About to visit the east coast in about a week....

The only east coast places I've been to were Florida back in 2002 and Virginia and Washington D.C. during the summer of 2006 (so I understand how insanely hot and humid it is over there).

On July 7th, my mom and I are leaving to visit D.C., Boston, Philadelphia, and then drive to New York from there. So aside from the obvious tourist attractions and whatnot, any cool places (even restaurants) you'd suggest? I'm willing to try anything and I'm not at all a picky eater.

Also, a friend told me to visit the burger/cheesy fries stand in Madison Square Park. Anyone eaten there? I'm so used to the west coast's famous In-N-Out.

I lived in san diego.. for a year went to san diego state.. goergeous...

boy do i miss In-n-out burger.. best burgers in the world...

i live in southern conneticut now.... no good burger joint around here... white castle but it sucks doesnt compare...

if you are in philly you should deff go try a philly cheese steak either at pats or ginnos... its open 24hrs there great.. i have 3 at a time.. lol

Oh yeah, I definitely look forward to the food. And I've tried White Castle burgers...the ones you buy from the grocery store though. Not very good in my opinion.

Pretty much an obvious tourist attraction, but if I were you I would definitely try to see a Broadway show. I have loved all the ones I've seen (The Lady in White, Phantom of the Opera - this was my favorite! - , Chicago, Lion King).

Don't drive in NYC. Take the train from Philly to NYC. It's much easier and parking and driving through NYC is ridiculous. It's very unlike driving anywhere else, and parking is awful.

Try Le Pain Quotidien in NYC. Best organic restaurant ever. I love it. Amazing food. There are locations all over the city. Yummy.

Broadway show especially. RENT is going off Broadway in September, so don't miss it. Wonderful show. SPAMALOT is wonderfully hilarious too. Or go see Mary Poppins and support Ashley Brown (who plays Mary). She's from my hometown and amazingly talented.

Enjoy yourself!

Check out Roxy's in NYC near Times Square.....AWESOME CHEESECAKE!

You'll find awesome cheesecake in little shops throughout NYC--I say stay out of Times Square though (Roxy's cheesecake is good--Ive had it--but the Times Square prices are ridiculous). But lok for little tiny shops with dessert cases. I've had some of the best cheesecake of my life from these little hole in the wall places!

Don't drive in NYC. Take the train from Philly to NYC. It's much easier and parking and driving through NYC is ridiculous. It's very unlike driving anywhere else, and parking is awful.

 

Try Le Pain Quotidien in NYC. Best organic restaurant ever. I love it. Amazing food. There are locations all over the city. Yummy.

 

Broadway show especially. RENT is going off Broadway in September, so don't miss it. Wonderful show. SPAMALOT is wonderfully hilarious too. Or go see Mary Poppins and support Ashley Brown (who plays Mary). She's from my hometown and amazingly talented.

 

Enjoy yourself!

That's one problem. We already have arrangements for a rent-a-car and have all of our hotels booked, one of them being in the heart of NYC I believe. So I guess we'll just leave our car parked and take the metro around the city since taxis get too expensive?

If that's the case, I'm still worried. I'm not gonna lie, I'm not a very smart girl and I'm slow-witted.....when my older sister and I went to D.C. two years ago I had a hard time figuring out how the metro system worked. She was able to think quickly on her feet and figure out where we needed to go that the second we stepped off a train, we'd be speedwalking/jogging to make the next one (I'd be following her lead), while I had little to no idea what line we were taking or which one we were supposed to.

The problem with having a car in nyc is parking--yes taking the subway is much cheaper but you'll be paying so much in parking. That's why I say if you're going from philly to nyc just leave your car in philly and take the train into penn station nyc. Parking garages in nyc will have you in the 100s by the time you leave (my friend has a car and lives there).

The subway is confusing yes but don't worry. I always stick to a certain train and don't use any others unless I'm with someone who knows the trains. If you find yourself getting confused ask a metro worker (don't ask random people on the platforms--theyre often tourists and some locals give faulty directions out of annoyance). The employees are your best bet.

I've traveled to nyc 6 times in 3 years and I travel by myslef most of the time. I've been lost on the subways and all of that but its really not bad (and I'm a self-proclaimed airhead). If you have any questions about it feel free to pm me--i can fill you in on a lot!

I think we might actually have to stick to hotel parking unfortunately. Our plans already include driving out of NYC straight to Boston, which is our last city so we can't just leave the car in Philly.

Dang ittttt.

One of my favorite places in DC is Teaism, (link removed), they have three locations (I'm familiar with the one at Penn Quarter which is close to the Archives/Navy Memorial metro stop)...anyway they have excellent tea..you can order a British type afternoon tea with chai (very good!), and they also have lunch which they serve in a Japanese bento box...the presentation on everything is beautiful, and the place is actually very casual yet elegant...(oh and they have brunch on certain days..you can check the website for hours/menu).

^^ I work at a breakfast restaurant which has turned me into a tea drinker. I'ma do some research and check that out, thank youuu!!!

By the way, my mom and I have a hotel already booked in Secaucus, New Jersey. Are there any subway stations nearby we can just drive to and take to NYC?

What are you doing in Boston? I live there and I'd be happy to pass along some suggestions.

To get from NJ to NYC, take the New Jersey Transit. I am not familiar with NJ at all, so look it up and you can figure out where to get on the train. It'll take you right into Penn Station.

Definitely try to hit the North End in Boston when you are in town for some great Italian and pastries!

link removed

link removed

NYC - hit up the museums (ie. natural history and metropolitan) and for food, definitely go to Little Italy and Chinatown. Also, go to Clinton St. bakery for brunch (AMAZING pancakes!) The wait is pretty long but it's so worth it.

Boston - Go to Faniuel Hall, The Commons, whale watching, Blue Man Group show, Red Sox Game, etc. For food, go to the theatre district for great restaurants (Maggiano's for italian and Finale's for dessert), also Cambridge has great restaurants, and the North End.

Natural museum of history or whatever it's called (on the upper west side) is AMAZING.

If you have a student ID, show them that b/c you'll get in a lot cheaper (they just ask to check it; they don't check to see if it's active or anything).

Well actually the Museum of Natural History is a non-profit museum and you don't necessarily have to pay the price listed. It is the "suggested" donation.

I remember going there quite often as a child for various school outings and projects and I only paid a dollar because that's all I could afford.

Well actually the Museum of Natural History is a non-profit museum and you don't necessarily have to pay the price listed. It is the "suggested" donation.

 

I remember going there quite often as a child for various school outings and projects and I only paid a dollar because that's all I could afford.

OH YEAH! I forgot about that!

A lot of other museums though (like the MOMA--awesome place) does student discounts.

I went to the FIT (Fashion Museum in NYC) recently and boy was I shocked by it. Not in a good way.

I think it was maybe, MAYBE, three hallways and that was it. And when I say hallway, I meant a walkway of maybe 15 feet long and with exhibits of so-so clothes along side of it. Very disappointing.

I went to the FIT (Fashion Museum in NYC) recently and boy was I shocked by it. Not in a good way.

 

I think it was maybe, MAYBE, three hallways and that was it. And when I say hallway, I meant a walkway of maybe 15 feet long and with exhibits of so-so clothes along side of it. Very disappointing.

 

The Guggenheim in NYC was VERY disappointing. I got through it in 15 minutes. The MOMA and the MET I spent nearly half a day there.

 

Dont go to the Guggenheim.

Hey everyone!

I came back on Sunday afternoon. AMAZING trip. My mom and I each took over 300 pictures on our cameras and I had about an hour of footage on my video camera. I'm almost done making a sweet movie and I'll post the link in a little bit. All of my outfits were shorts and t-shirts since it was so hot.

- Nothing in D.C. was really new to me and we saw the obvious attractions....took the free tour of the inside of the Capitol building, saw the memorials, etc.

- Drove to Philly the next day and spent a little over an hour there to see the Liberty Bell and eat a genuine cheesesteak sandwhich, stopped at our hotel in northern New Jersey, and then took the NJ Transit bus to New York City the following day.

- We went on one of those double-decker bus guided city tours which was extremely convenient. I ate 3 slices of pizza in the 2 days we were there.

- Spent the morning to explore NYC again on the bus, then went back to our hotel in NJ to check out and drive to Boston.

- Arrived in the late afternoon, and did the Freedom Trail the next day. Saw all the things we wanted to see....except the Boston Tea Party area was under construction.

Great trip. 2 years ago when I visited my aunt in Virginia and did sight-seeing in D.C. for a week, I fell in love with the place; particularly Georgetown. For some reason I didn't feel the same way this time around but instead felt like wanting NYC more.