Question for the New Yorkers

[Flint Marko]

I know this is a little out of the norm, but if you wouldn't mind indulging me for a second...

Me and my girlfriend are from the South. She has never been to NYC before in her life. I have been a handful of times for academic purposes and I loved it; however, I never really got to see the city and since I will be escorting us both around, I want to feel comfortable with my choices. I'm already moderately familiarized with the city but I wanted any advice at all about what we should/should not do on our long-weekend. We both want to avoid the tourist traps (i.e. Times Square), but still have a good time and see the city for what it is. She's an architecture student if that gives you all any idea as to what she might be interested in.

Any sort of advice from anyone who knows the city in any capacity is welcome! I apologize if this is inappropriate to post in this section. Thanks.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

Flat Iron/Flatiron building has an interesting design.

 

[Erzengel]

NYC is pretty huge, and there's so much stuff to do even if you were here a week.

You have to give a little more information on what you and your gf are into and around what time of year.

There's museums, shows, restaurants, sightseeing, seasonal events, sporting events, etc.

Personally, I just recently went to One World Center and it's a pretty nice experience especially if you've never been to the top of the original Twin Towers.

A few weeks ago I took my niece to see Wicked. There's a place that's called TKTS that has discount broadway shows for that day.

There's a Star Wars exhibit right now at the Discovery Times Square Museum.

If you want something to eat that's inexpensive, Shake Shack is the east coast lesser equivalent to In&Out.

Go to Brooklyn if you want a good pizza.

Again, I can keep going. Let me know what you two would like to do.

 

[Steyin]

Stop by the Skyscraper Museum across from Battery Park, she will enjoy that. It's not huge, but it makes for a quick thing to do.

If you're adventurous I'd say to travel to Dyker Heights in Brooklyn to see the houses decorated for XMas, here is a preview:

http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2015/...y_outrageous_dyker_heights_holiday_lights.php

I know you want to avoid the touristy things, but you might want to check out the tree at Rockefeller Center.

 

[Flint Marko]

Flat Iron/Flatiron building has an interesting design.

True, I'd like to see it if we can fit it in.

NYC is pretty huge, and there's so much stuff to do even if you were here a week.

You have to give a little more information on what you and your gf are into and around what time of year.

There's museums, shows, restaurants, sightseeing, seasonal events, sporting events, etc.

Personally, I just recently went to One World Center and it's a pretty nice experience especially if you've never been to the top of the original Twin Towers.

A few weeks ago I took my niece to see Wicked. There's a place that's called TKTS that has discount broadway shows for that day.

There's a Star Wars exhibit right now at the Discovery Times Square Museum.

If you want something to eat that's inexpensive, Shake Shack is the east coast lesser equivalent to In&Out.

Go to Brooklyn if you want a good pizza.

Again, I can keep going. Let me know what you two would like to do.

Thanks for the tips. I'm going up on December 31st and will be there until the 3rd - not a ton of time, but we're going to try and get as much done as we can. I've made reservations for Spark's Steakhouse on Saturday night, but other than that our schedules are wide open.
She loves parks and anything dealing with landscape architecture, gardening, etc. We're definitely going to try and spend several hours in central park, but other than that we don't have a good idea of what else there would be around the city that she'd be interested in.

Stop by the Skyscraper Museum across from Battery Park, she will enjoy that. It's not huge, but it makes for a quick thing to do.

If you're adventurous I'd say to travel to Dyker Heights in Brooklyn to see the houses decorated for XMas, here is a preview:

http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2015/...y_outrageous_dyker_heights_holiday_lights.php

I know you want to avoid the touristy things, but you might want to check out the tree at Rockefeller Center.

Wow! That's pretty impressive.
I'm sure we'll wind up at Rockefeller center at some point, I have a feeling she's gonna insist on it lol but I'm fine with going.

 

[Erzengel]

Try and avoid Times Square on December 31. I had to show police that we had invitations so we could cross side streets to our venue.

I think December may not be the best time to see landscape architectural or gardening, even with our unusually warm weather we've been having.

I would use Tripadvisor to narrow down the choices for places to eat. The higher the better and you can even narrow it down based on cuisine and location.

I'd try and bang out a Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building or One World Trade. You're probably looking a few hours except for Statue of Liberty since you have to go downtown, take a ferry, etc.

 

[Flint Marko]

Try and avoid Times Square on December 31. I had to show police that we had invitations so we could cross side streets to our venue.

I think December may not be the best time to see landscape architectural or gardening, even with our unusually warm weather we've been having.

I would use Tripadvisor to narrow down the choices for places to eat. The higher the better and you can even narrow it down based on cuisine and location.

I'd try and bang out a Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building or One World Trade. You're probably looking a few hours except for Statue of Liberty since you have to go downtown, take a ferry, etc.

Thanks for the tips, Erzengel. She informed me yesterday that she wants to do Times Square now so it looks like I'll have to brave that jungle. Yikes.

 

[ComicChick]

i'm really hoping to get to NYC in 2016. i really want to go up and see Wicked at the Gershwin

 

[jonathancrane]

I am not a New Yorker, but, dated someone who lives in NYC. There is a crapton of things to do. I'd recommend the museums: heck, we spent a good chunk of the day going through the Museum of Natural History, and barely scraped the surface, with all of the content and information. The Met's also nice: the Medieval and Egyptian wings are fan-freaking-tastic.

 

[cheungcheung]

Not a fan of NYC. Too nonstop "city" for me. Anytime I go, I want outta there in 24 hours max.

 

[Anita18]

I spent a week on NYC recently and that was about my max - I live in LA and it took me about a week to come down from it. Maybe that's because I basically went out every day, which I NEVER do.

One thing I'd like to do if I go back, is to check out Grand Central Station and the High Line Park. (I spent too much time going through art museums! ) Those should be interesting architecture-wise.

An interesting, fairly non-touristy museum I went to was the Tenement Museum, which is about how immigrants lived in NYC waaaay back in the day. You step back into time and feel VERY thankful for what we have today, that's for sure!

In terms of wandering, I much preferred Brooklyn to Manhattan. Manhattan was just too crazy for me. I had an Airbnb in Brooklyn close to a subway station and loved it. And it was SO MUCH CHEAPER than getting a hotel!