Tips 1 - 10 of 33 New York City Things to Do
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Its exact location is on Fifth Ave, bordering W. 33rd St. and W. 34th Sts. Its exact area is Midtown. Its borough is Manhattan. Its city is NYC. It is local.
However, mentioning Empire State Building and it is no longer local. It would be almost impossible to find one person on earth who has not heard of it, has not seen the picture of it, has not dreamt of seeing it, had not been in awe in its presence, or had not stared at the wonderful cities spread out and below when they were on its Observatory.
For most tourists, this is one of the two things they know about New York City -- Empire State Building and Statue of Liberty. For most people, this is the symbol of America. There is no other place and no other image that is more American than The Lady with the Torch, and The Spire that Reaches the Sky.
The history of Empire State Building, its facts and factoids can be read a million times over on the Net so I'm not going to bore you with it here. What I will tell you is although I don't consider myself a tourist, although I have been to Manhattan and have seen Empire State Building many times, although I have been up to the 86th floor so often I should have a season pass, there had not been one time when I didn't find my breath taken away when I caught the glimpse of it. Doesn't matter where I was, on the streets or in an airplanes, I have always searched for it.
It is not the location that counts. It is not the shape that counts. It is not the height that counts. What counts is its image, for it is the beacon for all to search, to feel that life will go on no matter what had happened.
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Phone: (212) 947-1360
Address: 350 Fifth Ave, New York, NY 10001
Directions: Take the 1, 2, 3, 9, A, C or E to 34th Street/Penn Station.
Website: http://www.esbnyc.com/
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The 86th floor Observatory is 1,050ft or 320m above NYC streets. That doesn't sound very tall for a mountain, even a small mountain. We have hiked to almost three times that heights. It took us a while to get to that point, and we had to wear hiking boots and brought along backpack of water and energy bars, but we still carried a conversation while trudging up.
The elevator to the 86th floor takes less than a minute. We don't need to carry anything except a wallet or a purse. We wear street shoes and we carry a conversation leisurely on the way up. Then we stop talking.
You would stop too, when you see the view.
From the West side of the Observatory, there are One Penn Plaza, Madison Square, Jacob Javits Convention Center, and Intrepid -- the WWII aircraft carrier and Air and Space Museum. Beyond the Hudson River are New Jersey with Newark Aiport and the Ramapo Mountains. Beyond that is Pensylvania with the Pocono Mountains.
From the South, there are Wall Street, Flatiron, and Woolworth. In the Upper New York Bay are Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Beyond the great bridges (Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Verrazano-Narrows) are Brooklyn and Staten Island.
From the East, it's Queens, with CitiCorp building and United Nations. There are the trio of bridges in Long Islands (Triboro, Bronx-Whitestone and Throgs Neck), La Guardia, JFK, and then Brooklyn with Williamsburg Bridge.
From the North, it's Chrysler, MetLife, CitiCorp, GE, St. Patrick's Cathedral, the Plaza Hotel (which no longer is), and the majestic GWB. Beyond the Hudson are Connecticut and Massachusetts.
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Phone: (212) 947-1360
Address: 350 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY
Directions: Take the 1, 2, 3, 9, A, C or E to 34th Street/Penn Station.
Website: http://www.esbnyc.com/
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Who feels a lump in the throat at first sight of The Great Lady? I do, not just at first sight but also time after time.
Who needs to know the technical details when a friend across the ocean presented you with such monumental gift? I don't.
Thousands upon thousands of people have written about the history, the facts and factoids about Statue of Liberty, adding my part would just not a thing to do. It was a gift of friendship -- let's not dwelt into the whys and hows, and let's not spoil the sentiment.
Let's remember what Emma Lazarus expressed so eloquently in 1883 and see if we can help keeping the spirit of giving alive:
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
with conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
a mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
the air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
with silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
the wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
-- Emma Lazarus (1849-1887)
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Directions: Only so many visitors are allowed the climb to the pedestal. There is no charge to do this, but you need to make a reservation either on-line at Statue Reservations or by phone at (866) 782-8834.
Website: http://www.nps.gov/stli/
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Imagine the immigrants in the late XIX century and the early XX century. They were Russians, Jewish, Greeks, Irish, Scottish, English, Germans, Scandinavians, Italians, Polish, Romanians, Croatians, Serbians, Lithuanians, Slovenians, Hungarians, Afghanistans, and Arabians. They were old men and old women, young men and young women, children and infants. They were here because they yearned for the taste of freedom, to be able to voice out their thoughts and follow their practice of religion. They were here to take advantage of the plentiful opportunities to make a decent living. They were here to reunite with their relatives. They were here to start a new life -- a good life -- for their children.
There were 34 millions people who passed through the doors that you pass through today, climbed up the same stairs you climb today, stood in the same halls where you stand today. They were strangers to you and you do not know them at all, or they were your ancestors and you are a part of their bloodline.
Try to be in Ellis Island on a weekday or in the low season when there is not a throng of tourists around. Walk through the door, climb up the stairs, and sit in the hall. Look at the pictures and the personal belongings display there. Imagine the mass of people who were here a hundred years or so ago, the strangers and the relatives. Be very quiet, and listen.
Each time I was here, I swore I could hear them still.
No, Ellis Island is not haunted by ghosts, but the fervent hope and dreams of 34 million individuals who passed through those doors had somehow lingered in spite of time past. It was in the air, now faintly but not unpleasantly. I could still hear them and feel their presence. I had goose bumps at first, and then I felt glad, very glad, that I did.
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Website: http://www.ellisisland.com/
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Since the day it was presented to the public's scrutinizing eyes, Chrysler Building has always been loved, even in the dark of the Depression years. It has always looked as if it should be built in the future, centuries ahead of whatever year in which its contemporaries stuck. The future presents new beginnings and optimistic dreams; Chrysler Building emitted that feeling 75 years ago and still hands it out now, especially since after New York skyline was altered.
It's a building with an air of both majestic and magic combined. In the daylight, its crown gleams in the sun, its spire pierces the sky. At night, the illuminated triangular windows lit up like seven rows of fish scales shimmering in the dark water. There is never a lack of movement in its appearance; it always seems ready to take off toward another galaxy, another future, another time and place.
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Address: 405 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY
Directions: Between 42nd and 43rd Sts. Take the 4, 5, 6, to 42nd/Grand Central
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If you need a place to soak in the sun while enjoying a pleasant picnic, you don't need to go farther than Battery Park at the southern tip of Manhattan.
Most people only see this beautiful public park as the place to board the ferry to Liberty Island and Ellis Island, and miss one of New York's bests. Here at Battery Park, the breathtaking view of Lower Manhattan skyline, Governors Island, Staten Island, Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and Verrazano-Narrows Bridge are all free for the taking. The Atlantic Ocean, the East River, and the Hudson River met here to provide a different aspect of New York, one that doesn't require any effort to enjoy.
Come to Battery Park and spend a couple of hours of doing nothing, and amaze yourself with a peaceful rest from the constant moving of a city that never learns to slow down.
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Directions: Take the 4 or 5 to Bowling Green or the 1 or 9 to South Ferry.
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Battery Park: Monuments And Statues In The Battery
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There are two dozens monuments, statues, and public artworks installed in Battery Park. In my opinion, the more notable ones are:
The battery cannon used in the Revolutionary War.
Castle Clinton, an old fort built in 1807, was redesigned as the first U.S. monument to World War I veterans.
Albino Manca's eagle statue stands in front of four 20-foot double panels commemorate American service members lost in the Atlantic during WWII.
The American Merchant Marine monument shows the sinking bow of a ship with three crewmembers pulling up another man from the water.
Luis Sanguino's The Immigrants shows a group of people standing in line waiting for inspection to be admitted in the new country. The emotion emits in the way they holding on to each other and their meager belonging, or looking up toward heaven with hope and apprehension is very touching.
Norman Thomas' Coast Guard Memorial, served as memorial to the men and women who served the country in WWII, shows two heroic figures carrying a wounded person.
Jonathan Scott Hartley's sculpture shows John Ericsson holding the model of his design, the USS Monitor.
Fritz Koenig's bronze sphere once stood between the two Twin Towers as a symbol of global peace now stands in the northern section of the park. The severely damaged sculpture was recovered from the rubble of the World Trade Center and transferred here later on. Together with an eternal flame, it is served as a memorial to the victims of 9/11.
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Address: Battery Park, at the tip of Manhattan Island
Directions: Take the 4 or 5 to Bowling Green, the R or W to Whitehall St., or the 1 or 9 to South Ferry.
Website: http://www.thebattery.org/battery/
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Rockefeller Center is touted as city within a city and it is not an exaggeration. This Art Deco complex consists of 19 office and commercial buildings covering 11 acres in midtown Manhattan. The Rock, as it is affectionately called, also houses a maze of shops, restaurants and beautiful artworks in one form or another, with the famous Atlas and Prometheus statues gracing the façade.
The Channel Gardens are filled with flowers in the summer, and the Plaza is turned into a skating rink in the winter.
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Directions: Rockefeller Center stretches from 47th to 51st Sts and 5th to 7th Aves.
Take the B, D, F, or Q to Rockefeller Center. Or the 6 to 51st St./Lexington Ave. Or the 1 or 9 to 50th St./Broadway.
Website: http://www.rockefellercenter.com/home.html
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Originally designed by Frederick Law Olmstead to reflect the English pastoral life, Central Park became instead another proof of New York's artful skill in imitation nature while making it better.
On these 843 acres of land, there are trees, shrubs, vines, rock, trails, and pathways.
There are lakes, fountains, cascades, bridges, gardens, statues, an obelisk, a fort, and a castle.
There are theatres, concert grounds, a great museum, and restaurants.
There are playgrounds, carousel, discovery center, wild life center, and a children’s zoo.
There is green grass for picnic and sunbathe, and green grass to contemplate life.
There are places for jogging, biking, birdwatching, chess playing, and tai-chiing.
There are specific areas for sledding, ice-skating, inline skating, boating, model boating, hockeying, tennis courts, volleyball courts, baseball fields, basketball courts, and a bocce court.
In short, anything you want to find, you will find it in Central Park. Is that a valid enough reason for a few visits during your next stay in NYC?
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Website: http://www.centralpark.org/
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In 1981, the New York City Council decided to name the 2.5-acre parcel of land at Central Park West Strawberry Fields.
The project was not officially intended as a memorial to John Lennon, but rather a symbol and hope for world peace. Nevertheless, three very prominent elements altered the original intention.
First, the entrance to this garden is located directly across the street from the Dakota. Second, Yoko Ono donated $1 million to Central Park Conservancy with specific instruction to use only for re-landscaping and maintaining this parcel of land. Third, a marble mosaic (donated by the City of Napoli) was set in the pathway of the entrance. In the middle of the mosaic is the word “Imagine”.
There are 121 nations who sent their endorsements to make Strawberry Fields the Garden of Peace. There are 121 trees on this parcel of land to represent those nations. Yet, there are 153 countries in the world. I wonder what the other 32 countries think. "Heck, we don't believe in world peace and we're not gonna waste the postage to send a seedling over to some garden in America!" That's a rather antisocial behaviour, wouldn't you say?
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Website: http://www.centralpark.org/
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Destinations near New York City- Chinatown, 0.85 km / 0.53 miles
- Greenwich Village, 1.59 km / 0.99 miles
- Brooklyn Heights, 2.33 km / 1.45 miles
- Ellis Island, 3.27 km / 2.03 miles
- Hoboken, 3.97 km / 2.47 miles
- Fort Greene, 3.98 km / 2.47 miles
- Statue of Liberty National Monument, 4.22 km / 2.62 miles
- Liberty Island, 4.25 km / 2.64 miles
- Greenpoint, 4.75 km / 2.95 miles
- Park Slope, 5.18 km / 3.22 miles
» See all locations nearby» Popular New York State locations» Popular United States of America locations» Popular North America locations |
 Comments for Ciambella about New York City | | | | |
serindipityhaters Wed Jun 10, 2009 15:25 UTC
DON'T spend your money at Serindipity!!!! It is not for a family on a budget. The service is horrible and,staff is very rude! You have to spend at least $8.50...PER PERSON!! Do not spend all day waiting to eat here because it is not worth it! | Rourky Wed Oct 1, 2008 16:30 UTC
I agree about the staff it's ridiculous (or just stupid) that people who rely on tips would behave in such a manner. The food in gereral was only average but the desserts were really good it's just unfortunate that the service didn't match up! | jo104 Tue Mar 4, 2008 09:11 UTC
I really enjoyed your NYC tips very informative, London is trying to improve its skyline with new type buildings. Our statue of Peter Pan in Hyde Park was revealed at night so kids would think it arrived there by magic so interesting with the bronze bull | emilesc Mon Oct 8, 2007 19:32 UTC
Love your no-nonsense tip on the Carnegie Deli! |
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