Hello all,
My husband, sister, and parents are headed to NYC between August 24th and 31st. While we are from the midwest, my father used to work on Wall St. and had an apartment in Battery Park City next to the WFC marina. (Ironically, he sold the company, and his lease ended on 9/30/01). Needless to say, my parents, sister and I are very familiar with NYC and miss it dearly! None of us has been there since 2001. However, this will be my husband's first trip.

We will be staying on the UWS near the Museum of Natural History. We did not realize we were coinciding with the beginning of the Republican convention until it was too late to change our plans! So I have attempted to avoid the downtown area when the convention begins.
With that in mind, please critique our itinerary. Thanks much in advance.


Tuesday, August 24th
Arrive at 10am, check in to hotel
Buy 7-day unlimited bus/subway tickets: $21
Walk down 5th Avenue
Plaza Hotel at 59th and 5th
St. Patrick?s Cathedral
Rockefeller Center at 49th and 5th
NY Public Library at 42nd and 5th
Grand Central Station at 42nd and Park
Empire State Building at 34th and 5th
Macy?s at 34th and 5th
Flatiron Building at 23rd and 5th
(Is there a bus that travels southbound on 5th Avenue? I realize this may be a lot of walking).
Dinner at Carmine?s on the UWS



Wednesday, August 25th
Purchase tickets at TKTS in South Street Seaport, opens at 11:00am
Lunch at Grimaldi?s Pizza in Brooklyn
Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge to Manhattan.
Guss? Pickles
Tenement Museum: Take the ?Getting By: Weathering the Great Depressions of 1873 and 1929? tour (is this the best tour?)
Katz?s Deli for late lunch/ early dinner
Broadway Show


Thursday, August 26th
Lower Manhattan/ Battery Park City
Breakfast at the Garden Diner
Winter Garden/ WTC site/ Esplanade
Free Concert at Trinity Church 1pm
http://www.trinitywallstreet.org/music/noon.shtml
Wall Street/ NYSE
Staten Island Ferry or Ellis Island?

Friday, August 27th
Cloisters
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Frick Collection
Chinatown and Little Italy
Dinner at La Mela

Saturday, August 28th
Kenny Kramer Seinfeld Tour
Dinner at Peter Luger?s

Sunday, August 29th
BB King Blues Gospel Brunch
Circle Line 2-Hour Harbor Lights Cruise?

Monday, August 30th
Central Park
American Museum of Natural History

Tuesday, August 31st
fly home

Cloisters, Met AND Frick is a lot of museum-ing in one day. Since the same admission pays for the Cloisters and the Met, and since the Met is open in the evening on Fridays, why not move part of your Central Park ramblings from Monday to Friday, start the day at the Cloisters and end at the Met? Then visit the Frick on one of your less-busy days, perhaps Sat or Sun.

IMHO Tues and Fri are way too full.

On Tues I would not walk down Fifth to start - you will be doing a lot of other walking that day. Either take the bus - 79th St crosstown (I assume you're at the Lucerne?) or the subway.

On Fri you could spenmd the entire day at the Met - doing the Cloisters and the Frick in the same day will allow only minimal time at each and leave you disappointed. Suggest you go on-line for each and figure out what you really want to see - and how long it will take at each. Why not add some of this stuff to Sat?

Also, please avoid Carmine's - it's really not very good. There are many better - and more interesting - places in the area.

Sounds like you have a very well organized plan!! I can't help too much. You've already done the work! Yes there are several buses that go down Fifth Ave. (#1,2,3,4,etc.)Here's the website for the bus map

http://www.mta.nyc.ny.us/nyct/maps/manbus.pdfv

You can also take a cross town bus through the park at either 79th or 86th.

Your Friday looks too ambitious to me and geographically all over town. I would tack Chinatown and Little Italy onto some other day when you're already downtown--especially since you don't plan on eating there. IMO there's not much to see in Little Italy aside from restaurants & food shops. Same for Chinatown except there are the shops along Canal St. for trinkets etc.

If you're interested in family who may have come over through Ellis Island, I think it's really a worthwhile trip. Also, I believe the SOL will be open by the time you come. Don't know if that's of interest. Have fun.

I had a feeling that Tuesday and Friday were too full. I would like to visit the Cloisters and the Met on the same day so we don't have to pay admission twice. I will move the Frick to another day. (I really wish they were open on Mondays!)

Tuesday we plan on taking the subway from the B&B to the Plaza and walking down from there. (Sorry I didn't include that). We aren't staying at the Lucerne, we are staying at this place: http://www.jacksbandb.com/ It's on 81st between Columbus and Amsterdam.

We may be able to add something on Saturday morning, but the Kramer tour is from 12-3:30 and then we won't have time to go back uptown before heading to Peter Luger's.

If you don't like Carmine's, can you suggest some restaurants on the UWS? We eat anything, but want to keep the prices reasonable.

Thanks!

Both the Met and the Frick are open late (9 pm I think)on Fri and Sat nites. I agree with anonymous that Fri is a lot of museuming (the Met is overwhelming. You won't want to do the Frick after that) but since they're open late, it is doable. Going all the way downtown to La Mela seems ridiculous to me (I haven't been but just looked in the Zagat guide and the review sounds awful---"family-style gorge-fest...big Italian bar mitzvah...perfect for bringing "outta-towners") Sounds like Carmines too. I can understand wanting to go to this type of big, boisterous place once with your largish group-so pick one or the other or....
People rave about Pomodoro Rosso on 71 & Columbus for good, reasonably priced Italian.

A block from your b & b is Kitchen 82 at Colombus & 82. Good food, $25 prix fixe menus. Go. But they don't take reservations.

If you like Japanese/sushi, try Roppongi at Amsterdam & 81. BTW, you have some great breakfast/brunch places in your neighborhood that people for. Sarabeth & Good Enough to Eat.

mclaurie-- Thanks so much for the restaurant suggestions!

While Zagats apparently doesn't like La Mela, it is one of my family's favorite destinations in NYC. It isn't classy, but it's fun and energetic and we love the food and wine. (Of course we are from the midwest, which may have something to do with our standards--and I am serious!) Anyway, it is a must-do for everyone involved.

We would gladly skip Chinatown and Little Italy except for two reasons: a meal at La Mela and a trip to see the Chinatown spot where my father started his business. He rented an area above a Chinese yarn shop until it was moved to Wall Street in 1999. We have heard that the yarn shop was torn down and replaced by condos. (Sorry for the boring detail but I wanted to describe why we are heading there! No need for Canal St. trinkets.)
Thanks again for your valuable input!

Okay. With that info, how about doing Chinatown, Little Italy and La Mela on your last night, Monday??? Memorable way to end the trip. If that's not possible, do it on Sunday. Have fun!!

Yes, the Met is open til 9 on both Friday and Saturday evenings, but the Frick closes at 6 PM every day, Tuesday thru Sunday.

When you visit the Met, be sure to stop in at their rooftop cafe. This year's exhibit was wasted on me, but the views acrtoss Central Park are wonderful, especially around sunset.

topping for the weekday crew. . .
any more suggestions?

Thanks!

I once did the Frick and the Met on the same day and to say it was overwhelming is an understatement.

Have you ever seen the movie 'Overboard' with Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell? The part where Goldie is blubbering like an idiot was me that afternoon.

Way to much sensory overload.

Unless your husband is a super huge Seinfield fan, I would also skip that tour and maybe pick up an architectual tour of downtown.