While in NYC...

Dear family and friends,

Between the exchanging of the vows and dinner on Friday June 11th, friends and family will have lots of free time to explore New York City's grounds...  Some of our suggestions would be:

• The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met).  Be sure to stroll through the 5 floors of art and finish while sipping a drink on The Roof Garden Café and Martini Bar (which opens at 5:30p.m.)  It is an outdoor setting with panoramic views of Manhattan. Please note that the museum admission fee of $20 is only recommended (optional). Therefore, you can give any amount you please (ie. 25 cents). 

• The Museum of Modern Art (The MoMA). Check out Vincent van Gogh's The Starry Night and plenty of other famous art. While admission is normally $20, it is free for all visitors during Target Free Friday Nights, held every Friday evening from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. Connect to free MoMA WiFi with your iPhone or other wireless device to listen to MoMA Audio in the Museum.
• Take a tour! While there are many tour buses in NYC, we feel that the red double-deckers operated by Grey Line offers the best routes and the most (frequent) buses (meaning less waiting time at the stops). We highly recommend getting an "All Loops" pass so you can take all routes: Downtown (most sights), Uptown (Central park and more), The Night Tour (the lights are phenonmenal), and The Brooklyn loop. Every loop includes interesting audio that you can tune into or you can just use the bus to get around town and avoid the subways with are great too, but will be roasting hot in June. For all loops we recommend purchasing a 48-hour pass ($54) or a 72-hour pass ($64) if you'll be around long enough to use it. If you don't take the buses, cabs are quite cheap in a pinch and the subway is great.
• If  you use the bus loops you'll pretty much hit all these spots. However you get to them, they're all worth a walk around so get off the bus! We've listed these places with something to do that comes to mind for us :)
• Central Park - walk through The Grand Promenade ("The Mall"), the Zoo, and Strawberry fields. Imagine...
• 5 Ave - shop, see St Patrick's cathedral, imagine more than a million people in a St Patty's day parade here!
• Rockefeller Center, Radio City Music Hall, NBC studios (where color TV began) - Go up to the "Top of the Rock", prepurchase an NBC Experience tour, or just enjoy the plaza where they display the famous Christmas tree and rink.
• Shop or browse department stores - Saks Fifth Ave, Bloomingdales (59th and Lexington), Macy's (near the Empire State Bldg at 34th and Broadway). Macy's is the world's largest store until 2009 and home to the first escalators... they are wooden.

• Grand Central Station - Meet someone special at the center clock. Get great free maps here at the info booth and catch the subway or trains
• Empire State Building - go up on a clear day, but a word of warning: the weekend lines are bad
• Times Square - LIGHTS CAMERA ACTION! Get day-of tickets at TKTS booth for Broadway and Off-Broadway shows at half-price. The booth is located on 47th St between Broadway and 7th Ave
• Bryant Park - Kick your heals up and take a break while sipping on a latte in this beautiful park located right behind the New York Library.
• Union Square - See Fuerzabruta (Off-Braodway interactive show - line up 2hrs before the show for $25 tickets but only 20 tickets available) and walk up to 19th Street for a delectable treat at Le Pain Quotidien
• SOHO (South Of Houston street pronounced How-ston) - walk on Broadway and deaque down the side streets. Spring Street is a must for shopping
• Greenwich Village - Walk about and go to Washington Square Park at the bottom of 5th Ave.
• Little Italy and Chinatown - Not the trendiness places, but good for treats and knockoffs.
• Meatpacking district - Trendy scene for shopping, restaurants, and lounges.
• Brooklyn Bridge - walk out on to the bridge in the middle and see the Statue of Liberty from a distance

• South Street Seaport (Pier 17)- eat ice cream from Haggen Das whilst looking upon the Brooklyn bridge from a great angle (great for photos). This is one of the oldest areas of Manhattan.
• Wallstreet and Ground Zero - rub the Bull's balls for good luck and see the stock exchange buildings.
• Statue of Liberty - Take a boat to go and see her and Ellis Island.

A note about getting around Manhattan and understanding its maps/roads
Manhattan is 1 of the 5 bouroughs in NYC. Manhattan roads are much like a grid. Avenues run North-South (vertical on maps) and Streets run East-West (horizontal on maps). Avenue numbering starts from the East end and gets larger as you go West running 1st through 11th Ave. Street numbering starts from the South end and gets larger as you go North running 1st through 110th Street (it keeps going but after 110th you're in Harlem). There are many unnumbered streets south of 1st Street South of Greenwich Village.

Broadway (a main road) is an exception in that it runs North-South, but it cuts across Manhattan on a diagonal from the West in the North to the East in the South.

Address numbering and East-West direction on the Streets is relative to 5th Ave which is pretty much centered. For example, West 34th Street is on 34th Street and West of 5th Ave. 100 E 42nd St is East of 5th. 200 E 42nd St is farer East of 5 Ave than address number 100 (numbers get higher as they go away from 5th Ave).

Happy trekking!
-Happy couple