So Confused!

Normally, I am organized and have planned our vacations well in advance. This time, however, I am very far behind. My family of 5, including 3 teens, 16, 15, and 13, will be going to NYC this Friday! 4/3-10. We are staying at the Marriott Marquis. What I need help with, and can%26#39;t seem to find, is figuring out which sights are close to each other, so that I can plan our days accordingly.

We want to see the usual: Central Park, the Met, TOTR, Empire State, walk across Brooklyn Bridge, South Street Seaport, Soho, Macys%26#39; Zabars (a must for me), Ground Zero, Tenement Museum, and a show. I%26#39;d like to go to Chinatown and possibly Little Italy.

Please help! Thank you SO much!

So Confused!

ok I am first. All of the things are about 50 feet

away. Go to the nearest subway stop and learn the

system of trains and buses and you can get anywhere.

Let me take a crack at a few.

Central park- download a map - walk out the door

of your hotel turn left walk uptown until you get to

59th street and the park is in front of you. Plan on

spending several hours there but end up at 72nd

street west where you and the kids will see the

John Lennon mosaic. Exit the park and cross the

street to the Dakota where John was shot. Walk

west on 72nd street until you hit Broadway and

Zabars is just up the street on Broadway.

Then you can get on the subway at 72nd

steet #2 line downtown to Fulton street where you

can get to South Street Seaport in about a 3 minute

walk.

Get back on the train going uptown and go to

34th street and you will be outside Macy%26#39;s-

walk down 34th street a few blocks and you will

be at the empire state building.

Somebody else can pick up the rest

So Confused!

It really would help if you had a look at a map. You could plot all of these on

maps.google.com

and figure it out yourself.

Heading from north to south

70%26#39;s-80%26#39;s

The Met sits on Central Park uptown at east 81 st. %26amp; Fifth ave. on the upper east side. It%26#39;s across the park from Zabar%26#39;s on the upper west side.

50%26#39;s

TOTR is not far from the south end of Central Park. If you walk up Fifth Ave. from Rockefeller Center to 59 st. you pass many of the iconic buildings like St. Patrick%26#39;s Cathedral (across from Rockefeller Center), Tiffany%26#39;s Bergdorf Goodman, the Plaza hotel.

40%26#39;s

Your hotel at 45 st. %26amp; Broadway is at the epicenter of Times Square. Most theaters are in the 40%26#39;s-50%26#39;s. The half price ticket booth is across the street from the hotel, but with 4 or 5 of you, I%26#39;d buy tickets NOW. See if there%26#39;s anything you like on the left column on discount on

broadwaybox.com

30%26#39;s

Empire State %26amp; Macys are a few blocks from each other

Downtown or lower Manhattan

walk across Brooklyn Bridge %26amp; South Street Seaport, Tenement Museum (lower east side)

Soho, Chinatown and possibly Little Italy Ground Zero,

I know how you feel, I%26#39;m a planner too and when I starting researching everything I want to do in NY, it%26#39;s was soo overwhelming. As said the best thing to do is to get and map, and start pinpointing the places you want to visit. And the ones in clusters, that are all close together = a day.

I found the best way to do this was google maps, and also just having a paper map of NY on hand aswell.

First just start cutting your list down by downtown, midtown and uptown. Then you can start by street no.s (30%26#39;s 50%26#39;s etc...) or by nabes (Greenwich Village, East Village) whatever suits you.

Then when you have an itinerary together, you can post it on here, and we can help you out. Tell you if you zig zagging around the city to much and so on.

Happy Planning! :) Just take a deep breath and breathe

are you ok with this Mama... any more specific

questions.

Re Brooklyn Bridge-- take the subway over from

manhattan either the A-C to High street or the F

to York Street, Visit DUMBO for a while and then

find the stairs to the Bridge on Washington Street

and walk over to Manhattan. Stop mid bridge for the

best views

As has been noted, the way to figure out which things are near each other is simply to look at a map. You should either buy a street map, or print one out one line, and then mark the things you want to see in any way you like -- the clusters will then be obvious.

While most of your sights make sense, you may want to reconsider so-called ';Little Italy';, which hasn%26#39;t been Italian in fifty years, and is an absolute waste of time unless you really think you need to look at a row of overpriced, mediocre red-sauce pasta restaurants for tourists who don%26#39;t know better tht is located in the middle of what is in fact a Chinese neighborhood. If you want to find a real Italian neighborhood, you need to go to Staten Island, or Brooklyn, or the Bronx. If you merely want good Italian food in Manhattan, you can find it -- but the last place to look for it is in the crummy tourist traps along a meager two block stretch fo Mulberry Street.

Step-by-step directions to the walkway entrance on the Brooklyn side of the Brooklyn Bridge (because you want to walk towards Manhattan for the best view) from five different subway stations can be found here:

tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g60763-i5-k866178-

If you have time, you can drive down to a local AAA office and get free paper maps of Manhattan, too.

Or, you or the kids can go to your local Barnes and Noble and get a guide book, such as, Streetwise Manhattan, Manhattan Block by Block or a Not for Tourists guide.

If you like Zabar%26#39;s, you might also like:

Dean and Deluca (on B%26#39;way near Hosuton Street, in Soho.)

Balducci%26#39;s (W. 14th St. @ 8th Avenue.)

Bazzini%26#39;s (in Tribeca, on Greenwich Street, about 10 minute walk from WTC site.

When you%26#39;re in Chinatown, there are lots of really interesting Chinese groceries on Grand Street, Elizabeth Street, and all over. You%26#39;ll see them.

Since you are traveling with three teens, you might want to consider Jekyll and Hyde for luch or dinner. They will love, althought the food is just alright.

http://www.jekyllandhydeclub.com/home.htm

If the weather is nice - an enjoyable and inexpensive morning following breakfast would be the following. Take the M104 bus (from 42nd St/7th or 8th Ave Uptown (on the N side of 42nd) to 79th St. (Subway will get you there, but the bus has a better view)Continue a bit further up B%26#39;way to 80th Street. Go to the deli counter, pick up some sliced lunch meats (or lox, etc, head to the bakery, pick up some Zabars fresh Rye Bread (Bagels are also top notch), and drinks, desserts, salads... - then, head east on 79th to Central Park. Enjoy the Strawberry Fields, Zoo, Belvedere, and/or whatever else. You can enjoy a great picnic lunch of epic proportions at your leisure. You can veer over to 5th Avenue and Museum Mile, or the shopping below 57th St. or Columbus Circle, which will have you back to hotel/Times Sq Area in time to refresh and take another bite of the Big Apple for the rest of the day.

What I did to get a first impression of which sites were close to each other, is have a look at the %26#39;things to do%26#39; link on Tripadvisor. All options include a map, and if you look at it a few times, things will slowly add up and you%26#39;ll get an idea of what%26#39;s where.

O, and thanks for that Jekyll-and-Hyde link ^^, might come in useful.