There are some outstanding public buildings that are worth visiting, like the public library on Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street. The entry lobby, stairs, and the Main Reading Room are monumental, to say the least. Walk through Grand Central Terminal on 42nd Street and crane your neck to inspect the ceiling.
Wander the streets of the West Village (everything below 14th Street to Canal between Seventh Avenue and the Hudson) and just go whichever way you choose. Continue south into Soho and Tribeca and ultimately the Financial District and the World Trade Center.
If you're crossing the Brooklyn Bridge, I'd walk rather than bike. The walkway is jammed and people are not paying attention so you will be frustrated. It can be walked in about 15 to 20 mins. On the Brooklyn side, slip down the stairs and turn left for Dumbo or right for Brooklyn Heights. There's great brick oven pizza under the bridge and the view from Brooklyn Heights Promenade are unbeatable. The subway back to Manhattan is easy.
Also St Patricks Cathedral. I havent been over there in awhile but although under renovation on the outside, I think you can go inside now.
Ground Zero!!!!
As I recall, you have to mail for tickets to the Tonight Show like 2 yrs in advance.
Take a few cartons of smokes and that help pay for the trip..
GROUND ZERO!! Wash, rinse, repeat!!!
MoMA-the Museum of Modern Art.
http://www.moma.org/
“The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world.[2] The museum’s collection offers an overview of modern and contemporary art,[3] including works of architecture and design, drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, prints, illustrated books and artist’s books, film and electronic media.
The Library’s holdings include approximately 300,000 books and exhibition catalogs, over 1,000 periodical titles, and over 40,000 files of ephemera about individual artists and groups.[4] The archives holds primary source material related to the history of modern and contemporary art.[5]
MoMA also houses a restaurant, the Modern, run by Alsace-born chef Gabriel Kreuther.”
Source: Wikipedia
Allow me to give you an official New York City greeting:
Welcome to new york!
Now get out.
;-)
Stay the hell away from central park after dark.
Have a slice of pizza. Not from those fast food chains such as dominos, little caesars, papa johns, or pizza hut. I mean one of the independent pizzerias. There are many, so I dont know which ones are the best.
Also you must have a dirty water dog and a yoo hoo. Dirty water dog is new york slang for a hot dog from a hot dog cart street vendor. (No ketchup. Must have it with mustard, sauerkraut and onions. You can leave out the onions if you wish)
Next, a big pretzel with mustard. Can usually buy them from the dirty water dog vendors.
Also, a potato knish. The square ones. With mustard. A jewish delicatessen will have them.
Bagels. Must have a good bagel. Usually with cream cheese (and lox. Or just with cream cheese)
The subways: stay the hell away from the edge of the platform until your train pulls in. Keep your back planted against the wall. If your platform has no wall and is bordered by tracks on both sides, keep your back planted against one of those I beams. On the side of the I beam that is facing the inside of the platform. Not the side facing the tracks. Ignore the native new yorkers that stand at or near the edge of the platform. Theyre morons.
You’ll be horrified by Coney Inland and the train trip there. It ain’t what it used to be, if it ever was.
woodbutcher1963 @ post #3 gives a really good list of attractions for a short trip to NYC, confirming #2’s Yankee Stadium suggestion NOTE: when/if you go to the Met or MOMA (make it the Met a between the two, IMO) you do NOT have to pay $25/person. That is ‘suggested donation’ but not mandatory.
If you have time, get TKTS, half price tickets to Broadway shows; walk the High Line. At least once manage one of your subway rides to/from Queens that lets you off at Grand Central Station and walk its main hallway, it could be only a few minutes but a fabulous place architecturally (IMO).
If you have a half day, beyond the Staten Island Ferry, there’s the Circle Line boat ride around Manhattan Island.
Maybe your son should now go to grad school so you when he graduates you have a reason to return. There’s a TON of fun stuff to do in the Big Apple, and it truly is electric. I ALWAYS feel the electricity the second I emerge onto Manhattan Island thru a tunnel or across a bridge. Have a ball, and super congrats to your son.
A ball game is a must. The Metropolitan Museum of Art is something you will never forget.
Take him to Chinatown for a meal. Once you taste the food there, you’ll never find any restaurants like them anywhere else. (Except maybe China) If you like Italian food go to Brooklyn to L&B, try their spumoni, again, you won’t find anything like it anywhere else in the country. The restaurant is still Italian owned and their Pizza is the real deal. Its the spumoni that will bring you back.
Splurge and take him to the Metropolitan Opera - it’s still on. It’s worth it to see the enormous theater, the glittering crowd, the chandeliers rising while the lights go down. Buy him a glass of champagne during one of the long intermissions. If you’re lucky and the weather is nice, get there early to see the beautiful fountain. Don’t miss the Cezannes.
Otherwise, like others, I’d suggest a baseball game. Have fun. Don’t walk three abreast on the sidewalks. Don’t talk to beggars or homeless types and don’t get near the yellow line on the subway platform.
bookmark
see The Book of Mormon....
When I lived there, I went time and again to Radio City Music Hall, which means you also can take in Rockefeller Center too.
Do have a corned beef sandwich at Carnegie Deli, close to 55th and 7th Ave.
While you are in Queens, you visit the site of the 64 World's Fair, I spend a fair amount of time at it.
worthabookmark
Go to the top of 30 Rock on a clear day. A spectacular view of the city. Better than the Empire State building.