localnotail wrote:I was only about Boston for a day so I can't say I got a flavour of what there was to *do* there, but the city is bloody gorgeous. It's smart and business-like and peaceful and attractive, all at once. It's easy to get around - the view from just about any point has an interesting mix of skyscrapers and historic buildings and greenery. One thing I did thoroughly enjoy was getting to play a Steinway piano in their own shop - probably the most expensive thing I've ever touched! |
First time to New York! • Page 3
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ProfessorLesser 19,693 posts
Seen 4 months ago
Registered 17 years ago -
Red-Moose 5,344 posts
Seen 6 years ago
Registered 19 years agoBoston is shit. Bars shut at 1am and the culture is caught in some sort of 1890s time warp. I found it surprising that some could even string a few words together to make a sentence.
The road system is shit, they something like T-junctions on motorways to merge, it's insane. -
pistol 13,018 posts
Seen 8 years ago
Registered 19 years agootto wrote:
Empire State is good for views of the Chrysler Building.
BTW not wanting to be all negative but am I the only person who thinks New York is a bit shit? Slightly shabby version of some big European city.
You probably are yes..
Personally I love the place and been 6 or 7 times over the alst 10 years. -
CosmicFuzz 32,632 posts
Seen 4 hours ago
Registered 15 years agoI heart NYC. -
boo 13,901 posts
Seen 20 hours ago
Registered 18 years agoZomg!
in the apple store, NYC
iPad is way cool, but typing may take some getting used to.
In other news, after 48 hours here, my feet are f;:&@ing killing me! -
CosmicFuzz 32,632 posts
Seen 4 hours ago
Registered 15 years ago
Glad you're enjoy it dude, it's a stupidly awesome place. -
Orange 5,170 posts
Seen 6 years ago
Registered 19 years agoTwo weeks until my first visit .gif)
I'll be there for the Tribeca film festival but will be sightseeing during most of the weekdays. All booked and sorted, just counting down the days. -
Reading about boo's visit with earnest. I'll be going soon for four days before heading to Detroit for family stuff and maybe Chicago for a day.
Wonder what pizza is best, NY or Chicago? -
localnotail 23,079 posts
Seen 2 weeks ago
Registered 13 years agoNYC all the way for pizza IMO. Chicago is good for soul food though. Chicken an rice an peas* ftw .
*actually kidney beans
ProfessorLesser wrote:
localnotail wrote:
I was only about Boston for a day so I can't say I got a flavour of what there was to *do* there, but the city is bloody gorgeous. It's smart and business-like and peaceful and attractive, all at once. It's easy to get around - the view from just about any point has an interesting mix of skyscrapers and historic buildings and greenery.
I liked SF a lot when I was there in 2001 but I thought Boston (last year) was really quite dull. Philly was really great though, and I liked Baltimore, if only for our Wire pilgrimage.
NYC pizza is awesome, agreed. By the slice, anytime. Mmm.
One thing I did thoroughly enjoy was getting to play a Steinway piano in their own shop - probably the most expensive thing I've ever touched!
ooh, nice. Don't get me wrong, it's very interesting from a historic point of view but you can get round all that stuff in a day or so. After which, it became a bit boring compared to other cities IMO. Had to go over the river to Cambridge to find a good pub, too.
Hope you are having fun boo, hope the feet get used to all the walking soon, it really is the best way to get around though. Don't forget to go to Brooklyn, if only to walk back over the bridge. -
BinaryBob101 27,755 posts
Seen 1 week ago
Registered 12 years agopistol wrote:
otto wrote:
Empire State is good for views of the Chrysler Building.
BTW not wanting to be all negative but am I the only person who thinks New York is a bit shit? Slightly shabby version of some big European city.
You probably are yes..
Personally I love the place and been 6 or 7 times over the alst 10 years.
I wonder if anybody in the world will ever agree with Otto on this one. -
Zidargh 2,048 posts
Seen 1 year ago
Registered 15 years agoWhat does Ground Zero look like nowadays? (Dont show me some google image).
Ive been 'lucky' to have seen the remains after 9-11 (went 2 months after on Kuwait airlines lol) and glass was still tumbling down. Then I came back couple years later and everything had been flattened and looked all modern and new. -
dnbuk 5,011 posts
Seen 13 hours ago
Registered 16 years agoboo wrote:
Zomg!
in the apple store, NYC
iPad is way cool, but typing may take some getting used to.
In other news, after 48 hours here, my feet are f;:&@ing killing me!
When I came back from NY i had a blister on the side of my big toe the size of a plum. -
Why do you have toes that are the size of plums? -
dnbuk 5,011 posts
Seen 13 hours ago
Registered 16 years agoMicro_Explosion. wrote:
Why do you have toes that are the size of plums?
Eh? The blister was all inflated like a balloon. It was fucking horrible. -
boo 13,901 posts
Seen 20 hours ago
Registered 18 years agoThat was bl**dy fantastic!
Low point - flight out. 7 hours of having a three year old brat screaming and kicking the back of my seat. "Wasn't he well behaved?" said someone to the mother as we got off.
Er, no.
Mixed point - Guggenheim. Building itself, the architecture and the gallery space - absolutely incredible. As for the contents, I wouldn't give you 50p for the lot. With the exception of a few classics like Monet, it was filled with the most pretentious pile of mong droppings I've ever seen. Emperors New Clothes indeed!
But the rest of it - fan-bloody-tastic.
Times Square, Empire State Building, Top Of The Rock, walking over Brooklyn Bridge and looking back at Manhattan from Brooklyn Heights, Staten Island Ferry, Statue Of Liberty, Tiffanys, the Apple Store, riding the subway, Central Park, New York pizza, Wild Cherry Pepsi...
I just loved the whole attitude of the place. Everything was 'can do' without being cheesy about it. For example, sitting in Central Park having lunch. I watched the road below us, and there were cars, taxis, horse & carriages, cyclists, joggers, skaters and people walking. I thought to myself 'If that was London, there'd be signs up everywhere saying 'no skating, no cycling. no motor vehicles etc'
And I was surprised at the 'have a nice day' thing. I went out expecting it to be completely insincere, but it isn't. There's some story about JFK going to NASA in the 60's, and meeting a guy sweeping up, and when JFK asked him what he was doing, he replied 'I'm helping to put a man on the moon.' And I was reminded of that at the Empire State Building. We went in there on three different occasions, and must have seen about a dozen different security staff. Every single one of them welcomed us to the place like they were welcoming us into their home. They absolutely wanted you to have a good time.
I could waffle on for ages, but thanks for everybody who made suggestions - I'll bear them in mind for next time, because we're definitely gong back.
With better walking shoes! -
boo 13,901 posts
Seen 20 hours ago
Registered 18 years agoZidargh - Ground Zero. I've never seen the WTC (other than in pictures), so I didn't get the full impact. Mrs Boo said the strangest thing was looking back at Manhattan from Brooklyn, and the skyline just being 'wrong'.
Ground Zero itself is a building site at the moment - they're putting up a 'One World Center', with two waterfall / ponds where the footprints of the original towers were. The framework is probably about 15 stories high at the moment.
Lots of people standing around just looking, but there is what looks like a semi-permanent group of conspiracy-theorists who are demanding an enquiry to all the 'unanswered questions', handing out leaflets etc. Saw quite a few Americans getting into very heated debates with them.
There's an info centre nearby with details of what happened and what the future plans for the site is too, if you have time. -
PrivateFloyd 5,464 posts
Seen 19 hours ago
Registered 14 years agoboo wrote:
That was bl**dy fantastic!
Low point - flight out. 7 hours of having a three year old brat screaming and kicking the back of my seat. "Wasn't he well behaved?" said someone to the mother as we got off.
Er, no.
Mixed point - Guggenheim. Building itself, the architecture and the gallery space - absolutely incredible. As for the contents, I wouldn't give you 50p for the lot. With the exception of a few classics like Monet, it was filled with the most pretentious pile of mong droppings I've ever seen. Emperors New Clothes indeed!
But the rest of it - fan-bloody-tastic.
Times Square, Empire State Building, Top Of The Rock, walking over Brooklyn Bridge and looking back at Manhattan from Brooklyn Heights, Staten Island Ferry, Statue Of Liberty, Tiffanys, the Apple Store, riding the subway, Central Park, New York pizza, Wild Cherry Pepsi...
I just loved the whole attitude of the place. Everything was 'can do' without being cheesy about it. For example, sitting in Central Park having lunch. I watched the road below us, and there were cars, taxis, horse & carriages, cyclists, joggers, skaters and people walking. I thought to myself 'If that was London, there'd be signs up everywhere saying 'no skating, no cycling. no motor vehicles etc'
And I was surprised at the 'have a nice day' thing. I went out expecting it to be completely insincere, but it isn't. There's some story about JFK going to NASA in the 60's, and meeting a guy sweeping up, and when JFK asked him what he was doing, he replied 'I'm helping to put a man on the moon.' And I was reminded of that at the Empire State Building. We went in there on three different occasions, and must have seen about a dozen different security staff. Every single one of them welcomed us to the place like they were welcoming us into their home. They absolutely wanted you to have a good time.
I could waffle on for ages, but thanks for everybody who made suggestions - I'll bear them in mind for next time, because we're definitely gong back.
With better walking shoes!
cheers for that boo.
im taking the missus for a suprise trip to nyc for christmas.
i cant wait.
question. how long did you go for? how much "spending" money did you use? -
boo 13,901 posts
Seen 20 hours ago
Registered 18 years agoIt was a pretty short trip.
Left here Friday morning, and arrived NYC Friday lunchtime (local time).
Then had Friday pm/evening, all Sat, all Sun, most of Mon.
Had to be back at the hotel ready to leave for JFK at 6pm Monday.
We did everything that we wanted to, but we had pretty long days, and I'm not kidding about the pain - seriously aching legs & feet, and blisters too - take good shoes.
We could have taken the subway (call it the train if you want to sound like a local), but obviously you don't see as much.
If we'd gone for longer, I don't know how much more we'd have done, simply because we were knackered. Although I guess we could have paced it a bit.
Spending - Took $500 in cash and brought $100 back. We only really needed cash for food, fares and small purchases. Put everything else on plastic. -
magicpanda 15,130 posts
Seen 6 hours ago
Registered 17 years ago"With better walking shoes!"
This is the single most important advice in the thread. -
Great stuff boo! Was the ESB and SOL worth the wait? I'm not sure I can be bothered with queues if I've only got four days. -
boo 13,901 posts
Seen 20 hours ago
Registered 18 years agoStatue of Liberty - we didn't go. Got a very good view from the (free!) Staten Island ferry, saw the hellish queues and decided to give it a miss. Maybe next time. For me, just seeing it was the important thing. Much like Mount Rushmore - a lot smaller than you think, when you finally see it.
Empire State Building / Top Of The Rock(efeller Centre). Not cheap, but we did one during the day, and one at night, and the views were amazing.
ESB was $20 for the 86th floor, and an extra $15 for the 102nd floor, so $70 for the two of us to go right to the top. We went at night and the views are spectacular.
TotR we did during the day ($18 each), and although it's not quite as tall, you still get incredible views, and you get a great view of Central Park, which you can't see as well from the ESB.
So I'd say, do ESB at night, TotR during the day.
Queues can be quite long - early April is off season, so I think we only had to wait about 30 mins at ESB, and the queues do keep moving. TotR, we must have got lucky - walked in about 1pm on Sunday, and pretty much went straight up. -
mrpon 37,366 posts
Seen 45 minutes ago
Registered 15 years agoHow heaving was the Apple store boo? -
boo 13,901 posts
Seen 20 hours ago
Registered 18 years agoAnd while I remember : Rosa's Pizza & Pasta, on the ground floor of the Empire State Building (you don't need to pay to get in to that bit).
Cheap, uber-yummy pizza by the slice (or by the mahoosive pizza!). Kosher too, if that's of any interest to you. -
boo 13,901 posts
Seen 20 hours ago
Registered 18 years agoApple Store - very heaving. We went to the one at the top of 5th Ave - it's a cool glass cube with the store underneath (looks great at night, photography fans). Apparently there's three other Apple Stores in NY, but I'm not sure where they are.
Very busy, but plenty of staff - got served very quickly.
Had to hang around the iPad bit for a few mins until somebody put one down and I got to have a play. Smaller than you think, but feels lovely in your hands.
And bonus! Mrs Boo loved it, so may be allowed to buy one after all!! -
Boo, many thanks for the tips, it's much appreciated. You're not the only one to say avoid the SOL. By the way, by SOL/TOTR you mean Empire State/TOTR, right? OK, so do that at night for the ultimate Tom Hanks moment. I'll try the TOTR by day. Had lots of fun and vertigo in Tokyo with the skyscrapers there so it'd make sense to try the Stateside versions.
Definitely seeking out the Ghostbusters firehouse and New York Public Library for a nerdgasm. Will probably end up with an iPad if I went to the Apple store knowing my inability not to spend money. -
boo 13,901 posts
Seen 20 hours ago
Registered 18 years ago
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Yes, I meant ESB, Not SoL - have corrected.
New York Public Library is currently covered in scaffolding and tarpaulin and will be 'for the next few years', as it's undergoing a major refit. Shame - I wanted some pictures.
As for the iPad, the guy in the shop said that if you bought a US one, you would only be able to access the app store if you had a US registered credit card, so you may as well wait until they come out over here.
Good call!
/adds Ghostbusters firehouse to list for next time
I'm glad I changed my SLR for a DSLR a couple of months ago - took 557 pictures. God knows how much that would have been in developing costs! -
Bah, humbug! Noted. May take a poke inside. Will check out the uni grounds for further Ghostbusters/Spiderman nerd moments and also the fountain Venkman spins around for a photo opportunity. 
I know the firehouse ext. was used in GB but not the interior (that was an LA firehouse), so not to bothered about going inside.
Any resteraunts/cafe's/diners you went to you thought was awesome? There's one in the film Enchanted (what, it's awesome) which is pretty famous I need to look up. Here it is!
Good thing I can't buy an iPad. -
boo 13,901 posts
Seen 20 hours ago
Registered 18 years agoWe didn't do much 'eating out', just grabbed food on the run most of the time.
Rosa's pizza in the ESB (see above) is recommended though.
The one nice place we did go to was the Heights Cafe - great food, reasonable prices. I absolutely recommend walking over Brooklyn Bridge and then turning right to walk up to Brooklyn Heights. We did because that's where Mrs Boo stayed when she was working out there, and the cafe was where she used to go for breakfast, so we went in for brunch for a nostalgia trip.
But the views back to Manhattan are the best you'll see.
I'll try and gets some pictures up online. -
localnotail 23,079 posts
Seen 2 weeks ago
Registered 13 years agoGlad you had fun
boo wrote:
Mixed point - Guggenheim. Building itself, the architecture and the gallery space - absolutely incredible. As for the contents, I wouldn't give you 50p for the lot. With the exception of a few classics like Monet, it was filled with the most pretentious pile of mong droppings I've ever seen. Emperors New Clothes indeed!
oh, has the Kandinsky exhibition moved on then? It was there when we were in October, it was wonderful. Also one of Anish Kapoor's bizarre space explorations which was quite fascinating. And yes, the building is really special.
We did TOTR at night and it was glorious - cheaper than ES and you get to see everything including ES. -
I'd love to see them, Boo. Getting well excited and it's a couple of months yet!
Brooklyn will be getting a visit. How'd you find it? Mental note to download the GTAIV soundtrack.
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I know the firehouse ext. was used in GB but not the interior (that was an LA firehouse), so not to bothered about going inside.Sometimes posts may contain links to online retail stores. If you click on one and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. For more information, go here.
