Going to NYC next week. Is there anything to do there?

[Merrick]

have many ideas/plans already for my 5 day sojourn, but would greatly appreciate some more suggestions - especially things off the beaten path - like good bars, clubs (non-disco/rave type joints), restaurants, museums, performances, etc. Thanks!

[_testify_]

1. Museum of Natural History

my favorite place as a kid

http://www.amnh.org/home/

79th & Central Park W

[Fredda Weinberg]

3. I'll second that

Take a walk around Greenwich Village ... or along Fifth Avenue ... or take the double-decker tourist bus 'round the city, gawk at us and we'll ignore you.

Visit Central Park or get a day pass to Museum Row.

Stop by the site of the World Trade Center and know that once upon a time, you couldn't get across the street for the traffic.

[Merrick]

8. what, no intelligent design exhibit?

hmm... maybe I'll go anyway.

[Fredda Weinberg]

14. They're doin' a tribute to Darwin

http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/darwin

[Reverend_Smitty]

2. If you've never been to the metropolitan museum of art...

you really must go. You could spend a week in that place and still not see everything...I've lived within an hour from New York my whole life and the first time I went there was last summer with my dad. We actually had a very nice day together.

Also make sure you visit Greenwich Village there's a bunch of nice shops and restaurants in that part of town

[henslee]

4. The Frick Museum is amazing. It is Frick, the industrialists old mansion

and its breathtaking. There's a Goya exhibit up through May. If you go Sunday morning when they open... there might be hardly anyone there. Here's the link. http://www.frick.org/exhibitions/index.htm

[file83]

5. New York City? Nah - I've heard there is NOTHING to do there...

:sarcasm: I keed. I keed. Take like an hour or so to just WALK around the streets in lower Manhattan. That is an experience all in itself.

Plus, you MUST go see a Broadway Show. They are spendy, but OH SO WORTH IT.

[Merrick]

11. Yeah, we were thinking of seeing 'Festen'

the stage adaptation of the Danish film (The Celebration) from a couple years ago which I'd recommend highly if you havent seen it. We were also looking at a few off Broadway shows that looked interesting, especially 'A Good Marriage' and 'Devil Land'

[file83]

15. Have fun *jealous*

[Fredda Weinberg]

16. Do half price at TKTS

In Times Square for the experience

[madinmaryland]

6. The Empire State Building,

Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Radio City Music Hall, Rockefeller Center to name a few.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

7. If you'll be there on Sunday...

You can hear a wonderful violin/viola recital played on instruments my luthier made.

April 9, 2006 3 p.m.

MOSA CONCERT SERIES

ANDREA HOFFMAN-SIMMEL, luthier

at

OSA Lutheran Church, 178 Bennett Ave. (At 189th Street)

New York, New York

www.mosaconcerts.org 212-923-5757

PROGRAM

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Suite in D minor cello solo, BWV 1008 (arr. for viola)
Movements to be announced
Eugene Drucker viola, opus 25 (1995)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Duo in G major for violin and viola, K. 423
Mvt. I - Allegro
Mvt. II – Adagio
Mvt. III – Rondo: Allegro
Gabriel Banat, violin - opus 22 (1992)
Diana Banat, viola - opus 30 (2000)

Johann Sebastian Bach
Suite in c minor for cello solo, BWV 1011(arr. for viola)
Mvt. I - Prelude
John Lad, viola - opus 31 (2001)

Igor Stravinsky (1882 - 1971)
Elegie for solo viola
John Lad, viola - opus 33 (2003

Edvard Grieg (1843-1907)
Sonata for violin and piano, no. 3 in c minor, op. 45
Mvt. I – Allegro molto ed appassionato
Doron Schächter, violin - opus 23 (1993)
Pianist TBD

Charles Ives (1874-1954)
Sonata for violin and piano, no. 3
Mvt. II - Allegro
John Lad, violin - opus 17 (1989)
Constance Cooper, piano

Fritz Kreisler (1875 – 1962)
Liebesleid for violin and piano
Doron Schächter, violin - opus 23 (1993)
Pianist TBD

More info here: http://mysite.verizon.net/vze82t9v/MOSA.htm

[henslee]

9. Have lunch at tWhole Foods Market at Columbus Circle/59th st..(link)

I know it sounds dumb but its underground and ust humungous with a huge cafeteria that feels like you're on a space ship. Food is awesome. There's about two hundred people working there. The seafood counter is like fifty feet long. http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/columbuscircle/

[Tyrone Slothrop]

10. My favorite museum in NYC is The Cloisters.

It's a little off the beaten path, but I highly recommend it.

It's the branch of the Met specifically dedicated to showcasing religious-themed (European) art from the 1100's to the 1500's. The museum itself was pieced together from the ruins of 5 different monasteries (cloisters) in Europe and rebuilt atop a hill in Fort Tryon Park in Manhattan. (In the center, they've replicated a typical spice/herb garden that might have been found in a typical cloister from that period.)

I'm not really that religious of a person, but the pieces they have here are absolutely spectacular. Also, it's the one place I've found in Manhattan where you actually, seriously forget that you're in NYC.

http://www.metmuseum.org/Works_of_Art/department.asp?dep=7

[edbermac]

12. Go find Donald Trump and make fun of his bad hair...

And then hit on his wife for good measure...

[NewJeffCT]

13. for real Chinese food

My wife (who spent the first 29 years of her life in China) loves a little restaurant off of Main Street in Flushing called Sichuan Dynasty. When we go there, I'm usually the only non-Chinese.

I looked it up on yahoo yellow pages:

Sichuan Dynasty Chinese Restur
[phone] 13532 40th Rd
Flushing, NY

[dr.strangelove]

17. McSorley's - East 7th street and third ave.

McSorley's is the oldest bar in NY (though it stopped serving briefly after prohibition), though the date is disputed. They claim 1854ish, some historians claim it is around 1860ish. Regardless, Lincoln is claimed to have downed a beer there. It has served beer to new yorkers following everything from the 1863 Draft Riots to 9/11.

McSorley's serves only its house brew in "dark" or "light." $3.50 for two small mugs at once. In true NY fashion, they are very rude if you order some other beer.

Also hit the best speakeasy in the city. Chumley's at 86 Bedford Street off of Barrow in the village. If when you get there if you don;t see any sign, don't worry, it is still a speakeasy and has no signs.Just go in and you will find a great bar. This place served as a stop on the Underground railroad where escaped slaves could find a haven. It was a communist gathering place and nearly every great NEW artist and writer has hung out there. From the outside it looks like a door to a house with a pile of wood next ot it. You get in via a small passageway leading from Barrow Street called Pamela Court.

[Merrick]

19. cool. the only thing better than a good bar is a good bar with history

[rug]

20. Don't forget the onions.

[wain]

18. wave to us on this webcam at Times Square

http://www.earthcam.com/usa/newyork/timessquare/

I always visit St Patrick's Cathedral whenever I'm in the city. It's on 5th Ave (great shops to window shop) across from Rockefeller Center.

Have a enjoyable time!

:hi:

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

21. Stay up all night drinking cocktails in the Village. Go have megacheap

and excellent Indian food for lunch at any number of restaurants in the Lower East side.

Go visit the Museum of Modern Art.

[peacefreak]

22. Boy, if it were me...

I'd go to MoMa to see the Edvard Munch exhibit & then go to the Strand & spend a lot of time & money looking for books!

[Rabrrrrrr]

23. Not a damn thing to do. Lived there for 12 years only because I said

to myself, "I'm not leaving until I find something to do."

:P

Seriously, there's way to much to do. When I left after 12 years, I felt like I had barely scratched the surface, and I could list pages of stuff that I never got around to doing...

As far as restaurants, let me suggest Victor's - on W 51st or thereabouts, just off to the West of Broadway. World famous Cuban place. A bit pricey, but bleeding excellent food, and the best Mojitos in town.

Try their seafood Paella.

And go to Heartland Brewery (either the one at Union Square, where they brew the bear, but which is often filled with loud NYU, MBA-wannabes) or the one at 51st and 6th Avenue, which is quieter and filled with MBA-have-alreadies. The beer is fucking AWESOME. Good, good beer.