Joe Brody's New York City Recommendations are as follows:
Musuems: Only two: Do the Musuem of Modern Art -- but do it fast and in the evening/late in the day. DO NOT burn time waiting in line. If you're an Indyfan, you have to go to the
Map Room of the New York Public Libarary. It's breathtaking -- the rest of the building is not too bad either. Do the remaining musuems in the following order: The Met, the Whitney, the Guggenheim (unless there's something special -- which I'll check for you), The Morgan Library and then the Frick. You live in the EU, so don't waste time going up to the Cloisters.
Shopping: Not my thing -- but from an Indiana Jones P.O.V., round short will recommend
Holland and Holland but I recommend
http://www.cockpitusa.com/. It's down in the Village and there's tons of cool shopping that's too much to cover here. Right now Cockpit has some cool Chinese Communist t-shirts with female soldiers and jet pilots. I hope to pick these up for my girls this week.
Eating: If you're shopping in the Village, get a burger at
Chumley's. It's a bona-fide former speak-easy set back in a court-yard with no sign. So you'll have to have directions. Its literary and historical significance is too long to get into here. An Indyfan will love it. Also in the village I love "Fish" on Bleeker. If you're interested, I can also recommend good Thai down in Chinatown and some other places of note.
Sightseeing: I'll defer to others on this -- depends on what is your poision. But you
have to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge from Brooklyn to New York City. You want to either take the subway over to Borough Hall or take a ferry to fulton landing. I prefer the Ferry because walking up to Brooklyn Heights will take you by the Eagle Warehouse where Walt-the-man-Whitman used to work. Walk along the Brooklyn Height's promenade -- get a flounder sandwhich at
Lassen and Hennings. Check out Brooklyn Height's two Federal Courts (Eastern District) and then head over the Brooklyn Bridge back toward Manhatten. Once in Manhatten duck into the Surrogates Court -- it may look familiar -- it's the building that housed Nicole Kidman's office in her Batman flic. Check out the Federal Courthouses in Foley Square. US justice rules. Walk up to Chinatown.
As for the touristy stuff, only do the Empire State Building late in the evening EARLY in the week. The Observation Deck on top of the Rockefeller Center is also pretty cool from an Art Deco point-of-view. While there check out the Lindburgh lobby.
I'll post more when I think of it.