My wife and I are going to New York in July to see Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden and she'll be joining me late the first night there because she is flying in from a work conference instead of where we live so I'm going to get there around lunch and have the rest of the day to do whatever before she gets there late that night and I'll be around the midtown area.

We've been to NY once and did a lot of the museums and stuff already and I noticed it's All Star week so there's no MLB games I could go to so anyone have any suggestions? Right now I'm just thinking about eating lunch at a cool pizza place and then walking around Times Square or something. Any other suggestions?

Take subway to Brooklyn. Eat at original Grimaldis. Walk back to Manhattan over the Brooklyn Bridge.

Or Comedy Cellar in the village. Or both.

The Grimaldis idea is a pretty good one. The promenade down by the river is nice and I love the walk across the Brooklyn bridge.

I similar, but more convenient option in midtown is to get some street meat from the hillal guys cart on 6th Ave and 53rd and walk up a few blocks to Central Park to eat. That's one of my favorite things to do in the summer. If you feel inspired, you can pop into MoMa or go over to shopping on 5th Ave also. Or just chill in the park - best bet is either a bench or rock at the south end. It's also always fun to go to sheeps meadow, but might want a blanket or something to sit on. Depending on weather, there should be hundreds of people hanging out there… also, it's right next to tavern on the green, which turned into a quasi-beer garden a few years ago (used to be stuffy restaurant).

Or another option is to take a 5 min cab to either 68th and Riverside or 72nd and Riverside and walk down to Pier i cafe. Great little burger / beer stand on the Hudson. I live at 76th and Riverside and go down there all the time. Perfect place to eat/relax/people watch. It's not as much of a "NYC experience", but very enjoyable.

One last suggestion that might be the perfect mix is to go to little island at 12th st on the Hudson. It's the new construction/ exhibit that's pretty neat, but more touristy. It's also right by a bunch of other cool stuff like the Whitney museum and meat packing district if you want to wander around some other stuff after.

Anyway, that's a few options that I would recommend if I had a few hours to kill in the city. Have fun… and let me know how the show is. I don't remember much from time I saw him at the Garden . Getting tix for October now!

… almost forgot. One other option is to go to Burger Joint in Thompson Hotel (formerly Parker Meridian). It's literally hidden behind a curtain behind the front desk. Great order at the counter place. 57th and 6th. Then you can do the Central Park thing also if you want.