One Tank Trips: Crush Columbia, you say?

The Columbia game

First and foremost, make sure to go to the Penn vs. Columbia football game at Columbia's stadium. The match is tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. and is also Columbia's Homecoming, so be sure to support the Quakers as they try to trounce Columbia on their own turf. Tickets to the game cost $15.

Check out the competition beforehand by visiting the campus, located in the Morningside Heights neighborhood. Stop by Tom's Restaurant at 2880 Broadway. You may recognize the facade from Seinfeld.

Unlike Penn's Franklin Field, Columbia's stadium is located far off north of the campus. New York's extensive public transit system will get you there easily.

Explore the neighborhood

After the game, walk only one block east and you will hit Inwood Hill Park, the last natural forest and salt marsh in Manhattan. With the park's bucolic trees, paths and lakes, you will need to remind yourself that you are in America's largest city.

If seeing Penn beat Columbia hasn't quenched your thirst for sports, the New York Rangers will play the Atlanta Thrashers at 7 p.m. at Madison Square Garden, easily accessible from the subway's 1-line.

Catch a show...

When you are done touring the grounds, take the 1 or 9 subway to Times Square and grab some discount tickets to a Broadway show at the TKTS stand. Chicago, Rent, Fiddler on the Roof and many more are currently playing.

If you have time to kill before the show, keep heading south to visit Greenwich Village. You can visit friends at New York University, see Blue Man Group at the Astor Place Theatre or visit the nearby Strand Bookstore, home to an astounding 18 miles of bookshelves.

...Or hit the town

After strolling through the expansive Central Park, walk over to nearby toy store FAO Schwarz, located at 58th Street and Fifth Avenue, for a trip back to childhood.

You can follow in Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks' footsteps and take the elevator to the observation deck of the Empire State Building, considered to be one of the "Seven Wonders of the Modern World," for $16. Head up around sunset for the best views.

For the die-hard Sex and the City fan, hop on the bus tour that follows in the footsteps of the show's main characters -- drink where they drink, shop where they shop and gossip where they gossip.

While the trip may leave a dent in your wallet, it is worth it for a bite out of the Big Apple.

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