City tour on a bike [$,***]. Out last bike ride in NYC was on a sunday in 2002, the hottest day on record. It was so hot that even the mayor was on the radio warning people to stay inside. But we braved it.... and it turned out OK. The street where fairly void of traffic (because it was Sunday and the heat warning). And the city's skyscrapers 'canyons' crated a pleasant cooling wind. Now back to the present (2008): this time we wanted to do as much of a waterfront loop around Manhattan as possible. (The entire loop is 32 miles.) First we needed to rent bikes. After many many phone calls to rental shops all over Manhattan we found a promising one: the Pedal Pusher Bike Shop [$,***] on 1306 2nd Avenue (cross 69th Street), phone 212-288-5592. It turned out as good as it sounded over the phone. The owner is competent, pleasant, stocks bikes in very good working condition, and is price competitive. From the shop we headed to the nearest entry onto the East River bike path, followed the path around the Battery and continued up the West side to Central Park. At this point we had done about 1/2 of the total Manhattan loop. We dediced than to complete the ride with two loops around Central Park (traffic free in middle of the weekday). Total travel time was about 5 hours, including stops at several pizzerias along the way to fill up on body fuel. (It took extra time to go around blockades for the Pope's visit. On any other day we would probably have done the ride in 4 hours.) Biking, river views, pizzas, and Central Park made this a perfect day experience.

This was our first visit to NYC armed with the relatively new Michelin guide to NYC restaurants. So we tried a few. Michelin was right every time: all turned out to be superb. We happily pass on recommendations for these establishments. Note: all are popular with the locals and busy busy.

• Manhattan: Le Zie 2000, [$$,***], 172 7th Ave, and 20th St., 212-206-8686. Besides the food there is great atmosphere; so much so that we returned a 2nd time later in the week, not for dinner, but just to soak up the atmosphere at the bar. Italian.
• Brooklyn: Noodle Pudding, [$$,***], 38 Henry St., 718-625-3737. Nice neighborhood establishment.
• Brooklyn: Garden Cafe, [$$$,***], 620 Venderbilt Ave at Prospect St. Michelin rates the cost as $$ but we think it is really $$$. Expensive, but it's worth it too. Go on a warm night. Fight (in a nice way) to get the garden seating as we did.

Never leave home for New York without a copy of Michelin's red book.