<p>I would go to the Cloisters. Find out from the concierge at the hotel how to get there without the subway. You’ll be in a part of the city tourists rarely see (I believe it’s 145 street, but I could be wrong.) It has some actual unicorn tapestries and a magnificent Shakespeare garden that should be perfect at this time of year. I am always thrilled to be there.</p>
<p>Since you are on the West side, take the bus to Morningside Heights (116th Street) and see Barnard, Columbia and St. John the Divine, the largest Gothic Cathedral in the world. (I kid you not.)</p>
<p>It is a bit kitschy but we go to Serendipity 3 for the frozen hot chocolate, and if it’s hot, it will be wonderful. Go at an off time because the wait can be daunting, but Dylan’s Candy Bar is on the corner for a place to wait. It’s been the site of so many movies (One Fine Day and Serendipity for two) that it’s fun to catch it in movies. It’s kitschy and fun in its own right.</p>
<p>Hang out in the Barnes and Noble in the complex at Columbus Circle. I know you said you didn’t want shopping, so many famous folk show up there, it can be a lot of fun. One day it was Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck with their two babies in a double stroller. And looking at books is good for sore feet if you have been walking a lot, and you’re right in the area.</p>
<p>See a Classical music concert at Carnegie Hall if there is one. Ditto about being in the area.</p>
<p>The Italian restaurant on your list is pricey. We often eat at Arts Cafe at 74th and Columbus where you can get a prix fixe three course dinner for $14.00. I kid you not. Just did it. The ambience is sweet, and there are outdoor tables. I guarantee that there are many “real New Yorkers” there. I don’t think tourists tend to go there. </p>
<p>I could go on. I am a native NY’er, and though we now live in a distant suburb, it’s always been home, and D went to school at Barnard and moved into an apartment after so we <em>do</em> spend a lot of time there.</p>
<p>I said rarely…not never. Main issue is that most friends’ places are much more centrally located and close to lively nightlife/events in the NYC area. Moreover, their neighbors tend to be students or adults who don’t care too much about living with noisy neighbors…including bars/nightclubs.</p>
<p>Seaport? Is this near the Staten Island Ferry?</p>
<p>THANK YOU to all of you. I’m beginning to have a plan. The Tenement Museum (must check with daughter and niece who will show up and want to shop all day…which has always been the challenge) and the lower East Side. As soon as I know who’s who and where is where…Lower East Side and a food exploration. Fifth Avenue another day…with the Frick and the Guggenheim…and with one of the restaurants suggested…The concert sounds fun (if oldsters are “invited”…We have tickets to a Broadway show offered…just need to select the night. Upper East Side with a visit to the Met…</p>
<p>I admit that with the vision problem things are dicey: My husband (king of maps and directions) usually does the directional planning. But worst comes to worse: taxi!!!</p>
<p>As for the shopping thing: EARLY one morning we will go to Bloomingdales: I have a card that…with all the permutations will give us 82% off AND free shipping…And we have to go to Bergdorfs because one of my favorite salespeople moved from LA to NYC. Neither of us want to go shopping full time which was what happened last time.</p>
<p>Now I just have to “arrange” for my cousins to go with us and/or just meet us for dinner.</p>
<p>And of course “real” New Yorkers is a wishful thinking for my daughter. Sort of when people are visiting here and they see us walking to the drugstore or entering a doctor’s office. They are living the fantasy of BH…me…not so much.</p>
<p>South Street Seaport is on the other side of the SI Ferry, but not very far away, you could walk or take a very short cab ride over. There are a lot of little cute stores down there (I know you said no shopping). Go to Henri Bendel (one block south) also if you are going to BG.</p>
<p>What I really like about taxi in NY now is I could use credit card to pay, no more worrying about if I have cash on me or trying to figure out tip.</p>
<p>Tipping cab drivers: How much should one tip? The last time we were in New York I took cabs everywhere. And my daughter’s girlfriend said that I overtipped. (Heck, I was grateful to get anywhere in one piece without worrying…north/south…)</p>
<p>To clarify: Shopping is fun for us but it is not the reason that we are going. The last time we were in New York my girls and I were taken to Chinatown for knockoffs (can’t buy them because I can’t/won’t support that industry)…prom dress shopping (for my “niece”…what a waste of time!!!..We still quote the “Gucci, Chanel, Coach!” If we happen on Bergdorfs…which we will…a quick spin is fine. A boutique, sans $500 t shirts…not so much)…We want to see New York.</p>
<p>I usually tip $1 for short distance (like $3-5 fare), and 15% for longer distance. On the screen it will suggest 20%, 25% and 30% (I think) amount. Few times when I have tipped full 20% I have gotten “Thank you very much.”</p>
<p>Too bad the subway is an issue, but as a proud native of Brooklyn, if you could manage, I’d recommend a trip to Brooklyn.</p>
<p>If you went to Coney Island, you would be able to ride on the El, which would go over the Manhattan Bridge, giving you fantastic views of the skyline and the harbor. Then, when in Brooklyn, you would ride the same route as the famous chase scene from the French Connection. Coney Island is the mother of all honkey tonks, and for some of us being a bit down on its heels adds to the charm. At Coney Island walk on the boardwalk, ride the Cyclone, the 80-year-old Platonic ideal of roller coasters. Also go to Nathan’s, best bot dog stand in the world, and site of the annually televised world hot dog eating championship on July 4th. Walk a bit further down the boardwalk to Brighton Beach for a taste of Moscow by the sea. Everyone’s speaking Russian, and you could get your borscht fill.</p>
<p>If you don’t want to go that far, there’s Prospect Park. Frederick Law Olmstead was only practicing when he designed Central Park. Nearby is the Brooklyn Botanical Garden with its amazing Japanese Garden, the fabulously art deco public library, which is by the Grand Army Plaza, the closest thing to the Arc de Triomphe outside of Paris. And you could go the Brooklyn Museum-- world class in every way, particularly its Egyptian collection.</p>
<p>^^I am sending that to D1. Her BF is coming to visit and they are trying to figure out what to do over the long weekend. </p>
<p>As someone who lived in NYC for 15 years when kids when younger, we never took the opportunity to go out to Brooklyn. This time coming back as empty nesters, I am going to make sure we get out there to visit.</p>
<p>Nathans IS the best hot dog stand on the east coast. Pinks is great here. I lived in Brooklyn when I was tiny (we left when I was three), but I remember bits and pieces. My mother loved Prospect Park. She grew up in Boroughpark (spelling) and went to Erasmus. Perhaps my niece will take us there…And I would like to see a synagogue there…Garfield…I think that it is Beth Elohim now. My parents were married there.</p>
<p>It’s Borough Park, my hood, now the world center of Hasidism. Back in my day, mostly assimilating Jews, Italians, and Norwegians, of all people. </p>
<p>So den duh guy begins to ast me all kinds of nutty questions: how big was Brooklyn an could I find my way aroun in it, an how long would it take a guy to know duh place.
Listen! I says. You get dat idea outa yoeh head right now, I says. You aint neveh gonna get to know Brooklyn, I says. Not in a hunderd yeahs. I been livin heah all my life, I says, an I dont even know all deh is to know about it, so how do you expect to know duh town, I says, when you dont even live heah?</p>
<p>SJerseyCM, I agree with Cobrat–once over the bridge and in Brooklyn, either head downhill to Dumbo (warehouses–used to be an artist district but now pretty chichi . . . as an artist i’ve seen this happen over and over … .), or over and south to Brooklyn Heights to lovely brownstones and the Promenade. If you really love walking, keep walking south to Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens, pretty areas loaded with restaurants and shops.</p>
<p>My mom went to Erasmus too! She was born in 1932. It’s also where Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond went to h.s., I believe.</p>
<p>Another suggestion if you have the time: Brunch or lunch or dinner at the Boathouse Restaurant in Central Park. We’ve been for brunch, which has been really nice. Peaceful setting right on the water watching the boats and birds and people.</p>
<p>LOL, you might sell the Tenement Museum part of your plan to the niece by telling her there IS shopping on several blocks around the museum. It’s exactly the same dynamic as a century ago, cleaned up by sanitation codes. There are still small street vendors, expectations of bargaining…but now it’s mostly run by South Asian families new to the USA. This continuation of a grassroots economy was pointed out to me by the Tenement Museum docent and I did buy some unique garments off the sidewalks. </p>
<p>Niece will be way out of her comfort zone if Macy’s and Bergdorf’s are her stomping grounds, but those street venues came before the block-size department stores. It’s all history. She’ll love it or hate it. Most young Americans fall apart when there’s no price tag, but if you can teach her to inquire about a pric e, then haggle significantly (including walking away…) doors will open up for her.</p>
<p>S-1 lives in Prospect Park so I come in to visit fairly regularly. If you go to the Brooklyn Museum, I highly recommend a docent tour (and I usually don’t enjoy those). I lucked out to hear a docent-run indepth tour of Judy Chicago’s beautifully installed “Dinner Party” that honors great women throughout history. It’s a feature of their permanent collection, and within a special wing devoted to feminist themes in art. Docent said that in the Brooklyn museum, the docents research and develop their own tours (she compared that to the Met where a script is used). Each has its merits. When eyesight is an issue, sometimes a good lecture tour bridges the gap for a group. As it happens, right afterwards there was a poetry reading in the museum, but I couldn’t stay. Their cafe is reasonable and well-run, but a half-block away on Underhill Ave is a small brunch/lunch cafe with citywide rave reviews…so yes, real New Yorkers go there. Reservations or 45 min wait needed on a Sat or Sun morning. </p>
<p>Brooklyn Botanical gardens is absolutely lovely, with indoor and outdoor settings and much to learn. The Brooklyn Library has interesting bronzes on the front doors representing great classic authors and worth a quick walkthrough to observe how many community programs they run for teens and adults. At the moment, Grand Army Plaza is full of annoying street construction, but has a great history relevant to the Civil War. l find it useful to tell a taxi driver "Grand Army Plaza"when I want to get to that neighborhood.</p>
<p>Taxis have swipe credit card machines in the backseat; your D can help you fiddle with it as the cab nears the end. They give you a choice of icon boxes for tips Starting at 20%, which is what I do when I take a taxi. There’s an art to hailing a taxi in NYC, so google that up and make sure your daughter is a shark if she’s competing with others on the same curb. It is also a Real New York experience to cab, so strike up a conversation with the driver…sometimes the most interesting part of my journeys there. I haven’t met a Robert DeNiro (Taxi Driver) yet…I’d enjoy the actor but not his character!</p>
<p>Four years ago I was in New York with the girls. BUT I had been there three months before with my husband. So…I kind of knew where I was. Four years and…well, I want more than the last time. We live a block from Saks/Neimans/Barneys so I can shop whenever I want. But when my niece came to visit she wanted to shop…EVERYDAY…and did.</p>
<p>As for hailing a taxi this much I know: Send daughter to the curb (size 0, was a model)…she does fine. I can raise my arm with the best of them. Emergency taxi: hold a ten dollar bill and raise arm…that worked the last time. :)</p>
<p>I echo earlier posters who recommended The Cloisters (my favorite place in NYC–where my dad proposed to my mom), the High Line in Chelsea, and Ellis Island.</p>
<p>Just want to thank everyone for their input. Am saving this thread, and once I finish Mccullough’s The Brooklyn Bridge, I’ll get up there. </p>
<p>Also, re: Thomas Wolfe (not the white suit wearing one) recently read “My Father’s Earth”- that North Carolinian was so displaced up there at NYU.</p>