Off to New York.

Central Park stinks of horse-shit. Really really badly. So unless you
have no sense of smell (which would have been a visa requirement at
JFK throughout the summer), avoid.

The whole of Midtown Manhattan is tedious in the extreme - you might
as well save your time and next time you're in central London, take
a walk from Oxford Circus to Leicester Square via Piccadilly Circus.
If you want to eat, head for the East/West villages - more grub than
you can shake a stick at.

You get quite a good view of Brooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan from
South Street Seaport (with shops for the ladies), and there's a
reasonable bar just across the road. For full effect, head down there
around 2am when Fulton fish market is waking up.

If you're craving a kebab, 42nd Street turns into a market on Sundays
and every corner has a stall selling gyros.

Rockefeller Plaza is good if you want to have a Harry/Sally moment
by the ice rink. Or, for the true moment, head to the Lower East Side
and Katz's Deli (you know the scene.)

Dunno, but the Chrysler building is everything you'd expect the
Empire State building to be (but isn't). The ES is ugly as sin but
very tall. The Chrysler building is gorgeous.

Nothing there, but if you're downtown for Seaport then you could stop
on the way.

Hard to miss if you're near Wall Street.

One thing nobody's mentioned is bars. If you're downtown (for the
bridge and Seaport) then Ulysses on Stone Street is worth a visit
(does a carvery for 20 bucks with a pint of guinness thrown in on
Sundays, too). Its sister pub on Lafayette and Broadway, Puck Fair,
is absolutely cracking and the beer's top notch.
Ear Inn on Spring street and Toad Hall on Canal are cosy numbers, the
latter specialising in random bottled beers. And McSorleys is always
worth a visit (if only once), just to see the quality service and
extensive range of beers.

 

Oh and add on Grand Central Station for

And the library ceiling

 

When are you there? I'm not, yet...

Good!

 

Got my itinerary today. Land JFK at 2002 on the 30th Oct, and leave
at 0900 on the 2nd Nov. May bring the inbound flight forward a couple
of hours, if there is on; I'll sort that out when I'm in SF, though.

See you in a month!

 

(antonye) somehow managed to post:

<much snippage for brevity's sake>

Hmmm... where to start? I've been to Manhattan a *few* times[1] ... it
never ceases to amaze me.

Rule #1
Get a metro pass, but don't always do the subway. Take a bus a couple
of times and get to see the bits above ground while you're travelling.
Rule #2
Try to avoid the express subways as these are for commuters and often
miss 10 stops in a row. DAMHIK etc..
Rule #3
If you head north of the Metropolitan Museum (mid-central park),
*don't* look like a tourist. Anywhere south of there is pretty safe.

If it's your first time and you've only got a few days here's what I'd
do:
Get up early, you'll be on UK time and the city is good before all the
natives awaken... otherwise, I'd pretty much go with what Paul C says
but with a few notes/slightly edited :-

Empire State Building (do this at dusk, trust me. The queues are
longer but it's worth it, otherwise, try as soon as it opens and
there's rarely a queue.)

Central Park (definitely on a Sunday morning, and do the bits around
Central Park West/Columbus Circle. Stop and watch the amateur
Baseball/Softball teams. Then head up to Bethesda Fountain for a
performance extraordinaire, then down The Mall at Bethesda Terrace and
across to the Zoo area. http://www.centralparknyc.org/)

Metropolitan Museum of Art (pity - try next time [I'd also add Natural
History and Science Museum here])
Guggenheim Museum (avoid - as an art collection it blows,
architecturally it's "OK", nothing more)

Ride on the Staten Island Ferry (not really worth it since the
downtown skyline is now a little less ... towering, but it only costs
50c and passes an hour. So if you do this, take a zoom lens for your
camera and it'll save you "doing" the Statue of Libery which, quite
frankly, is a waste of wank.)

Rockefeller Centre - Couple this with a stroll down 5th Avenue. Start
at The Metropolitan Museum (or the Central Park circuit mentioned ^up
there), and head down town. Do FAO Schwartz, Trump Tower, Tiffany's,
Rockerfeller, then switch across to Madison, Park and Lexington
Avenues, and do Grand Central Station, and some of the diners around
there.

Little Italy / China Town / So Ho / Greenwich Village
(Take a full day to do these, just wander round looking at people. For
me, _this_ is New York. Playing chess on the pavement in Greenwich
Village on a beautiful day, supping beer.... Hmmmm... Watching the
street basketball (also in Greenwich village) has to be seen to be
believed.)

United Nations Building (avoid)

Brooklyn Bridge and the view of Manhatten from Brooklyn Heights
- Definitely do this & couple it with some time around South Street
Sea Port, Wall Street, Battery Park. Staten Island Ferry leaves from
between SSSP & Batt Park)

Chrysler Building (I've never done this, but as Paul C says, it *is* a
stunning building)

Ellis Island (avoid)
Statue of Liberty (See Staten Island Ferry note)

Have fun, wear some good quality trainers, and take water with you.

[1] Sister lives in CT, so read 20+(ish).

 

When are you in SF then? I'll be around there 15th-23rd ish.

 

I land at 1355 on the 21st. Fancy a pint?

 

Beann sure. Not got final plans yet - there for a conf up to 19th and
planning to spend an extra day or three there, as Jude's also
scheduled a trip to coincide, whence she's flying off to Japan the
following week.

I'll let you know when I work out the timings.

 

Pos. My dog will work over there, so you can call me if you need to.

Where are you staying? I am torn between the Warwick Regis
(http://www.warwickregis.com) and Club Quarters
(http://www.clubquarters.com/home_pub.asp).

 

Yeah, mine too, although I've got a new number[1] now, which I'll SMS
peeps with in due course.

I'll be in Palo Alto through to the Friday, which is about an hour
south of SF, apparently. After that we're not sure - first need to
work out if there's any skiing possible that early in the year, then
take it from there.

[1] Bloody French networks - I wanted to change to a contract (instead
of PAYG) and get a new handset[2] at the same time, so was happy to go
for one of the "It's about a quarter of the price[3] if you sign up
for a year" deals, as normal in the UK, only to be told that said
deals would not apply if I wanted to keep my previous number, although
as it was the same operator (Orange) they'd let me have a much smaller
reduction.
[2] Got a Motorola v500, if any of the phone-geeks are interested.
[3] About 80 euros, IIRC.

 

Hmm. Late October is marginal - you might find some stuff created by
snow blowers at the Lake Tahoe resorts, but I think it'll be marginal.

 

'ang on, I think I've just spotted a slight problem here - Blaney
mentioned November for his NY trip, then I got thinking about that
month, neglecting to notice that he's going to be in SF _before_ NY,
not after. It's late _November_ I'll be there.

 

Depending on traffic on the 101 it can be anywhere from 30 minutes to 2
hours.

Leave the skis home, no snow here yet.

 

Ahh, good to know - ta.

What about late Novemebr, weekend before thanksgiving?

 

Possibly, it's late enough in the year that they will be making snow if
there is none falling. I had a look at the major ski centers but they
are all closed and no info on the 2004-2005 season.

 

Ah. You'll get snow in Tahoe in late November. This is the state of
US resorts on Nov 16 last year :
http://webpages.charter.net/tcrocker818/111603.htm

 

Pretty much all mass-produced North American chocolate seems to be rank,
which would explain the number of Red Cross parcels, full of chocolate, that
get sent to the Brits here.

 

Even Dairy Milk over there tastes like candle wax.

 

They all have a panic attack if there's no snow in November and attempt
to get the blowers going in order to make enough skiable terrain before
their Thanksgiving party, which is some time in November.

I was there in November a few years back[1], but it was glorious in San
Fransisco, requiring only a t-shirt. There wasn't any snow (worth
using) at Tahoe. I spent a shed load on boards and stuff instead.

[1] can't remember what year, but it was before thanksgiving.

 

You fucking ****. I was looking forward to seeing you.