NYC questions
 

Hi,

My trip to NYC with my cousins (We're calling it "Betty, Ruth and Margaret's Girls Go to the City" in honor/memory of our mothers who were sisters) is approaching (the week after Thanksgiving).

We have our Jersey Boy tickets, but that's it, so far. I am pushing for seeing the Christmas Show at Radio City but, strangely, no one else seems interested. Everyone wants to do an open-air bus tour. I've never taken a bus tour and think this would be the time to do it since one cousin has mobility issues. Any suggestions as to how to be sure that is a good experience? Just pick a bus and buy a ticket?

Another cousin wants to find a "mom and pop-style diner" with good food. Since we will be staying at the Milford Plaza, I don't imagine there are any within walking distance. Any suggestions?

I expect that we will be using cabs a great deal. How many passengers are allowed in a sedan-type cab? There will be four of us -- will we have to ride in the mini-vans, or can we squeeze in a regular cab, with one of us sitting in front?

My daughter and I also had a trip planned to NYC last weekend which we had to cancel due to a family health emergency. We were quite disappointed and hope to reschedule soon. She will not be able to accompany us when we go on the "cousins trip."

Thanks for your help!

Four passengers are allowed in a NYC cab, just tell the cab driver to his "stuff: from the passenger seat in the front.

We have equivilents of "mom and pop dinners", the better ones are in the boroughs. They have a thousand items on the menus but almost everyone gets a burger or an omelet. Many have desserts in display cases that look like the main ingredient is steroids. I would try to eat ethnic food in NYC, since we have a wide and excellent range of choices.

Vicki, it will probably be pretty chilly for an open bus tour. I took my daughters on the New York City Party Shuttle and cannot tell you how great it was! You'll be with a small group of about 30 on a very nice roomy van which is great for people with mobility issues. (We had a couple on our trip.) You are able to get out at St Patrick's, Ground Zero, Wall St. etc. They also take you on the ferry and give you a lunch stop. I recommend bringing your own from a deli. Our tour guide was so enjoyable and answered a million of our questions. It's the absolute best way to get an overview of the city and then later you can do in depth things such as shopping, art museums, etc. I've been twice this year....just got back....love the city. You can reserve a ticket on the party shuttle. Try to do it your first or second day!

It's likely to be too cold for the top of a bus - and the big sightseeing buses can't go a lot of places anyway (Central Park, cute residential areas) - they're not allowed. And from the inside of the bus you really can;t see very much.

Cabs for 4 make a lot of sense for short distances. For longer ones take either the subway or the local bus. the latter go everywhere, stop every couple of blocks and appear every 5 minutes or so except late at night (after about 11 pm).

I agree that the Christmas show is a bust- but I know a lot of people like it. Instead we always try to do the Nutcracker at Lincoln Center.

There are a few diners in Manhattan - but lots of coffee shops (our local equivalent). And I don;t mean Starbucks - they have diner type menus and similar quality food. But - not sure why you would do this in NYC _ when there are so many better choices - at every price range. If you want to be thrifty pick some ethnic places - that generally give you a lot for your money - and are probably much more authentic that you have at home.

I would think the OP's cousin wants the "mom and pop" diner for the ambiance/experience - they're certainly a NY classic.

There are diners not too far from the Milford where you can get a bit of that classic NYC experience without trekking to the boroughs.

The Olympic Diner on the west side of 8th Ave between 48th and 49th Streets is a classic NYC Greek diner. As such, the food's not bad, just pretty basic in quality. But if it's character you're looking for, this is the place! :) Since it's not far from the Milford, you could pop in for one of your breakfasts, or a burger or blt in the late afternoon.

(I recall that there's another diner-type restaurant just north of the Milford - don't remember the name - but it's not great food/service, and pricey.)

IMO, Cosmos Diner on 6th Ave at 55th Street has better quality food - but the prices reflect the high-rent area it's in!

Hell's Kitchen is just to the west of your hotel and has lots of good food options, ethnic and otherwise. For diner-esque, try:
- Georgio's Country Grill
- Vynl Diner (a personal fave)

For great baked goods and coffee to go (seating area is tiny), you must try Amy's Bread, on the east side of 9th Ave betw. 46th and 47th Streets. The grilled sandwiches and cakes are also scrumptious!

Check out menus and user reviews at menupages.com, a great NYC resource. (Note that for some reason they don't have this location of Amy's Bread listed - but it's the same as the others that are, so you can see what they offer.)

hey ggreen!

We stayed at the Holiday Inn and discovered the Olympic Diner on our first day. We ate breakfast there every single day! Their breakfasts wraps are fantastic....I'm sure they make their own wraps, very thin and crispy. Plus, they are always yelling at each other....very funny! Friendly service, good prices.

FYI, menupages.com has a category for diners and coffee shops. Then you can narrow down your choices by area/ neighborhood. It's very easy to use, and I'm using it for my NYC November trip dining plans. :-)

LLindaC, that's just what I'm talking about. It's so great just to sit back and watch the cast of characters, staff and diners alike! I'm glad you liked it.

My BF used to live around the corner and we'd go there regularly, but I hadn't been in a long time. This summer, I ended up in a situation after an evening out in the area where I really needed food - and a restroom. Olympic Diner to the rescue! I'm not usually a fan of sitting in a restaurant by myself, but between the nicely attentive waiter and the dining room drama, I had plenty to keep me occupied. Good sandwich, too! :D

Olympic Diner sounds great! Great reviews in menupages.com also. We're staying at 50th/ Lexington next month, though maybe we can handle a walk over there. :-)

Eisenberg's Sandwich Shop ($)
174 5th Ave, New York 10010
Btwn 22nd & 23rd St

I always draw a blank on the name, but if you come out of the Milford Plaza onto 8th Ave., and look across the street at the next corner south, there is a double fronted coffee shop facing 8th Avenue. It is often filled with police and firemen eating. We've only done breakfast there, but it is a true old fashioned and GOOD, cheap diner/coffee shop.
More upscale, I think Vynl Diner is really a great place, with exceptionally good food -- too upscale foodwise to be called a diner, really.

Eisenberg's was sold in the last year and is not as good as it once was.

Thanks so much for these suggestions! Vynl Diner sounds great, as well as the Olympic.

But, back to the bus tour....
is this something that should be done only in warmer weather, so you can sit on the top deck, or is there a better way to tour?

Off to Google the New York City Party Shuttle....

Vicki

http://www.newyorkpartyshuttle.com/





There you go Vicki.

I guess I don;t understand the "tour" process.

I got conned into a free 1/2 day "tour" of London the first time I was there - on a package - and got off after the second stop.

I see no point in siting on a bus while the guide, imitating FAs, says to your right look at Green Park, to your left look at the National Gallery. I want to walk through the Green Park and sit on a bench and enjoy the passersby - and the ducks and other warterfowl. I want to visit the National Gallery and look at the artwork - not the outside of the building - which could be one of at least 50 other buildings in London.

New York has so may fantastic options, to me you're time is much better spent spent actually seeing and doing things.

The one "tour" that makes sense is some sort of boat ride - either Circle Line or the (free) Staten Island ferry - since it gives a perspective on the whole island and all the skyscrapers that you can otherwise get only from the air - or (at least partly) from the Top of the Rock.

We are not "tour" people. However, when we were in Barcelona a few years ago, we did take one of those around-the-city open-top hop-on, hop-off bus tours and it was a great thing to do the first time in a city. It gave us a terrific overview of the city, and good ideas for the places we wanted to return to. I wouldn't do it as a way to "see" the sights (prefer to walk and sit and people-watch, too) but I would do it to give me a handle on a place I'd never been before.

nytraveler, if your time is extremely limited or if you've been to the city before, I might tend to agree with you. But to spend a few hours (or even a full day on a hop on-hop off type bus) to get an overview of a big city can be a great thing. Sure you may want to go back and see the inside of some (probably not all) of those things, but a simple tour to give you some historical and geographic background so you have a good feel for what you want to do is not such a bad thing.

nytraveler....the Party shuttle takes you to Central Park, where you see Lennon's place, etc, and get out. He explains to you about the park , etc. Then you get out at St Patrick's, Ground Zero, Wall St.etc They take you on the Staten Island Ferry. You do NOT sit on a van the whole time.
I think it is a GREAT way to be introduced to the city. These guides are excellent and tell you many anectodotes and answer a million questions. To try to see all those sights in one visit takes lots of subway rides and planning. I suggest doing the tour early, then going back to the Top of the Rock, museums, Central Park, etc. This tour gives you lots of info about the various parts of Manhattan and gives you the sense of direction you need.

trippinkpj, Olympic is nice - but it still is a basic diner and not something I'd trek across town for! :)

There are diners/coffee shops on the east side, too. It's been a while since I frequented the area, so not a lot of options are coming immediately to mind. One place you might want to check out though is Comfort Diner on 45th (I think) between 2nd and 3rd Aves. It's not a classic diner because there are modern twists on the food - but it was always consistently good when we used to go there! Gets really crowded for weekday lunch.

NeoP, is that Smiths that you're talking about, just adjacent to a subway entrance on the west side of 8th Ave at 44th Street? The smell of bacon, or of boiled cabbage (depending on time of day) always wafts down the subway stairs, to the degree that I never wanted to try the food. Guess I'll have to give it a go the next time!

Yes. Smith's it is. I always remember that is a simple name, so I keep thinking "Joe's" or "Bob's", but it is indeed Smith's. I love breakfast there. Never been there for lunch or dinner. I can imagine the smell of bacon and sausage wafting into the subway. I didn't realize I didn't say at the corner of 44th, but that is it.

Cafe Edison at the Edison Hotel is a good diner/coffee shop.
http://menupages.com/restaurantdetai...p;cuisineid=22

The Cheyenne Diner, not as close has the classic metal diner look and food is good. It's nearish Macy's.

Maybe the others are not interested in the Xmas Spectacular b/c of price. There are $49 tickets available on off peak shows.
75DMORCH Is the $49 discount Code to get discounted seats for non-peak shows during NOVEMBER Only.

Yes the Cafe Edison is a classic, often called the "Polish Tea Room".

For the poster staying on the east side, try Bloom's on Lexington and 39th or 40th. It's kind of old-fashioned and has been around for a while.

I'm not at all a fan of the open-top bus tours, because I find them really expensive. However, if your cousin has mobility issues, it might be a viable option. If it's cold, you can always sit inside. Or you could just buy a day pass for the MTA and ride the regular bus.

Neo Patrick

Well I studied history - my degree is european history - so I already know way more than the guide tells you - and quite possibly more than s/he knows. And I always study a map before I go to get a good picture of where things are and how the public transit system works.

Perhaps it comes from being a native New Yorker - but I'm much more comfortable heading out on my own than sitting on a bus in traffic and being lectured as if I were in 6th grade (IMHO that's the level of the average tour guide). As for an overview of the buildings - usually you can get that from riding a city bus.

And I do sometimes do walking tours - but the in depth tours of a specific area or topic -in which the guide does know more than I do about it.

Well, of course if you know more than the professional guides it would be silly to take a bus tour that lectures you. I was assuming that the poster asking the question probably is NOT more knowledgeable about New York than the professional guides, but I could be wrong.

WOW.... I was not "lectured". I was Magna Cum Laude in college, ok? I certainly knew the history of NYC and had been there twice before I took the Party shuttle with my girls, but got WAY more out of it on that tour. It is excellent and the guide was a native and young and enthusiastic. Why are you being so negative if you haven't tried it? I also enjoyed the Architectural boat Tour in Chicago. Yes, it's best to experience some things on your own, but as a first experience in Manhattan, the Party Shuttle is an excellent tour. They go to great pains to get incredible guides. I am a world traveler and can appreciate a good thing!

LLindaC, I think you missed the point. When someone knows more than anyone else, including professional guides, there is no point doing the tour and being unhappy in a subordinate role. I enjoy an introductory tour in a new city as well, but I've never been anywhere where I am a greater expert than a trained professional guide. Some others apparently are.

This is interesting for me, since I'm going to NYC in less than 3 weeks. It will be my 2nd time and my daughter's 6th time. So she can be my tour guide, LOL. We have two people in NYC (a niece and a long time friend), who are giving us ideas also.

Cheyenne (9th Ave at 33rd Street) is a great classic silver diner.And Bloom's is one of the ones I was trying to remember on the east side and couldn't - Doug, I'm pretty sure it's the corner of 40th (and Lex).

NeoP, Smiths it is! I'm definitely gonna try their breakfast the next time I'm in that area! Thanx for the tip. ;)

(I think I'll stay out of the tour guide/bus discussion - other than to say that I think the OP and her cousins would find it worth their while. Okay, I guess that's not staying out of the conversation tho LOL.) :)

NY Tour guides can range from extremely knowledgable and entertaining to clueless. The buses pass by work and by our apartment and many of the tourists look like they are transporting figures from Madame Tussaud's. We do wave at them and yell, "Spend money, spend money." We have an acquiantance who is excellent professional bus guide but knows others are not as good.

We are not tour people, since we would rather "dscover" sites on our own rather than have another's impression. We have, however, taken days tours in places like Guatemala and Belize, since I a city kid and cannot tell one poisin tree from another.

Neo Patrick

I think the problem is that many of the guides are not very professional - and give out clearly erroneous information. Others may know a lot more - but the canned spiel is written at a very basic level.

And I still don;t get the point of looking at the outside of a museum.

I've done lots of tours that I've loved - with very erudite guides, in many parts of europe - but specialty in-depth tours of a specific sight or area.

My only tour in the US was with a group of clients in DC - and we were amazed to learn that Lincoln had freed the slaves in 1860 - and that the guide couldn't recite the Gettysburg address correctly. (Isn't that one of those things we all have to memorize in middle school?)

My funniest experience along those lines was a London Walks of "Dickens' London". We were standing on The Strand and the guide was telling us that until the early 1900s the area that is now The Strand was just a beach and the water from the Thames lapped right up to it. A little while later we walked DOWNHILL towards the river and stood outside a house where he told us Dickens lived as a child. I asked if Dickens was a good swimmer. The humor escaped the guide.

I think you're either a tour person or you're not. I hate to see hordes of people lined up here waiting for those awful red buses. I always think - WALK someplace this is a huge waste of your time. We already had a hop on/hop off system - we called them trains and buses!

If you have mobility issues, the subway is hard to impossible. But I really do hate those tour buses.

Alright, call me a hypocrite - but I'll add my two cents about bus tours. ;)

I'm one of those people who loves to get a "lay of the land" in a new place whenever possible - including where the museums are (by the outside). But I'm not a guy-with-a-microphone tour bus rider, either.

The best (and only!) "tour bus" I ever used was in Berlin. There is one city bus that was identified in all the guide books as being a great loop line that passes all the major areas/sights in the city, and it delivered as promised.

The problem in NYC is that there's no single bus like that. And the bus system is intimidating for newbies unless specific lines are identified for you. The problem carries over to the bus map: an awesome resource for its detailed information, but too overwhelming if you're just trying to pick out some good routes to take for sightseeing!

So, for vickib2 and her cousins, it sounds like a guided tour would be a good option. I've heard lots of good things about the Party Shuttle, but can't comment on it directly. I will say that I always learn something new when I take out-of-town guests on one of the Big Onion walking tours.

When we lived in NYC I always took them on the Circle Line tour. It was predictible that the guide would point out New York Hospital and say it was either Mt. Sinai or Columbia. We lived across the street from the hospital and this was way back in the dark ages before Columbia Presbyterian and NYH-CUMC joined forces. There were a host of other errors, too, but that was the most egregious---to me, lol.

If you are looking for another play I can hearatily recommend THE RITZ
w/Rosie Perez. It is a laugh a minute.