10/11   Are there any CSUA'ers in NYC, or who know things to do in NYC? steven
        and I are doing the tourist thing.
        \_ I thought the Empire State Building was much better than I
           expected it to be. The museums are all stellar, especially the
           Met, MoMA, and Natural History Museum.  Lots of good
           plays/shows/concerts. Top notch restaurants. Worth seeing the Statue
           of Liberty from Battery Park. Ellis Island. Trinity Church Cemetery
           near Wall Street, which is where Alexander Hamilton is buried, if
           you like that sort of thing. Saint Patrick's Cathedral and
           Rockefeller Center.  NYC Ballet and the Lincoln Center including
           Chagall's paintings in the Metropolitan Opera. Lots of good
           shopping with stores that have their only US location in NYC
           (or maybe NYC and LA both) like the NBA Store. I liked Central
           Park. Times Square was a waste of time. Didn't get too much out
           of Chinatown, Greenwich Village, SoHo, TriBeCa coming from SF.
           Depends on what you are into.
           \_ Already been to the Empire State Building, Central Park, Times
              Square, Battery Park, and Wall Street. Except for Central Park,
              all at night, though. Care to be more specific about the plays/
              shows and restaurants? --toulouse
              \_ I don't know what's playing. Look online. As for restaurants,
                 look at something like Yelp or Zagat to find something
                 to suit your tastes. Try Gramercy Tavern, Gilt, Aureole,
                 Daniel, Jean Georges, Le Bernardin, Per Se, Alto, Corton,
                 Picholine, or anything else which won a Michelin star and
                 you'll be in good hands. Ethnic food is good in NYC, but
                 we get that in California. What we don't get so much of is
                 fine dining. Waitstaff in particular are much better in NY.
                 The bar at the Ritz Carlton near Wall Street is cool,
                 because you can sit outside and overlook the harbor and
                 the Statue of Liberty while having your drink with a
                 bunch of traders who just got off work. I recommend that.
        \_ There is great food in NYC, but it is not like the Bay Area where
           you can find amazing food for $20. Be prepared to spend at least
           $50/person (usually more like $100) for good food. -ausman
           \_ Except for pizza, which fills the culinary niche taken by the
              Mission Burrito in the Bay Area.  John's, on Bleeker Street,
              is one of the reference pizza places.  While you're in the
              Village, go check out one of the underground jazz clubs.  -tom
        \_ I'd do some "A-list" stuff in NYC, but then I'd switch to stuff
           NYC has that where you are coming from doesnt have. Like instead
           of going to all the big museums, go to say the http://www.icp.org if
           interested in photography, or some ethic food not avail in your
           home space etc. You can look in the "About Town" [in the NYker]
           or Time Out etc for what's going on. Oh, I also check on "expiring"
           stuff, like special exhibits at museums ... NYC gets some better
           travelling shows than SF. I assume you know about the "half-price
           tix" type operations. Cloisters is another interesting museum not
           mentioned above. BTW, a bunch of the named restos above are going
           to be +$200, and easily can go +$400/pp with "modest wines". A new
           thing in NYC is http://www.thehighline.org
           \_ I was going to mention the Cloisters, but it's part of the
              Met. It is worth noting, to me anyway, that NYC has the best
              museums I have ever been to. I have not been to those in
              London, but I have been to most of the big ones in the US
              (Smithsonian, Field in Chicago, Cleveland, Getty, Dallas, Boston)
              and some in Europe (Rijksmuseum and all the big French ones) and
              the museums in NYC blow them away, IMO. So don't think
              "Well, I'm from DC and we have good museums here." NYC makes
              the National Gallery of Art and Smithsonian Natural History
              Museum look like crap. Odds are, where you are from does not
              have anything like what you will find in NYC. Certainly not if
              you are from SF.
              \_ Better than The Louvre? Come on. But yes, far better than
                 anything in SF or LA even.
                 \_ To me it was better than the Louvre and the Orsay, but
                    it depends on what kind of art you like. The Met had
                    more of what I like. Yes, the Louvre has the Mona Lisa
                    and Venus de Milo while the Met doesn't have any
                    Michaelangelo at all (well, they do, but rarely on
                    display - yes, I realize Michaelangelo did not do
                    those works, pardon my poor sentence). Louvre has a great
                    antiquities collection. On the other hand, the Met has more
                    Asian art, more 1800s+ art (which the Louvre has none of
                    b/c it is in the Orsay), arms and armor, musical
                    instruments, and textiles. Orsay had a nice collection of
                    Tissots and Whistler's Mother, but overall the Met had a
                    more impressive modern art collection (e.g.,
                    Impressionists and people like O'Keefe). Collectively, I
                    would say the art museums in Paris are larger and better,
                    but under one roof I was more impressed with the Met.
                    P.S. The Orsay is sending a lot of its collection to
                         SF next year while it undergoes renovation. This
                         is your only chance to see most of this art in SF.
        \_ Check out PS1 in Queens.  When you get here, read the 'stuff that
           is happening' section in the various free weeklies.   Those tourist
           buses that sell you three days passes are actually pretty
           convenient.  If I ever get some time off I want to hit all of this:
           http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/09/13/nyregion/13stop.html - danh