Time LIne Help for Battery/Ellis Isl/LES
 

Is this a plan?

Ferry to Ellis Island and take the tour. (Have been to Liberty Island and won't stop there this time)

Back to Manhattan - walking up through Wall St (have been to WTC and won't stop there this time) to Mott St for dim sum or lunch.

Over to Orchard St to East Side Tenement Tour at 2:30.

Pearl Street Shopping / wander around / find a bar in Little Italy (Mare Chiaro?)

Back to Hotel.

This is Friday so if we still have movable feet, saunter over to MOMA for an hour and then have light dinner somewhere? Between MOMA and the Affinia Dumont - maybe a pub/bar restaurant or Asian.

Not sure if I have enough travel time to do Ellis Island tour and still be back for lunch and then our tour. How long does the ferry take??

Thanks for any insight.

I think you may be pushing it to get to Orchard Street by 2:30 even if you don't stop for lunch.

What time of year? The lines for the ferry can be lengthy and time consuming, especially as the weather gets warmer and school lets out. Ferry ride itself is about 15 minutes, but its the loading and unloading and waiting that takes time. I think you must allow 3 hours minimum to get there, visit, and get back.

The walk from the ferry to Mott St will take 20-30 minutes.

The walk from the Mott St to the Tenement Museum will take 10-20 minutes.

Personally, I think this is ambitious.

The worst that could happen: Once off the ferry you hop a cab directly to Chinatown or, if even later, the Tenement Museum.

Thanks for the replies. Great information!

We are planning this for May 26 - not sure if the kids are out of school then yet?

Maybe I should get a later time for the Tenement Museum - not sure if they have more than one, but haven't reserved it yet.

New York kids are still in school. But May will be tons of tourists and the lines will be long - esp with all the security. And the Immigration Museum takes time. You need to get reservations in advance for an early ferry - and count on at least 4 hours - including to and fro.

I think we'll just omit Ellis Island on this trip. Maybe we can work it in when we come in a shoulder season. I don't want to be worried and stressed about the time.

I just thought it would work in well with the Tenement Museum. But with so much to see and do we don't want to choose to stand in line for hours.

Thanks for the insight.

Just a note - this past summer, my family and I (native NYers that we are) got up early one Sunday and made the first boat to Ellis Island. We had never been!
I had reserved tickets on the internet, so all we had to do was pick them up at the will call window (4 minutes) walk thru security (10 minutes) and wait for the boat to leave (about 15 minutes). So if I remember correctly, we got there about a half hour early for the first boat. The boat left promptly, dropped people at Liberty island and arrived on time at Ellis. We did not take the tour but spent a good 2 and 1/2 hours looking at everything and researching some ancestors on the computer system. We had an incredible time - it is unbelievably moving experience.

We got the return boat around 11:30, I think and I know we were back in Manhattan before 12:00.

I think to combine the trip with a visit to the Tenement Museum (which is also beautifully done and fascinating) would be a wonderful, stimulating, but tiring (and for me, emotional) day. But you could do it, definitely.

mp,
Thanks for the reply. After reading that, I have hope!
I had no clue that you could reserve tickets online. That will be the way to go. Do you happen to know the website for that? Also, do you remember what time the FIRST ferry left? Thank you so much for taking the time to post the information.

This site has the schedules and information about purchasing the ferry tickets in advance.

http://www.statuereservations.com/index1.html

If you are staying at the Dumont, there are several good choices for dinner in the neighborhood. But if you want to go to MOMA, consider the Bar Room at The Modern, the museum's restaurant (but you need to make reservations to get a good time ... and skip the much more expensive main dining room). Closer to your hotel, there's a good neighborhood restaurant called Benjamin on the corner of 33rd Street and 2nd Ave., an excellent Greek restaurant called Ethos on 3rd Ave. near 34th (but it's more expensive). But even Cinema Restaurant on the corner of 34th and 3rd is good. I also like Hudson Place at 36th and 3rd (but skip the bar/pub restaurants in the blocks between 35th and 33rd streets on 3rd ave.) I'm less keen on the Asian restaurants in the neighborhood, but if you are willing to travel a bit, there's an excellent Vietnamese restaurant calle Bao Noodles, just south of 23rd and 2nd, but it takes only cash and no reservations (but the small-plate style Vietnamese food never disappoints ... especially salt and pepper squid).

Thanks for the website ms_go - Now I"m good to go!

And Doug - great restaurant suggestions - I'll cut and paste them for later - I particularly like the idea of the Bar at the Modern.

We will go down to Christopher St about 9:30 to meet a friend who (hopefully) will be singing at the Duplex. What is the easiest way to get there from the Modern?

This day is really coming together.

I'll be starting a thread soon about Harlem sightseeing (walking) and noshing!

To get from MOMA to the Duplex, I guess it depends on how many of you there are and whether you can find a cab. To use the subway, take the E or V from 53 st & Fifth downtown to West 4th st. stop. Otherwise, take a taxi. Have you tried using hopstop.com yet??

a really good website for subway and bus directions is:
http://www.hopstop.com/?city=newyork

but from MOMA to The Duplex, the easiest way to is take the downtown E or F train across 53rd Street from the museum to the West 4th Street/Washington Square stop. Then walk 1 block west to Sheridan Square. You can walk west on Waverly Place or on Washington Place - both lead into Sheridan square.

Yes, I have another thread going about Coney Island and the Brooklyn Bridge and have mapped out the entire day using Hopstop! It's a great site - thanks for pointing it to me on that thread, Laurie.

(And thanks mp, to you also for finding the directions and calling HopStop to my attention.)

That is a RT from our apartment, but other places - like the MOMA, I don't know well enough to know which exit to use and what street we will be near.

There will be just two of us btw.

Has anyone eaten at the Bar at the MOMA? The small plates look great and the specialty Martini is interesting - but can't imagine it with cilantro? Anyone tried it?

I'll be starting a thread soon about walking tours in west Harlem and where to get the best food. Hope I hear from all of you on that one!