We spent 5 great days in NYC--thanks to the 40 and 50 degree weather. Here's a brief run-down of what we did:
Fri: checked in to hotel at 2 p.m. (Westin on 43rd and 8th Ave.)Walked on Broadway to Herald Square to see Macy's windows and then to Empire State Building. Walked back to Times Square, then to Grand Central to see all the sites between. Took express subway back to Times Square, walked around some more and to bed.
Sat:
1.Subway to 116th St. to tour Columbia University and Morningside Heights area--very quiet because univ. was on Christmas break
2.Ate at a deli in Morningside Heights, walked to Rockefeller Center, saw tree, skaters, etc (didn't stay more than 20 minutes--packed with people)
3. Matinee of Phantom of the Opera
4. subway to Met. Museum of Art
5. Took cab down 5th Ave. back to Times Square to see the stores without having to walk (We were exhausted from all the walking at this point.)
Sun:
1. Subway to south point of Manhattan
2. Staten Island Ferry to see Statue of Liberty
3. Walked Battery Park, Ground Zero, St. Paul's Cathedral
4. shopped at Century 21
5. Walked up to Canal Street and all around Little Italy and Chinatown
6. Walked south again and then over Brooklyn Bridge (yeah, we kinda went the wrong way, but we just kept turning around to enjoy the view of Manhattan.)
7. Pizza at Grimaldi's in Brooklyn
8. Subway back to Times Square and hotel
Mon:
1. Museum of Natural History/Planetarium
2. Walked to Central Park and did the carriage/tourist thing
3. Walked all the way back to hotel, stopped and ate at Hello Deli on the way, soaking up all the NYC atmosphere
4. Rested a couple hours
5. Cabaret performance
6. Late Chinese dinner
Tues:
By now we had done everything on our list and everything on our "if we have time" list. Considering the crowds, we were very proud of ourselves. We spent a few more hours eating and enjoying Times Square and then went to airport very early.

The smartest thing I did to prepare for this trip was to print tickets to the Empire State Building online before we left home. Having our tickets saved us AT LEAST an hour and a half of waiting in line. Because we had tickets, we were directed to a shorter line and were on the first set of elevators in less than 10 minutes. Others in our elevator had waited in line at least an hour and a half. We still had to go through the line at the 86th floor, but we were perfectly ok with that.

I'm trying to keep this as short as possible. If anyone wants more specifics, please ask; I'll be happy to provide more details.

Thanks again to all the posters on this forum. The information I got here was priceless--and I used more tips from you people than I can count. We can't wait to return to your great city!

Yea!!!! you did the brooklyn bridge and ate pizza!!!! Love that, my fav tourist acting like a local thing to do!! What fun, you had an amazing trip! Thanks for sharing!

Great report! I'm jealous that you ate pizza after crossing the Brooklyn Bridge--I wasn't sure where to find Grimaldi's, so I guess it's on my list for next time.

Nice report, but you left out a very important detail. What did you choose as your b-day gift?!?

LOL, Floorit, I want to know what she bought at Century 21~

Floorit, I battled the crowds at Macy's (after our visit to ESB) and found cashmere sweaters 1/2 price--so I bought 2.
Scarlett, I tried on about 6 cashmere sweaters at Century 21 also, but decided that none were special enough to buy considering I had already bought two. My daughter was luckier; she found a pair of pants, a skirt and a shirt. Not bad considering our one-hour time limit. (Husband and son were along; one hour was their limit.)

As for finding Grimaldi's--we had no idea where it was either, but got lucky. We exited the bridge and walked about a block back towards the water. I spotted a family walking towards us and the husband/father was carrying what appeared to be leftover pizza. I asked him if they had just eaten pizza at Grimaldi's; they had and gave us the directions. He then asked us if we had just walked the bridge and how to get on it. We figured even trade--they helped us, we helped them.