I rode one of the Buses before I moved here. They're cool for giving facts but I'd much rather do walking tours
When I lived in Europe I did a bunch I think with this company.
http://www.neweuropetours.eu/
I wish they were in the US.
I can imagine that walking tours would be a lot better/efficient than being stuck on a bus for an hour. What was it like riding a tour bus and taking pictures from that view?
I see that website does tours in New York. Most interesting. I'll give it a more proper look once I get my home Internet back up and running but it sounds cool. I'll throw it into the OP for future reference.
Will definitely try the one on 43rd and 9th as thats right by my new place I'm moving into this month
Any other food places people recommend around hell's kitchen?
I met a guy who lives in the Times Square area with his boyfriend while volunteering at GaymerX East. He said that the rent in the area is pretty reasonable considering that it's pretty much waking up in tourist city. It's odd to see peeps who live in the vicinity.
That being said, the OP has a TON of places to pique your interest. Go! Go! Curry! is a solid place with bang for your buck. If you go down to 9th, 10th, and 11th there's loads of bars going north. I went to an Asian restaurant on 40 something and 10th once with a group of friends and it was solid. I can't remember the name of it. You're right by Pony Bar which is a favorite GAF haunt. It's a small bar with solid pub food including a grilled cheese sandwich that's supposed to be good. If you go further north, Valhalla usually has wings for 50 cents after midnight.
Anyone here, or know someone who has, volunteered to become a Big Brother/Sister? What was your/their experience like?
I went out with a girl who worked for a mentoring company by Bryant Park last year. She mentored a Hispanic girl in high school. How it worked is that she met with her mentee once a week in a public place (meeting the family is prohibited) and kept up with her. She found it rewarding and meaningful. It's not much to go on but there you go. I thought about doing something like that but I don't feel like I'm at a point in my life where I'm ready for that. I'd like to do something arts related in my neighborhood.
By the way, if anyone has any interest in working on games, the Global Game Jam is coming up on January 20-22. There's a couple of sites throughout the city but I think the Microsoft building location is the most convenient one. My brother and I participated last year and had a lot of fun even though neither the team I was in nor my brother's team finished our respective games. 0 programming experience is required but it helps.
Lastly, I heard on WNYC earlier that the state is going to begin offering free state tuition and that Thomas Prendergast, the current MTA chief is retiring but he didn't say when. Cuomo is going to begin looking for a replacement before then.