Two nights, three days - what would you do?

Non-city types taking the plunge for the first time and looking forward to it! Going mid-March, midweek; Likes: ethnic neighborhoods and food, local color and characters, singer/songwriters, the quirky and unpretentious.... Not into: shopping, pricey Broadway shows, hangin%26#39; w. hoards. Plans so far: Blue Note jazz, gawk at NYSE, a taste of Central Park, Greenwich Village, Little Italy... and one museum, yet to be decided. Have requested tix for Daily Show, we%26#39;ll see... Your suggestions?

Two nights, three days - what would you do?

Despite your instincts, I would take 1 bus tour so you can see all the highlights, even if you don%26#39;t get off the bus. Marvelous Manhattan gets great reviews for the enthusiasm of the tour guide. If you don%26#39;t want to spend an entire day, do the half day midtown/downtown tour.

kingofnyc.com/html/tour_sights_routes.html

OR, the Ny Party Shuttle is another good tour and they spend some time walking in the financial district since you%26#39;re into the stock market.

www.newyorkpartyshuttle.com/wall_street.html

Bigonion.com is a good tour company with walking tours of various neighborhoods including the financial district, the village etc.

www.bigonion.com/description/index.html

While it sounds like you normally would prefer to go it alone, for a short visit it can be helpful and you may get more out of the experience to see at least some of the city with a guide.

I%26#39;d suggest you plan your evenings carefully. Great that one is at the Blue Note (do you know who%26#39;s playing and have you gotten tix?) Bigapplejazz.com is a good website that lists other jazz venues. You should consider a show even if it%26#39;s off Broadway and not a musical. There are dozens of choices and if you%26#39;ve never been to a Broadway show, it%26#39;s part of the experience. Broadwaybox.com is a website that has discounts for many of the shows you can buy in advance. If you are into quirky, Grey Gardens is a musical getting raves for the performances. It%26#39;s the true story of a very quirky Mother %26amp; daughter from a wealthy family (Jackie O%26#39;s cousins) who lived in a weird world all their own. It based on a famous documentary of the same name (Grey Gardens) which you can rent if you want to see.

Walking the Brooklyn Bridge from Brooklyn to Manhattan is a highlight for many visitors. Check the calendar on nycvisit.com for the dates you%26#39;ll be here and see if there are any special events or promotions that interest you.

Two nights, three days - what would you do?

thank you nywhiz, your input is much appreciated!

I agree - it%26#39;s worth it to get the basics, see the classic sights, and get the lay of the land. (Even us native NYers appreciate the ESB and ol%26#39; Lady Liberty every so often....Every few years, I need a skyscraper observatory fix.)

How about some walking tours? That way, you can learn obscure trivia, history, insider scoop, plus see some classic highlights.

Re: the NYSE: no more vvisitors inside the Stock Exchange anymore, since Sept 11, 2001. Doesn%26#39;t matter much anyway, since so much of today%26#39;s stock market is electronic. However, you should go there anyway.

Free Wall Street Walking Tour

http://www.downtownny.com/walkingtour/

';Don%26#39;t miss this FREE 90-minute guided walking tour, weaving together history, events, architecture and people of Downtown 鈥?the birthplace of New York, the financial capital of the world, and the hottest new neighborhood in the city. Stops include the U.S. Custom House, Trinity Church, Wall Street, the New York Stock Exchange and other architectural and cultural sites.';

Date: Every Thursday and Saturday, rain or shine

Time: Noon

Place: Meet at the front steps of the US Custom House, One Bowling Green

Cost: Free

Reservations are not required for individuals, but are required for groups. Please call for details (212) 606-4064.

Here%26#39;s another one:

Lower East Side Free Weekly Tour

www.lowereastsideny.com

';Take a journey down historic Orchard Street and discover the origins of New York%26#39;s first discount retail district. The two-hour tour highlights the integral role that the shopping district has played in the history and development of the Lower East Side. Sundays at 11 a.m (April - December). Meet in front of Katz%26#39;s Delicatessen at the corner of East Houston and Ludlow Streets. ';

No reservations required.

You can also sign up for paid walking tours. Big Onion Tours and Scene on TV are two popular companies:

www.bigonion.com

www.sceneontv.com

Have fun!

Thanks so much queensboulevard - good info!

Skip Little Italy -- it is not an ethnic neighborhood, but is instead a tourist trap whose resident Italians left five decades ago. More interesting ';ethnic%26#39; neighborhoods can be found in Chinatown, or in parts of Queens -- for example a trip to Jackson Heights, where South America meets the Indian subcontinent, can be very interesting. If you were here for a longer stay, the astonishing wheel of VERY diverse neighborhoods (Polish/Italian/hipster/Puerto Rican/Satmar hasidim) that centers on the Metropolitan/Lorimer train station might be worth exploring -- but it really would take longer than you have to do it justice.

Brooklyn Heights is lovely and fascinating, and like nothing you have in the entire state of Texas. Take the subway over, explore the streets of elegant brownstones and lovely churches (those bronze doors on the Maronite cathedral came from the dining room of the SS Normandie; knock on the door of the Unitarian church parish house on Monroe Place and ask if you can see their stained glass windows in the church-- the full set is by Tiffany!!), eat on Montague Street at one of the sidewalk cafes (go have pierogies at Teresa%26#39;s, for example), stroll the Promenade, and then walk back across the Brooklyn Bridge.

I was recently there just for one nite %26amp; two days and we found once we mastered the subway we were set....and basically its just understanding what%26#39;s downtown %26amp; wha%26#39;ts uptown. We took the subway to gnd zero and walked from there....to battery park, brooklyn bridge, city hall, up to chinatown, thru lil italy (a local told us there is one good pizza joint left but i forget the name) to noho...had lunch at cafe havana (great!!), browsed the shops in soho, then caught the subway to grand central station and enjoyed the shops %26amp; eateries there.....walked thru the diamond district to our hotel on times square.....that night we had brick oven pizza in hell%26#39;s kitchen and waited with 100000 other folks for the lighting of the rockerfeller center tree....the next day we caught the subway to central park and the dakota, walked central park thru the ramble, bethesda fountain, to the met museum of art which i highly recommend!! walked back past the reservoir and took the subway again the the village where we ate at a great spot the spotted pig....and got the famous magnolia cupcakes which we ate in washington park....the nyc area is interesting....

get out and explore....a good map %26amp; a few bucks for a metro pass make for sore feet but a great experience!! what a city!!

if you are into singers/songwriters, check out red lion on bleeker street. they have live music everynight and usually the earlier acts (5pm-10pm) are one man acts, usually play a lot of their own stuff.

there are also tons of great bars in this area, lots with live music.

enjoy.