Click here for our New York pictures
This was basically our few days in Manhatten for our "see as much as you can in 6 days" tour of
New York in August 2006
Arrive
Greyline Bus Tour... Time Square
Gabriels restaurant thanks to our host.
Natural History Museum
Street Vendor
Greyline Bus Tour... North Manhatten
Fimalgio's Pizza for dinner
Circle Line Ferry
Ellis Island
Statue of Liberty
Lunch @ Statue of Liberty
Spelling Bee on Broadway
Deli for a late night dinner
Grand Central Station
ChinaTown & Little Italy
Lunch @ ? (I forgot this one)
Greyline Bus Tour Night Tour... Downtown & Brooklyn
Ray's Pizza
Coney Island
Lunch Nathan's... Cool place, very popular
The Oyster Bar - Grand Central Station
Little Italy
Juniors - for more cheesecake
Do not eat at any chains!!!! Olive Garden at Times Square will be the same as the Olive
Garden in Yourtown, USA. Try the local delis, and hole in the wall restaraunts. Try a
different place every meal... Tons of choices. The only place we ate at twice was Junoirs
(great cheesecake). Deli's are reasonably priced, and most have a really big selections
(gyros, pizza, stir fry, paninis, salads). Little Italy has lots of choices and good prices
($50 for 4 including tip), and great food. Try the little pizza shops, and get a huge
pizza big enough for 4-5 people for $25. Go to Coney Island and eat at Nathan's ($15
for 2 and you will be stuffed). Very good seafood at The Oyster Bar at Grand Central
Station... Get there early, they closed at 9:30. Of course there is always a vendor near
by, so you could go for the $2 hot dog... We did several times.
Diet Mountain Dew was at 1 out of every 10 stores we went to.
No street vendors had them. We found a pharmacy, 2 deli's, and another little store that
had them. This wasn't where we just happened to see them, we were actively searching for
them...
Electronics store ran by Hissidic Jews. (Closed on Saturdays). This was a happening place.
Took up most of the block, and was swarming with people. Go there and get some free Kosher
soda, and candy.
Unbelievable... $40 to get your dolls hair "permed", and worst that that... There was a line.
Ludicrous, incredible, unbelievable, ridiculus, crazy doll store. Four stories of dolls, doll
clothes, doll hospitals, doll beauty shop...
I saw a $3000 key chain... The store was mostly (I would guess 90+%) tourist that were "just
looking"
$24 unlimited week pass
The heart of New York. Or at least the blood vessels. We were temporarily unaware of our
location several times (lost), and several times locals would stop and ask us if we needed
help. Other than the Statue of Libery (2 workers and the end of the day) and 1 obnoisuous
tour guide, the rude New Yorker was not to be found.
Double decker bus tour around entire island of Manhatten and part of Brooklyn. Night Tour
of Times Square, lower Manhatten, and Brooklyn. You can bargain with the guys selling
tickets. Actually he offered it without us bargaining, probably could have gotten more.
$66 for 2 days and Statue of Liberty vouchers. We were going to buy the next day, so the
guy gave us 2 free days if we bought then. So we got 4 days of "all loops" and statue of
libery tickets. It was a Hop On-Hop Off tour. Great way to see overview of the city.
Taking pictures and better in the back of the bus.
There are a tour guides on each bus telling you facts (and sometimes there own musings).
Each tour guide we had were very different. Tour guide made a huge difference. If you
can't understand the guide, get off at a stop and wait for the next one.
- African guy. Very difficult to understand. Very scripted. Not a lot of "local" nuggets of
information.
- Black Lady. Easy to understand, and very informative (probably because we understood her).
Had lots of information.
- Asian Lady. Very difficult to understand. Almost impossible.
- Queens Guy. Stereotypical New Yorker. Thick Queens/Brooklyn accent, and very friendly.
Seemed like he enjoyed telling about his city. Excellent guide.
- "Anthony" New Yorker from Hell. His tour was like he was forced to do community service.
Rude, obnoixuois, preachy, talk to us like idiots, gave retartedly obviously advice...
Holier than thou attitude.
- "You sit down, we move... It's that simple"
- "Hellllloooooo????"
- Telling story of the huge gay population in Greenwicth Village...
"There people just like me and you... Don't judge!"
- "Do I smell smoke on my bus?"...
"There better not be smoke on my bus!"
- Telling story of immigrants we are all chastized...
"you think about that next time a family member wants to visit"
- "Don't drink and drive!"
- Going through China Town
"Every piece of yellow metal is not gold"
"Every piece of glass is not a diamond"
"What are you doing buying a rolex at 2 in the morning in Chinatown anyway?"
Bus tour is highly recommended for a first time visitor... Find a good guide, and get off
you don't like yours.
Small little shopping district. Neat place.
Circle Line Ferry
$11.50 for a ferry ride to Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. You got off at each spot and stayed as
long as you wanted. Really good spot for pictures. Ellis Island has a nice museum. Statue
of Liberty is a good spot for lunch... Really big portions for about $8
Price was $16 for 86th floor and $32 for 100th (i think) floor. $40 for express where you
went straight to the front of the line (86th floor line). Really long lines, about 2 hours
total. Great view of course. We went at night.
We went through this area several times. Lots of lights, vendors,screens, billboards,
people, shops, restaruants, bike taxis, and 1 naked cowgirl.
Suggested donation of $14.50
Huge museum. Lots of dinosaurs. Nice building. Lots of museum "stuff" on people groups.
Museum was really nice, but I thought the lobby was the best part. So if you want to see
the best part, save money and 4 hours, check out the lobby.
We didn't spend a lot of time here. Next trip we will explore here a little more. Really neat
place from what we saw. Definitely an oasis in the middle of concrete and steel.
Cool place. Like stepping back in time 70 years. Cheesy amusement park. Unimpressive beach.
Frigid water. Freak shows. Long subway ride to get there. It's Coney Island! You gotta try it at
least.
Need a fake bag or watch or wallet or designer jeans? This is the place to go. Very big area. Starting
to take over Little Italy. Part of street of Little Italy is run by Asians...
Little Italy
Should be called very Little Italy. Not much more than a street a few blocks long. Great
restaurants though.
Very cool place. Neat architecture. Beautiful place, and Juniors Cheesecake!!!!!
We didn't spend much time here. I would have like to visit the Stock Exchange. And we did get to
see a Broadway show (Spelling Bee). Get tickets through TKTS and save lots of dollars!