Elainee

I live on the Upper West Side. With your limited time, don't bother with walking around this area. Not really that much to see. If you are on East Side with Gugg and Met museums, quick walk thru park, I would stay on East Side.
IMHO...a tour bus, Red or other, will give you better overview than anything on foot. It is a big city.
I am big on Met museum and Gugg and walk in Central Park between the two to the resevoir for a look at the view.
You will love your 48 hours.

mykidsmom99

Elainee, I will keep your comments in mind, however, there are certain places we know we want to see in the UWS & we are quite fond of walking. We are not interested in neon lights, shopping malls or crowds.

Gwendolynn

Well.. thank goodness your Czech ancestors didn't settle in Yorkville. I live in what's left of Yorkville (at this point about one store and one restaurant.) If you take the subway to the Guggenheim you'll exit the subway and 86th St and Lexington Ave. Between Lexington and Third Avenue (to the East) you'll find an outpost of the Shake Shack (hamburgers) and on the NE corner of 86 and Third a "hot dog" stand that's a local institution. (just in case your hungry -

Gwendolynn

This post is reminding me how old I am! I lived on the West Side before it was chic. If you want to get a blend of past and present. Start at the Dakota (where John Lennon lived) at 72nd and Central Park West. (you could do this after a walk thru the park from the East Side.) Walk over to Columbus Avenue... which has been totally gentrified since my time. Turn left and after a block or so walk west on either 70th Street or 69th to get a look at the typical west side brownstone. Then walk down Amsterdam (again, totallly gentrified) to Lincoln Center between 63 and 65. On the way you'll pass the ABC complex. Straight down from Lincoln Center is Columbus Circle and the Time Warner center. When I lived on the westside most of those brownstones were divided into inexpensive apts. It seems now that they've been reconverted into expensive private residences. Again, lots of food options in the Time Warner center.

frogoutofwater

I live in the financial district and it's not that quiet on the weekends - it's full of tourists and there are more and more residents. There are a few museums down here that are interesting, including the free and very good albeit small Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian (in the old Customs House - building itself is worth a look), the Museum of Finance and, in Battery Park, the Skyscraper Museum and the Museum of Jewish Heritage (memorial to the Holocaust). If you end up down here, on Friday or the weekend, and are looking for somewhere fast to eat, probably the best strip of "higher quality" fast food and pub-type options is on Maiden Lane, between William and Water. If you want to shop at Century 21, try to as early in the morning as possible (e.g., 8 am), because it gets very crowded.

I'm not sure anyone has suggested this yet (haven't read the whole thread), but if you want to walk over the Brooklyn Bridge, it's more interesting to take the subway to Brooklyn (e.g., 2/3 - first stop in Brooklyn) and then walk back so that your view as you walk is of the Manhattan skyline.

Soho is pretty much chockablock full of big box stores and hordes of shoppers, especially on the weekends. The streets to the east of Broadway has much more interesting shopping these days. And while the heart of Greenwich Village still has interesting buildings (and Washington Square Park), I think that overall the East and West Villages have more interesting shops and restaurants.

Lots of NYC restaurants are on opentable.com, so it's a good way to make reservations for lunch and dinner.

If you want a meal at the end of your walk along the High Line, you might want to start at the northern end and walk down, rather than vice versa. (This might just be my personal preference, but I found the area around the northern end of the High Line a bit desolate - lots of galleries, but limited meal options in the immediate vicinity. By contrast, the southern end of the High Line is close to the meatpacking district and the edge of the West Village. You could end up at Dos Caminos, for example, and then do some shopping.)

ggreen

We are not interested in neon lights, shopping malls or crowds.

You will get more than enough of all three (well maybe not *malls*, but stores that usually are in them) by virtue of your hotel's proximity to Times Square!

In fact, I take back my "mall" statement: Times Square is now largely an open-air mall, thanks to the wide swaths of pedestrian zones the city has carved out of what used to be automobile traffic. (Imagine a lot of people, a lot of concrete, and then a stream of cars bumper-to-bumper along one side...)

There is good and bad with passing through TS on your way to the sights you want to see:
- On the one hand, there are lots of people milling around in a rather directionless manner (as a commuter, this drives me nuts LOL), plus now there are lots of vendors that have come into the area to cater to the increased amount of foot traffic. Note that there are men in either red or yellow uniforms on *every corner* of TS that try to sell the bus tours - don't make eye contact and walk purposefully and they won't bother you - you'll seem like a local to them!
- On the other hand, between the lines on 6th Ave and the ones in TS, you will be at a nexus point for subway lines, making all but the east side a single train ride to any of the places you want to go. (To get to the east side, you'll need to cross town first, then take the train up Lex - easy to do because the cross-town trains also intersect at TS.) And I have to say, despite all my ornery-NYer grumbling, I never tire of taking a moment to stand in the middle of TS around 11 or 12 at night and watch the hubbub in a zone lit up like as if it's day. It's so... New York! I recently mentioned on another thread a secret "tourist" thing my BF and I like to do once every year or so: have a drink at The View at the top of the Marriott Marquis-! The glass elevators and then the view for which the space is named are both pretty cool. If you time it right, you can make one drink last for the better part of a rotation of the restaurant, and then get out of there.

I will also add that because your hotel is on the cross street more or less in the middle of the block, you avoid a lot of the TS hullabaloo while still benefiting from its proximity.

Do you like pubs? There are a couple on that block that were regular watering holes when I worked there. In particular, St. Andrews has good pub food in addition to the many beverage options. (Havana Central is not really my scene, but is perfectly nice for that sort of thing.)

mykidsmom99

I guess what I meant to say is that I know that we could easily keep ourselves entertained for 48 hours in the TS area. However, on this trip, that is not what we want to do. But since we are staying in the area, we still will get a taste of it incidently. My daughter wants to go to NY to shop and go to shows, so I imagine my next trip will be filled with those types of activities. This time, I am mainly interested in history & culture & such.

GGreen, funny you mentioned The View. I've already had a couple friends tell me that we have to go there. And yes, we are interested in pubs so I will make note of St Andrews, thank you! I don't think we will be doing a fancy meal during this trip due to lack of time, although I know NYC has wonderful restaurants.

Thanks Gwendolynn & FOOW for your tips on the areas. I am still working on what to do on our Saturday. If we do Brooklyn, I don't think we would have time for any of the museums as we venture from the WTC to the village area. Another option would be to skip Brooklyn & just head down to the financil district then work our way up. Decisions, decisions. I appreciate the points on Soho & shopping areas. Thanks to all!