Anyone Visit NYC Recently?

[1.21GW]

Wow!  Lots of good advice!

As far as shows, we did splurge on front row Phantom of the Opera tickets!  We're only there for three days, so that's probably the only show we'll have time to see.  I do appreciate the offer He Man though!

Where is the High Line, I've heard of it, but not familiar with its location.  I also wouldn't mind seeing the Subway museum.
Downtown/West Side: something like 14th St to 30th St.  A common thing to do is to get on it in the 20s and then walk down to 14th and wander through & have lunch at Chelsea market.

Central Park is planned for a fair amount of time on the Sunday we're there.
lots of meandering to be had in the park.  the Met is on the park if you like museums.  they suggest a $25 donation per adult, but its actually is free if you don't want to pay that day.  the frick is a fantastic, much smaller more digestible classic museum (i.e. titian, van dyck, rembrandt, impressionists) that is a block from the park.  Also, a common place to stop and have a drink is the Loeb boat house on lake.  Nice way to break up the walk through the park

C wants to visit a few of the famous stores like Tiffany's, Saks 5th Av, Macy's, FAO Swartz and similar.  Are there others that are a "don't miss?"
they are (almost) all on 5th avenue near the park, so you combine your Central Park walk with the shopping.  any other exciting brands and stores are in the same area.  though to be sure, if you actually want to buy cool stuff, SOHO is probably where you're going to find hip, fun shops.  plus, there's this for the man of the house: http://www.bestmadeco.com/

I like to look at architecture, so I'm hoping to get some good views of some of the more notable buildings like the Woolworth & Chrysler building.
include Grand Central terminal on that stop. they have tours which are pretty interesting.  Chrysler building is across the street, so you can get see that as well.  They are close to 5th avenue shopping, so maybe you can roll the shops, central park, Rockefeller, and midtown architecture in one exhausting day 

We're hitting the ESB observation deck and the Rockefeller center deck.  Are there others to hit?
probably only need to hit one, since they are effectively the same view. both central east/west, and only 12 blocks from each other, so not like you're going to see a vastly different perspective on the city

Thanks!

Based on this, I would recommend a midtown / Central park day where you hit the list above (shops on 5th, Rockefeller, Chrysler, etc.).

Then maybe a downtown day where you take highline and end up in west village and soho.  other things for that day that you didn't mention: flatiron building is on 23rd not too far from highline (5 long blocks).  West village and greenwich have history if you want to visit spots were Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Jack Kerouac, et al played/drank/hungout.

[hbliam]

As was said, all the baller stores are on 5th ave near Central Park, fao is close too. Serendipity is right by fao. Macys is nowhere near all these and if you had to choose one store to skip this would be it. It's just a macys. Big but still just a macys.

[1.21GW]

As was said, all the baller stores are on 5th ave near Central Park, fao is close too. Serendipity is right by fao. Macys is nowhere near all these and if you had to choose one store to skip this would be it. It's just a macys. Big but still just a macys.

...and usually insanely crowded at that.

[pitbull]

I always thought those open top bus tours looked really cheesy until reading some reviews.


Last summer I took the wife and kid for a 4 day visit and we bought a 2 day pass for the gray line tour bus. It was totally worth the money. I love walking NYC, but you can simply see a great deal more on the open air bus and the view is actually really good. You can also use it as transportation as you can get off at any stop and get back on when another bus makes a stop.


I've walked a great deal of Manhattan in previous visits, but the bus allowed us to also get a good overview of Brooklyn and Harlem, which was fantastic. We also lucked out with great tour guides who were very informative. Having seen Brooklyn on the bus tour, I would like to do a NYC trip where we stay and walk Brooklyn, as a change from Manhattan.

[He Man]

Wow!  Lots of good advice!

As far as shows, we did splurge on front row Phantom of the Opera tickets!  We're only there for three days, so that's probably the only show we'll have time to see.  I do appreciate the offer He Man though!

Where is the High Line, I've heard of it, but not familiar with its location.  I also wouldn't mind seeing the Subway museum.

Central Park is planned for a fair amount of time on the Sunday we're there.

C wants to visit a few of the famous stores like Tiffany's, Saks 5th Av, Macy's, FAO Swartz and similar.  Are there others that are a "don't miss?"

I like to look at architecture, so I'm hoping to get some good views of some of the more notable buildings like the Woolworth & Chrysler building.

We're hitting the ESB observation deck and the Rockefeller center deck.  Are there others to hit?

Thanks!

Subway Museum is actually pretty cool. Its kinda crazy how racist those ads were back then.
FAO swartz defintely.
Tiffanys sure why not. If theres a giant flag pole out in the front, i designed the support for that!  (it was my 2nd job for that store).
Toys R us, and go to Candy Land on 2nd floor. if you like gummy candy, this is as fresh as it gets. Just get like 1/4lb to nibble on. Its just way way better than any other gummy candy that sits for weeks.

Between Empire State building and Top of the rock, go to Top of the rock. a day wasted at the empire state building isnt really worth it. Seeing hte Manhattan skyline from Manhattan is eh. 3

Want something out of a movie? go to bethesda foundatin in Central Park. Its a nice walk if you plan on going form one side of the city to the other.

[hbliam]

Between Empire State building and Top of the rock, go to Top of the rock. a day wasted at the empire state building isnt really worth it. Seeing hte Manhattan skyline from Manhattan is eh.

If he pays for the express cut line it's 15 min to the top and as long as he wants to spend at the top.

I hear you on the "eh" factor but for those of us not from there it is actually pretty cool.

[BoDiddley]

If you run out of things to do which is darn near impossible, take the Staten Island Ferry across and back.  Its a nice ride and really cheap, around 5 bucks.  Go mid morning to miss the crowd.  My daughter took me on the Beast boat ride which is not peaceful but a lot of fun, get to the front or get wet.