"Vibrant New York City - 7 Amazing Days " a New York City Travel Page by Mikebb

When planning our trip to North America we were told "you will need more than 2 days in New York City, set aside 7 days". Luckily we took this advice and reaped the benefits of a week in this fabulous city. It takes a day or more to adjust to the pace, although you have planned your week be prepared for "Must Do Distractions". Things just happen in this city which you must do at that moment or you will miss out. It is a place where you must expect the "unusual", but after 3 or 4 days "The Unusual become Normal".
There are the must do sights such as Times Square, Empire State Building etc etc and we did all these and enjoyed them, some we returned to , however when we travel we also like to find out how the city "ticks", how the local people live, what they enjoy and hopefully I have captured this aspect in the following pages. A highlight of our week was Friday night dinner with a New York VT member and his wife, a most enjoyable way to finish our week.

We all know that NYC is the home of the Skyscraper buildings but how many of us realise how small Manhattan Island is. From the waters edge at Battery Park to 57th Street is approximately 5.5 miles, it is within this area that many of the interesting attractions can be seen. Most places are walkable, however for those who choose not to walk the efficient metro system will quickly and cheaply get you to your destination.

We used the metro at times, the $8 daily transport card was useful, however we would spend hours walking around the various districts, Seaport, Battery Park, Chelsea, Brooklyn, Greenwich Village, Midtown etc, always feeling safe. We used the metro at 10pm and found nothing to worry us.

Everywhere you go there is a restaurant, cafe or street cart open for business, many stay open 24 hours a day. The variety is enormous and you will always find something to suit your budget. We found the quality and size of the servings to be extremely generous whether we ate at the corner Deli or a 5 star restaurant. We were lucky to experience the Madison Square Park Annual Sunday BBQ where they closed the adjoining street, brought the smoked meats bbq into the park, some live music, a pleasant summer day and many thousands of people had a fantastic day.