New Yorkers and people who love it

[amberlyrose]

I need help planning some stuff out, but I'm not sure what the best times are and how bad crowds are at certain times of day.  

I'm doing a 5k on that Friday morning on Roosevelt Island. That is scheduled between 9-12, though I'm sure I'll be done with the 5k by 10am. Our hotel is in Times Square. We have time to ourselves after that, but would like to go see dinner and a show that night.
We have all day Saturday to ourselves and we fly out at the ass crack of dawn on Sunday.

Things we'd like to do:
- Empire State Building
- Alice's Tea
- Chinatown
- WTC

Help me plan it out. Should we do the Empire state building on Friday or are there always lines?
Which Alice's is the best?
What else would you add in?
Waht braodway show do you recommend? We're seeing Book of Mormon here when it comes.

We're getting metro passes to get around.



nicbreeful vicky

[TrudyCampbell]

I feel really lame because I live in NYC and have no idea what Alice's Tea is! I'm so out of the loop.

[MixedBerryJam]

I don't have any advice for you, as I've only been to NYC once, and that was last week. I drove into the city to look at NYU with my son. I found on-street parking. In the middle of the day. At NYU. I was very pleased, and haven't been able to brag about it nearly enough.

[vicky]

Empire State Building is prettiest at night. I've been on a Friday, I don't remember it being terrible.
I've only been to the Alice's on the UWS, but I love it!! Get the pumpkin scone, you won't be sorry.
If you do Chinatown, do Little Italy too! Go to Ferrara's for tea and cannolis. Get dumplings at Wo Hop on Mott Street, and be sure to go to basement level - they charge you more upstairs.

[amberlyrose]

Jul 1, 2013 20:18:06 GMT -5 vicky said:

Empire State Building is prettiest at night. I've been on a Friday, I don't remember it being terrible.
I've only been to the Alice's on the UWS, but I love it!! Get the pumpkin scone, you won't be sorry.
If you do Chinatown, do Little Italy too! Go to Ferrara's for tea and cannolis. Get dumplings at Wo Hop on Mott Street, and be sure to go to basement level - they charge you more upstairs.

My sister had her birthday party at the one on the UWS when she lived there. The pictures were adorable!

Would chinatown/little italy/WTC be doable on Saturday?

[HiC]

While I haven't been back to the WTC site for a few years now, I would imagine that you could definitely do all three (WTC/Chinatown/Little Italy)in a Saturday.

[audry80]

With such a short trip, I would skip the Empire State Building and go to the Top of the Rock. I have been to the ESB twice and both times it was a major CF with horrible long lines. You can chose a time for Top of the Rock so it will save you at least a couple of hours.

[Deleted]

I've never heard of this Alice's Tea.

What's the story?

[winecat]

You could grab a Cronut at the ass crack of dawn on Sunday.

I've heard good things about the pancakes at Clinton St. Baking company.

Beurre & Sel should be amazing. Heard good things about Levain Bakery. Momofuku has a good bakery- Crack Pie. Milk and Cookies should be good too. There's a popsicle only joint I'm curious about. There's also a cake pop place which fascinates me as a business model.

[Deleted]

Pass. LOL.

[sarahbear]

Cinderella is supposed to be amazing on Broadway.

[kayl84]

I'm from NJ and get to NYC a good 2-3 times a month. I don't exactly know where you are headed in regards to where you would want to eat, but the Empire State Building, the WTC site/ museum are very touristy spots. I would plan out the order in what you want to see most and try to see if you can find the food places you are looking for around that route. Also, NYC has tons of little unknown spots that are literally at every corner.

Mom, sis & I wanted to be tourists for the night, so we headed into the city, got this nice room facing Times Square & we did this bus tour called "The Ride". I absolutely loved it and I don't do tourist shit like that. Hands down the best and most comedic tour ever. I would look into it. I want to go back so badly and do it again! I know more about the Upper East Side between Lexington and 68th-79th and little random places.

[Deleted]

We did Empire State Building on a Friday night and it wasn't too bad. I glad we went just so I can say I went, but honestly there are so many other things I wish I had spent my time doing.

This post makes me wish I had a trip scheduled to NYC soon!!

[Gato]

I would see Once or Matilda.

I've never heard of Alice's Tea.

The view from the top of Rockefeller Center is actually better than the Empire State, IMO. You can get tickets in advance and avoid the lines.

I'm feeling melancholy because mostly all I know about NYC now are where the good playgrounds are.

[kayl84]

P.S. You MUST also go to this cupcake place called Baked by Melissa. Screw Sprinkles or that other place. They started out small and now they have about 6-7ish locations in NYC. Go check their website www.bakedbymelissa.com ! They also have a Facebook page and if you Instagram you can lookup #bakedbymelissa or any combo of that which you can think of. Each month they have a special mini of the month. Such as, when Melissa got married the mini of that month was "wedding cake", for July1st-31st I think it's Watermelon. I tried adding the picture of it, but between stupid imageshack is in beta mode & using the boards from my iPhone/Safari I cannot get the god damn thing to post.

Hell, I bragged so much my BFF from Chicago was like next summer when I come visit (this summer) I'm going to NYC to find these magical cupcakes you speak of.

They ship worldwide and I sent her a case for her birthday with a bottle of that Cupcake wine & she loved me so much she nearly cried.

Every chance I see one or I'm near one I always try to stop in for anywhere from a 3pack to a 25pack. Depending on how crappy the news was that I got that day at the doctor.