Stioffan

Hi fellow New Yorkers and everyone else.

Sorry for the short notice but my trip may be Tomorrow (March 28th) if the weather holds out.

I live Upstate in the Catskills and haven't been down to The City in a few years. I have my father-in-law from Texas who wants to see NYC and is open to whatever I may suggest. My 15yo daughter will be accompanying us as well. It is only a day trip and we will be coming down by Metro-North into Grand Central Station. From there we will walk to Times Square and then catch the Train (I think R train) to Staten Island Ferry so he can see Lady Liberty. This is now the part of the itinerary that I am wondering what to do next.

My visitor seems to be more into landscapes, landmarks and history than amusements. When I ask if there is anything in particular he says whatever I think. We will be returning Upstate via Grand Central Station or the Harlem Metro-North station at 125th st.

Other Attraction I have listed are the Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, and St Patrick's Cathedral. One other thing is food. Suggestions to a few American style eateries (Burgers and Fries) would be welcome. He is not a culinary aficionado so I don't want to pressure him into eating anything too exotic. This reminds me....There is a 1950s diner style restaurant where the wait staff sing broadway for the customers. I Think it is somewhere in the 50s? Does anyone know the name of this place. My daughter would enjoy this very much.

Thanks for any help.

Stioffan



Born in the Boogie-Down

ShopAround

Ellen's Stardust Diner, 1650 Broadway (at 51st Street).

cordelli

Welcome to FlyerTalk

If they are into history, consider the Intrepid.

Also I would not recommend catching the train back from Harlem. If the train is pretty full, as most of them are now because they have cut off cars to save money, you may have trouble getting seats in Harlem, it will fill up in Grand Central (yes, even on a Sunday)

Stioffan

Thanks for the tip on the train. I didn't know they had cut the cars.

Stioffan

I added Ground Zero to our itinerary. I finally got out of him the one place he does want to see. We will probably go there right after the SI Ferry. Is the subway station open yet? I think it was the #1 or #3 that stopped there.

cordelli

If you are migrating around on public transportation, check out hopstop.com for subway routings, it's a great planner for which trains to take.

Analise

The weather might hold out for you tomorrow. The rain might not arrive until tomorrow night but bring a strong umbrella just in case.

Also, know that tomorrow is Palm Sunday so St Patrick's might be loaded with people awaiting their services tomorrow.

To plan for your SI Ferry roundtrip excursion, know their Sunday schedule in both directions: http://www.siferry.com/ You can't stay on the boat once you arrive in SI. You'll have to depart and run to catch the next ferry back which could very well be a different vessel. If you do this midday, the ferries depart every 30 minutes from both Manhattan and SI.

dstan

Welcome to FlyerTalk, Stioffan!

Check out the thread on The High Line in the Sticky and see if that's something you think your visitor might be interested in - urban park with lots of interesting history behind it.

Also be sure to check out the thread on ESB vs. Top of the Rock - the latter is generally favored around here.

Stioffan

Thanks to everyone who helped with my planning. It was a successful trip even though we had a little rain in the afternoon. I exhausted my two tourists thoroughly and they enjoyed every minute of it.

Stioffan

dstan

Great! Thanks for reporting back! Sorry we didn't have better weather for you - we'll work on that for next time

Analise

So glad your day was a success. What did you end up doing?