If you had 8 hours all "alone" in New York, what would you do? It's not my first trip and I'll be wrapped up in a food show at the Javits Center for about a day and a half. I have one "work day" open for fun and want to make the best use of my time. Maybe I'll just spend the day looking for Tony - time to highlight the appropriate passages in his books.

Cori

Have FUN! I hope the weather is good for you.
Some of my favorites:
Eat anything tht smells good.
Walk your little tuchas off. (I'm a child of the '80's, and still love the Village/SoHo area for walking). Spring Street. Little Italy. Parts of Chinatown. Great view of Brooklyn Bridge from South Street Seaport area - and it's kind of fun watching the tourists. (Those last few items are all walkable distance form one another if you're ambitious). There used to be a neat little French language/culture bookshop in Rickefeller Square, though I think they were going to lose their lease last I was there (in December). See at least some part of Central Park. The planetarium part of the Natural History Museum is really cool - even from the outside. To me, those are some of the parts of NYC that still feel like NYC, not ParisLondonTokyoMilanSanFranciscoDisneyland. But I'm just a tourist now too - haven't lived 'round those parts for over a decade - but I still get back to the Big Apple a couple of times a year.
The Strand (bookstore) is great too.
or you could try to score a res at Bernadin/Spotted Pig/Blue Hill or WD-50 - if money is no object! Nah - do the street food.
Good luck!

Uh - that would be ROckefeller Square, not "Rickefeller". OOPS!
---The Typo Queen