1. Tourist Tips: Manhattan in a Day

    I made this list over on Foursquare to help folks who are visiting and want to have an easy-to-follow plan. This is inspired by the number of times friends and family from my hometown upstate have done one of the day-trip-to-the-city packages, and I’ve taken them around. There’s a million other things to add (taking suggestions in the comments!), but this generally works for the timeframe allotted.

    There wasn’t enough room to make all the notes I wanted to, so I’m adding all the little extra bits here.

    1. Bryant Park. This is often the drop-off spot for a number of bus tours, so we start here. Great, quick coffee at the ‘wich shop on the corner of 6th & 42nd.

    2. Times Square. Where does the ball drop? On the north end, in front of the Coca-Cola sign. Also, TKTS is located here, if you’re skipping the tour and looking for a reasonably priced show.

    3. Radio City Music Hall. Fun to see! If it’s convenient, check out the lobby quick.

    4. Rockefeller Center. A myriad of things to do here. If it’s the holidays, there’s obviously the tree, and watching the ice skating. (Down in the rink: that statue is Prometheus.) Inside 30 Rockefeller Center (the very tall building in the middle, aka, 30 Rock—that’s why the show is named that), check out the great murals from Diego Rivera. 

    5. St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Before you go inside, turn around and check out the statue of Atlas holding up the world on the other side of 5th Ave, in front of Rockefeller Center. Inside, you’ll find a super ornate Catholic cathedral. Especially if you’ve never seen the ones in Europe, this is pretty cool. 

    (Holiday time: stop and check out the windows at Saks Fifth Ave on your way to the next stop.)

    6. Waldorf Astoria. Preeeettttty. Go inside the lobbies and check out the decor and art. 

    (Shortcut: go down Park Ave through the Helmsley building pedestrian tunnel, then through the lobby of the MetLife building. Keep walking til you hit down escalators: viola! You’re in Grand Central.)

    7. Grand Central Terminal. Have a look at the ceiling. Cool constellations, right?! Funny trivia: they’re backwards. Rumor has it that the painter had the drawing at his feet and was simply looking up and painting them (instead of transposing as he was painting). The funny thing is, they made him redo it and he got it wrong AGAIN. The official explanation is that they’re supposed to be “from the eyes of God.” Whatever. One more cool ceiling thing — look around for a dark brown block patch on one of the corners of the ceiling. This was what the *entire* ceiling looked like before restoration, because of tobacco & train smoke for so many years. You couldn’t see the constellations at all. Also, make sure you go out the 42nd St exit, walk up Vanderbilt for a second, and turn around to see the outside of GCT. It’s beautiful!

    BREAK! Stop in the lower dining level of GCT for food and bathrooms.

    (Walk or cab to the next stop.)

    8. Empire State Building. Depending on how busy it is, how the weather is, etc., you can go up to the top or not. If you have time: recommended! IF you don’t, and you want a good picture, it’s best to walk down 5th Ave several blocks to actually be able to see it.

    (Hop on the 6 train at 33rd and Park, going downtown. Get off at Union Sq.)

    9. Union Square. If it’s the holiday season, check out the market. It’ll be packed, but there’s cool finds. Otherwise, the park has a lot of labor and radical history to it, and be sure to check out the statues of Lincoln (north end), Washington (south end), and Gandhi (southwest corner). 

    10. Strand Bookstore. This is optional for the book nerds in the group, but the store boasts 8 miles of books, and is a real treat for the literary types.

    11. Washington Square Park. The famous arch! Plus, it’s just a really nice park. Morbid trivia: 15,000+ people are buried under the park from Revolutionary War times.

    (Hop on the R train at Broadway and 8th St, or Broadway and Prince St, going downtown. Get off at Whitehall St, and exit to the front of the train.)

    12. Battery Park. Bathroom break! There are nice, clean bathrooms in the Staten Island Ferry Terminal at the very south end of the park. If you’ve skipped a bunch of other stuff and still have at least 2 hours to kill, jump on the Ferry—it’s free!— for what I call the Poor Man’s Harbor Tour. You’ll go over to Staten Island (about a half hour on the boat), go right by the Statue, and get great views of Manhattan. Bum around the terminal area in Staten Island for a minute while waiting for the next boat back. 

    Back in Battery Park, you also have views of the Statue from the southern/western shore. There’s a nice WWII memorial there; keep walking north to see the globe sculpture that was recovered from the wreckage of the Twin Towers.

    13. National September 11 Memorial. I was very, very skeptical about visiting the memorial—I expected a lot of rah-rah kind of stuff. But it’s incredibly beautiful, respectful and healing. Make free reservations online to visit at least a day in advance.

    14. Brooklyn Bridge. Before you get onto the bridge, check out City Hall and 1 Centre St. City Hall trivia: when it was built, it was considered so far north of the rest of town that they finished the back side of it with brick instead of marble, figuring no one would ever see the back of it. 

    If you’ve skipped other stuff and have time to kill, walk across the bridge and get great views of the harbor, the East River, Manhattan and more. You can take the A or C trains one stop back to Manhattan.

    (Otherwise… hop on the 4 or 5 train at City Hall and head uptown, getting out at Grand Central. Take a bathroom break at GCT if you need it.)

    15. New York Public Library. Don’t miss the lion statues in the front! Their names are Patience and Fortitude. Also, remember the scene in Ghostbusters, where they try to exorcise their first ghost from the library, and run out screaming? These are those steps, hee hee.

    And that’s it! Most tours will pick you up again in this general vicinity; be sure to grab a sandwich or something to eat (best bet is probably back around Rockefeller Center) before you get on the bus. Thank you for choosing the RandomDeanna Manhattan Tour!

Notes