Manhattan on 14th Street and 6th Ave, too. In addition to gear, they run all sorts of clinics and other events. If you're interested, google for their website.)

If you decide to visit DUMBO, too, you could easily hop the 2/3 at one end of Park Slope or the F at the other, and take them to the stops I mention in the post above.

Definitely look at a map, and you'll see how it all fits together. And if you get the NFT little black book, I'm sure your fiancee will like it lots, too!

ggreen

dmlove, it all depends on the day. Just keep in mind that if it's breezy on land, it will be more so on the bridge.

If you're walking from Manhattan to Brooklyn, at the Brooklyn end of the bridge you'll see a sign for the stairs on the left that go down to street level. Then:
- For Grimaldi's, turn right out of the stairwell, then right again around the bridge anchorage. It's closer to the water on the south side of the bridge. (When you're on the south side of the bridge, both bridges are behind or to the right of you.)
- For Jacques Torres and the rest of DUMBO, turn left out of the stairwell, then right to go through the neighborhood.
- In any case, you'll want to get closer to the river to be in the part of the neighborhood where the shops and restaurants are.

Fulton Ferry/Empire State Park between the bridges is quite nice for views of Manhattan.

Oh, and if anyone reading this is interested in going to DUMBO this weekend (9/28-9/30, 2007), it's the annual DUMBO Arts Festival, when the entire neighborhood opens up with open studios, performances, and lots of fun stuff going on.

Aduchamp1

The Brooklyn Waterfront Artists' Coalition (BWAC) will have an exhibition entitled "Naratives" with over 200 artists participating starting tomorrow. It is in a civil war era warehouse at the end of Van Brunt Street in Red Hook across the street from the new Fairway.

For specifics and directions see BWAC.org

dmlove

Thanks all! (johnny, I hope this helps you,too )

Babunyanya

If you're going to walk downtown to Union Square, be sure to stop in to ABC Carpet and Home and bring your credit cards.

dmlove

You're killin' me Where is ABC Home?

ellenem

http://www.abchome.com/Home.aspx