Some general recommendations; While we are pretty soccer-centric on these boards, please take the time to do a helluva lot more in NYC and the area. Things people should do when visiting NYC for a few days; 1) as mentioned before, walk over the brooklyn bridge. 2) while you're nearby, head over to South Street Seaport downtown. Its got decent shopping for the general tourist, and the area around there has a cool late 1700s style ambience in terms of old houses, warehouses, ect that have been turned into restaurants and museums. Views of the river/brooklyn are also quite nice there. 3) hop on the Staten Island Ferry. Its a free passenger ferry between Battery Park (the S tip of Manhattan), and Staten Island, our forgotten borough. It cruises past the statue of liberty and you can get some great pics of downtown NY. Unless you really want to spend time at the statue (I wouldn't cuz they don't let you all the way inside anymore), skip the tour boats there and take the free ride instead. 4) The view from the top of the Empire State Building is pretty cool, but I forget how much it currently costs. If you decide to do it, get there before noon - the lines can get really long. 5) If you decide to see what is left of the WTC, stop by for a beer, lunch or dinner at a local pub - Nathan Hale's. Its our one metrostars pub, right nearby, and they were shutdown for quite awhile after 9/11 so giving them some business is cool. Food - good, Beer - good, waitress - good. 6) The easiest way to get to the metros game from NYC is by Port Authority bus. Talk to some people on the bus and there's a good chance you'll get invited to share in a BBQ or tailgate, either with the empire supporters club, or with some group of folks. Tailgating is as american as selling beer inside sports stadiums - take advantage of both, cuz I've seen little of either in England. And the fans outside the stadium can help you get a ticket (they won't be sold out) 7) Once here, pickup a copy of TimeOut NY (weekly magazine). It has loads of organized listings and reviews for dinner, bars, bands, shopping, etc 8) take a guided walking tour of something (they're usually $5 or $10) - like the village or a ghost walk or whatever. They're pretty cool and full of information that nobody knows. I'd prefer them to the more expensive double-decker bus tours, but maybe its just me. They list lots of 'em in TimeOut 9) Hang out for a few hours in either Central Park or Washington Square park. Its a good way to relax after doing a lot of walking. Ignore anybody offering "trees" or "buds" - even if they're not undercover cops, you'll just get ripped off. 10) Go to a country-western type bar, such as Hogs&Heifers, Coyote Ugly, Red Rock West, Village Idiot or whatever. Its a weird but good experience. Beers are very cheap here too. Look at the bar and bartender profiles at NYCBP.com as a guide. 11) Go to Little Italy/Chinatown/Koreatown for dinner. NYC has really good ethnic food. Or get pizza - there's nothing like New York/New Jersey pizza anywhere. 12) Hit a spanish place one evening, like SOB'S (Sounds of Brazil). There's really fricking good spanish and caribbean music in NYC. 13) Avoid midtown in the evenings. The touristy stuff (bars, clubs etc) is too, well, touristy? If you're out for dinner/drinks/etc, look for places below 34th street. The best bars and live music are between Canal street and 23rd street. They just have a better ambience. But I can understand if you wanna take some pictures around Broadway/TImes Square. 14) get a one-week unlimited subway card. You'll still be doing a lot of walking. Also get at least one NYC cabride though and hopefully you can get a crazy rollercoaster experience. 15) lastly, please try to avoid sightseeing during rush hour (8-9:30am, 4:30-6pm). Please sit in a cafe or park or something and just watch us go by. While New Yorkers can actually be quite nice to tourists, you're more likely to hear some tourist cursing during these times
Anytime you want to find this guy, just look for the referee. He'll be next to him jaw-boning his ear off.