Our second day in NY we boarded the Big Bus which was lead by a tour guide that provided us with ear phones to narrate the tour down to the Battery also known as South Manhattan. It was hot 90' degrees, and humid, and it sprinkled, so it was nice to ride and not waste our days dragging in the heat among the busy streets of NY. It was a double decker bus but unfortunately none of the buses had AC that was working. Our guides were funny and told interesting little stories about the buildings we saw, they made suggestions to get off to explore the museums, parks, restaurants, theatres and churches, and they knew the times of operation which I loved!. Three days really helped us get to know the city, by the fourth day we were able to get around on our own fairly well. Word of advice, we purchased out tickets from AAA prior, a savings of about $100. but there are many sales people on the main drag selling different combinations of tours.