<p>MET tickets, everyday, are “suggested donation” of $20 for adults and $10 for students. When we purchased ours at the Cloisters, the clerk actually asked us if that is what we wanted to pay.</p>
<p>The Bronx Zoo is free on Wednesday’s or should I say “suggested donation day”. It’s also across the street from Fordham and close to Manhattan College.</p>
<p>When we were in NYC a few years ago, we enjoyed eating at Ellen’s Stardust Diner on Broadway. The food was nothing special, but the servers are all would-be actors and actresses who frequently burst into song- they were great!</p>
<p>Our DD and I went to a lot of unfamiliar cities in the college search. She wanted to attend school in a big citiy so we visited NYC, Boston, Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago, San Jose… it was a tough job, but someone had to go with her 
My husband and our other daughter did not go, so we were just us. Here was our simple routine:
- Buy a book from Frommers - we like how they are organized, and once you buy one you can pick up any of them and quickly find what you need. They always have a perfect sized map in the back.<br>
- Go on google maps, and locate the college admissions office. Look at the public transportation to see whereat the major routes go that approach the admissions office. Look at the Frommer’s book and trip advisor to pick a convenient hotel to both transportation to the University and interesting other areas. Use trip advisor dot com to find great referrals for hotels, and start a thread asking what else their experts would recommend you do/where to dine/etc. The advice we received was incredibly complete and thoughtful.<br>
- Using Trip Advisor, Yelp, and Urban Spoon, along with Frommers, find the best spots and mark them on your google map. That way, whereever you are you know what is near you.<br>
- Rent a fun girlie movie for the night in the hotel and load it on the Ipad.<br>
- We always brought my Ipad. When we knew exactly where we were going to go for a day, we would go downstairs to the hotel computer, go on the internet to access our google map, and simply print individual directions. (If we had internet access on the Ipad or an Iphone we could have skipped this step, but we don’t.)
- We had great luck in restaurants, shopping, hotels, sightseeing, and fun in this way. We talked to everyone we met, and let them steer us to where we wanted to go.<br>
- If you choose to rent a car, find out where the lights, windshield wipers, and DEFROSTER are before you need them. There was one horrifying moment where I told my daughter “You have about 10 seconds to find and turn on the defroster before I drive off this bridge.” Nothing like putting your life in a teenagers hands going 60 miles an hour in bumper to bumper traffic across the bridge. Note to unfamiliar drivers - if you cross a fridgid body of water, it will suddenly get foggy just as you come out of the toll booth and the cars in front and in back of you escalate to 60 miles an hour on your bumper.</p>
<p>DougBetsy - If your D likes to shop Century 21 has great finds, but my D says it can be really crowded on the weekends. Your D will probably like the giant Forever 21 store in Times Square that is multi level. The Frick is one of D’s favorite museums to visit. </p>
<p>We love to have breakfast/brunch in the city at Alice’s Teacup. We go to the one that is on east 64th, but there is also one on the westside on 73rd. They have yummy scones and lots of assorted teas along with great breakfast foods at not too high of a price for a family of four.</p>