Wife & I are doing US of A

[bzr]

My wife Angie & I are coming to the states. The idea started one night when listening to Bruce Springsteen & as we both enjoy his music we decided to go to one of his concerts. Long to short it's New York or "Joisey" on the 22nd. Really looking forward to this & the BB King club after to get a poster pic with BB & Bruce with my lovely in between... What's good about NY & what do we need to see.. We love to get out during the day to see & walk, things that we wont see elsewhere, piano bars & Italian food with red wine are huge on my list ( don't tell Ange) We are in NY for 5 nights & then we're not sure yet, we've left it open to find an adventure whether fly drive or sail, we'll see. We arrive on the 21st in NY & fly from L A on the 9th. Any suggestions?

[Masterlu]

Very nice Kev, prepare to be flooded with suggestions.

[VT Skier]

You won't be here very long, so it really depends on what you'd like to see/do. Most of the really awe-inspiring natural vistas are in the western U.S., but, like yours, this is a big country so you'll have to set some priorities, tell us what you and Angie most enjoy doing.

I haven't lived in NYC for a few years, so I'll let others tackle most of that one. I would recommend taking the Staten Island Ferry (free) for a great view of the harbor, visiting Battery Park, Ellis Island, the High Line, the Main Branch (reading room) of the public library, Grand Central Station (and the Oyster Bar downstairs), the Morgan Library, the Frick, the Met, MoMA, a Broadway show, Le Bernardin for the best fish dinner, Sushi Yasuda, the usual stops. Buy a Zagat guide and a Fodor's or something similar before you arrive, buy a "Streetwise Manhattan" map at a bookstore when you do arrive, take the subway when you're not walking and consider "NY Talks and Walks", which has some great walking tours. There's so much history in the City it's nice to have a guide.

If you're comfortable on a bicycle, look for the Citi Bike share stations -- NYC is a very easy city to ride around with lots of new, dedicated paths, and Central Park is closed to cars during the day and a joy to ride. I used to commute on bike and on rollerblades. Even if you don't want to ride on city streets, I'd recommend renting once just to ride the path along the western edge of the island at sunset (a dedicated bike path runs on the Hudson River from the Battery north to the G.W. Bridge, which has a nice separated sidewalk over to Jersey).

If you want to see some beautiful countryside near NYC, I'd recommend driving (or taking the train) north, because the leaves will just be starting to change for autumn. Montreal is an easy six-hour drive (longer train ride) from NYC, and is well worth seeing. Quebec City is another three hours or so, and is like visiting Paris without having to get on a plane. Or maybe just head north along the Atlantic coast, maybe toward the Cape if Ivan will be in residence. If that's too much, just take the train (three-hours) out to Montauk, Long Island for a night or two. Or if you like larger sculptures, but just want a shs (in Jersort trip along the Hudson, take the train (Hudson River Line) north for an hour or so to the stunning installations at the Dia Beacon Museum. Most of the trains will be from Grand Central, some (Montreal) will be at Pennsylvania Station.

Then there's the Symphony, the Ballet, Radio City, the Yankees, the NY Football Giants, the Red Bulls, so many other things. FWIW, I'd skip the Statute of Liberty and the expensive trip up the Empire State Building.

[bzr]

Pice-less, thank-you

[f1 fan]

Kev...while in the states check out Nashville Tn and Grimeys Music

Dave

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[JohnK]

Kev, if you go to Nashville (which is quite a hike from NYC), given your avatar, I suggest
Gruhn Guitars.

Gruhn Guitars

If you have time in NYC and can persuade yourself to go to one of the outer boroughs, there's Mandolin Brothers (don't worry about the name, it's very much a guitar shop).

Mandolin Brothers, Ltd.

I'm not sure if it's worth a trip out there just for the store, and alas I don't know anything else of interest in that part of Staten Island.

[JohnK]

Oh and what am I thinking - the Martin museum and factory is just under a 2 hour drive from NYC. Just check for opening and tour times.

Visit Martin

[JohnK]

And re: the subway, get a couple of metrocards. So easy to get around with one.

[bzr]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions, I appreciate the local knowledge very much, even if someone forgot to mention Martin Forgot to add if anyone wants to do lunch we would love to meet you. Will also be spending time in LA & New Mexico too.

[audioguy3107]

Hi Kev, my wife and I just got back from the U.S. Open tournament in NYC on Monday. We spent 4 days in the city, it was our fourth trip up there for leisure. Thought I would offer up a couple of suggestions for restaurants up there.....we watch the Food Network quite often and thought it would be fun to try the restaurants of some of the popular food network "celebrities" when we were there. Of course all the restaurants we tried were excellent so here's a couple:

Centrico: A mexican restaurant owned by chef Aaron Sanchez who cooks authentic mexican cuisine....Located in the Tribeca neighborhood in Manhattan it wasn't too expensive and was fantastic, the drinks were amazing too.

The Lambs Club: American cuisine by famous chef Geoffrey Zakarian, this one is located a couple of blocks from Times Square in the Chatwal Hotel lobby, was amazing, I had a steak with a salad and side of potatoes. Awesome. More expensive than Centrico.

The Darby: Was really impressed with this one. Jazz club feel....run by executive chef Alex Guarneschelli, a food network popular chef. It was ridiculous how good it was, had a filet of beef while my wife had the lamb. One of the best meals I've ever had, topped it off with an ice cream sundae in which is served in a bowl with "sides" of marshmallows, coconut balls, walnuts, whipped cream and caramel sauce all in their separate compartments. They had a house jazz band which was excellent....singer sounded a lot like Norah Jones. Most expensive of the ones we tried.

The Stanton Social: This is a restaurant that specialized in small plates where two people can share about 5 to 6 smaller items so you can try different things. Run by exec. chef Chris Santos, another Food Network judge.

All of these are on the web, just google them with New York City and you can check out the menus and all.