NYC...

[thenewguy]

I'll be traveling to New York soon and wonder if you guys have any tips on best food spots, things that are 'must do's', etc. We will be staying near the empire state building, for what it's worth

[Garrett]

What are the types of attractions and foods that you'd be interested in in particular? Museums? Urban Planning type stuff? Parks? Etc.

[thenewguy]

so we are going to go to Rockefeller Center at night, Empire State Building, Museum of Natural History, Ellis Island, Statue of Liberty, 9/11 museum and Central Park. My wife wants to go to the Harry Potter experience, too, so I'm sure that's going to happen.

As far as foods go, I have few requirements, but I'm open to anything. First, I want to find a good slice of pizza, then a real deal bagel, and I'd love to get to Katz's Deli. After that, the world is our oyster. The variety is second to none, so since we are going to be walking a lot, maybe nothing really heavy?

As far as whatever else to do: I'd love to see Hudson Yards, MoMa, Guggenheim, etc, but I think we are going to flat run out of time. Being a skyscraper nerd (like many of us here), I'm super excited to see the buildings & architecture. So, if you've got any certain gems, I'd love to hear about em!

[ricko]

I'll be traveling to New York soon and wonder if you guys have any tips on best food spots, things that are 'must do's', etc. We will be staying near the empire state building, for what it's worth

I don’t live there, but I go up a few times a year to visit friends. One of the best meals I’ve had in my life was at Meme Mediterranean, on the corner of 10th Ave. & 44th in Hel1’s Kitchen. It’s not super expensive. You should also check out the Metropolitan Museum, one of the best museums in the world, especially if you like ancient stuff.

Mods, the word “hel1” is far from being “dirty”. Even my devout Catholic parents used it, and I’m sure they’re not there.

[Garrett]

so we are going to go to Rockefeller Center at night, Empire State Building, Museum of Natural History, Ellis Island, Statue of Liberty, 9/11 museum and Central Park. My wife wants to go to the Harry Potter experience, too, so I'm sure that's going to happen.

As far as foods go, I have few requirements, but I'm open to anything. First, I want to find a good slice of pizza, then a real deal bagel, and I'd love to get to Katz's Deli. After that, the world is our oyster. The variety is second to none, so since we are going to be walking a lot, maybe nothing really heavy?

As far as whatever else to do: I'd love to see Hudson Yards, MoMa, Guggenheim, etc, but I think we are going to flat run out of time. Being a skyscraper nerd (like many of us here), I'm super excited to see the buildings & architecture. So, if you've got any certain gems, I'd love to hear about em!

OK, so if you want a bit of a grazing tour, Katz's deli would be a good place to start then kinda make your way northwest. Joe's Pizza in the West Village on Carmine street is my favorite place for a slice. On the walk there you can see a lot of Greenwich Village, including my favorite Park, Washington Square Park. The Apartment building from Friends is also in the area if you're into that. From Joe's you can meander towards the Highline, which is definitely a must see, and will take you up to Hudson Yards if you walk the whole thing. For a pit stop, you can stop in the Chelsea Market which has a ton of different food vendors, and is also close to Little Island park.

[Garrett]

If you venture up to the Upper West Side, Jacob's Pickle's is a very good restaurant with huge portions and really good drinks as well.

[thenewguy]

thanks everyone! I'm really excited, this is one of my 'bucket list' destinations

[thenewguy]

Well folks, we got back from our visit and I must say that there's nothing quite like The Big Apple. I took a ton of pictures, covered a ton of ground, ate some great pizza, and could not get over how big it is. The building stock is incredible, of course, the height of some is almost incomprehensible, and there are just soooo many! Getting around was a breeze, although you are guaranteed to walk a LOT if you go, it was much cleaner than I anticipated, and never once did it feel unsafe. I'm really glad we went!

[skinzfan23]

We were just near NYC at the Newark airport this past weekend. I was surprised how well you could see the skyline even from there. I definitely plan to make it to NYC someday....hopefully to cheer on the Jays in the Big East tournament.


Sunrise over NYC from Newark Airport.

[nativeomahan]

You just can’t beat Manhattan for an over the top wonderful experience. It’s cleaner than Omaha, so walkable, with almost anything you would ever want to eat, see, photograph or purchase.

[Garrett]

Well folks, we got back from our visit and I must say that there's nothing quite like The Big Apple. I took a ton of pictures, covered a ton of ground, ate some great pizza, and could not get over how big it is. The building stock is incredible, of course, the height of some is almost incomprehensible, and there are just soooo many! Getting around was a breeze, although you are guaranteed to walk a LOT if you go, it was much cleaner than I anticipated, and never once did it feel unsafe. I'm really glad we went!

I’d love to hear the things you managed to do!

[Flyer14]

I've seen mentioned recently a couple things about billionaires row, so I figured I would share a picture from our trip last month. The thing I like most about this picture is the construction of the new JP Morgan building on the left between 432 Park and One Vanderbilt.

[PotatoeEatsFish]

It looks like Coruscant from Star Wars

[thenewguy]

Well folks, we got back from our visit and I must say that there's nothing quite like The Big Apple. I took a ton of pictures, covered a ton of ground, ate some great pizza, and could not get over how big it is. The building stock is incredible, of course, the height of some is almost incomprehensible, and there are just soooo many! Getting around was a breeze, although you are guaranteed to walk a LOT if you go, it was much cleaner than I anticipated, and never once did it feel unsafe. I'm really glad we went!

I’d love to hear the things you managed to do!

how did I miss this from last year??

We did so much, I'll see if I can nail it down from memory.
Day 1/night: flew in early afternoon and bebopped around. It was rainy so we didn't stray too far. Then at night, we hit up Times Square under the lights. Very cool, very touristy, not my favorite NYC place but glad I could check it off the list. Had Little Italy pizza, pretty good/standard. Got a hot dog and the dude made SURE I got ketchup. Would not take no for an answer. Then when I did, he nodded with a smirk and said "you likea da ketchup, ya?"
Day 2: We ate at Zucker's Bagels on our way to the Empire State Building. I had white fish salad with tomato and onion on a garlic bagel and it was amazing. Then Empire State building, then we walked down by the Flatiron Building/Union Square. Back up town to the Rock, but the view wasn't as nice so they said we could come back in the evening when it was supposed to clear up. We went down 5th ave, saw St. Patrick's Cathedral, ate at some burger joint quick, it was decent, then back up to the top for one of the coolest views period.
Day 3: Museum of Natural History, Hayden Planetarium, Central Park, then saw the Plaza Hotel, Trump Tower, Billionaires Row, had some beers at some place that gave you free hot dogs if you drank (IIRC?). Ate pizza at Ray's, which was good, too.
Day 4: Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, 9/11 museum (one of the best/saddest/impactful experiences of my life, I actually cried). We ate at a deli down there- my God, they put more meat on their sandwiches than anywhere I've been in my life. Met a couple of dudes that were in town from Ohio for the Billy Joel Concert; they had just been through the museum, too, and just needed a place to sit so we moved over. They appreciated it, bought us some beers, and we hung out with them for a few hours and we all met up at Jon's on Bleeker street. BEST PIZZA I'VE EVER HAD. Saw the Friend's apartment building, chilled out in Greenwich Village and headed back.
Day 5: flew out this day so didn't get to do much.......but we DID buy plastic bags and get pizza to bring back for our kids.

[Louie]

I'll be there for a couple of nights in October, hopefully I remember to take pictures.

[thenewguy]

NYC is one of my favorite places I've ever visited. Boston was awesome, as is all of New England. New York is one of those places where I actually remember saying to myself 'I can't believe I am actually here'

[Louie]

NYC is one of my favorite places I've ever visited. Boston was awesome, as is all of New England. New York is one of those places where I actually remember saying to myself 'I can't believe I am actually here'

I love Boston, so I have high hopes for NYC. We are doing a week long New England fall colors trip and couldn't be more excited. Especially since we will end the road trip in Montreal, too.

[thenewguy]

both cities are big, both cities are old, both cities are busy. But there's a different vibe between the two. Lots of history in each. Food in both is amazing...but I friggin LOVE seafood, so I'm a little more partial to Boston's flavors. We also saw Salem, which was awesome.

If you look at them from a history point of view, Boston offers up a bit more (Old North Church, bunker hill, boston tea party, etc etc), but if you look at it from a wow factor, New York is hard to beat. Between them, there is more to do than you'd ever have time for, but i gotta say that I'm super jealous of you right about now

[ricko]

NYC is one of my favorite places I've ever visited. Boston was awesome, as is all of New England. New York is one of those places where I actually remember saying to myself 'I can't believe I am actually here'

I love Boston, so I have high hopes for NYC. We are doing a week long New England fall colors trip and couldn't be more excited. Especially since we will end the road trip in Montreal, too.

The New England countryside in the Fall is amazing, and Montreal is my favorite city in the western hemisphere——the food culture there is off the charts (I thought it was better than Paris). I found that most adults can speak English, but you might want to learn a dozen phrases or so in French——it will be appreciated by the locals. It’s a great jazz town, if you’re into that.

[nativeomahan]

Yes NYC and Boston are both fabulous places to spend time in. I have spent much more time in NYC versus Boston and it’s impossible to see everything I want to see/eat everywhere I want to eat each time I visit.
Montreal is also an amazing city. I spent a portion of my honeymoon there.

[Louie]

NYC is one of my favorite places I've ever visited. Boston was awesome, as is all of New England. New York is one of those places where I actually remember saying to myself 'I can't believe I am actually here'

I love Boston, so I have high hopes for NYC. We are doing a week long New England fall colors trip and couldn't be more excited. Especially since we will end the road trip in Montreal, too.

The New England countryside in the Fall is amazing, and Montreal is my favorite city in the western hemisphere——the food culture there is off the charts (I thought it was better than Paris). I found that most adults can speak English, but you might want to learn a dozen phrases or so in French——it will be appreciated by the locals. It’s a great jazz town, if you’re into that.

We are very much into jazz clubs.

[Flyer14]

There was a redesign released of Affirmation tower in the Hudson Yards area of Manhattan. With the new casino proposed for phase 2 this area could continue to be the one of the largest development projects in the US for years. Despite inequality and many other issues NYC faces, there is no denying its desire to absolutely boom upwards. I can’t wait to visit again and see new additions like JP Morgan hq, 520 5th and many more!

[ChadJK]

We just got back from a few days in NYC. We did most of the NYC tourist trap stuff:

Empire State Building
Central Park
Statue of Liberty
Ellis Island
9/11 Memorial
Trinity Church
Times Square
Grand Central Station

I did grab a slice at John's of Bleecker Street, had a "dirty water" hot dog, and had some local craft beer at the Pony Bar.

The secondhand weed smoke was a little much. It smelled like the city was invaded by an army of skunks. I really don't care what you smoke so long as I don't have to smell it.

I always feel like you need to visit every place twice. Once to get all of the tourist trap stuff out of the way so you can scratch that "been there done that" itch. Then, a second time to sort of do the off-the-beaten-path stuff and really dig into the local culture.

NYC is one of those places that no matter where you live you've been seeing it almost daily in TV and movies. So, it's cool to go and make it real.

[skinzfan23]

I have never been and only been at Newark once and fly over NYC. I do want to visit though as you mentioned above, to experience a lot of what you see on tv and movies.