By xaosseed
Here’s a quick list of the things I did, places I went, things to recommend and so on that I wrote for a friend who’s going there and I thought - gee, people might find this useful so here:
The one very important point to keep in mind is that the metro system is *incredibly* hot - the carriages are air-conditioned and dump heat into badly ventilated tunnels. Even if the carriages are ok, the platforms are like an oven in the smaller stations and uncomfortable. If you can arrange your trip to just use the main stations (Grand central, Penn, Union Square etc.) you’ll be more comfortable.
I stayed in the Pod Hotel 230 E 51st Street which I found fantastic - the rooms are not big, but clean, comfortable and very central. I liked it a lot and it was good value. Here are reviews for other points of view. The Pod Hotel New York (230 E 51st Street, (212) 355-0300)
Right next door there is a delicious sushi-sashimi place (Tanaka’s, 222 E 51st St) but you may not want to come to America and eat Japanese…
Icons - you have to see the Chrysler Building and the Statue of Liberty. The Chrysler building is the best-looking of the Art Deco skyscrapers, better than the Empire State building. The Statue of Liberty is just the symbol of everything that’s great about the US. There is also a beach/themepark/aquarium out at Coney Island (just take the D, F trains out to the end) - its a fantastic beach, almost empty in case you want to be able to say you went swimming in New York :)
Museums - I would recommend the Natural History Museum on the West side of Central Park for a great collection of dionsaurs and other critters, then take a nice stroll through Central park to the Metropolitan museum on the East side. Highlights of the Met museum are the reassembled Egyptian Temple and the fantastic Roman relics.
Coffee shops - I went looking for the best coffee places in New York and according to the internet they are apparently:
Abraço - 86 East 7th Street,
Gimme Coffee - 228 Mott St
Ninth Street Espresso - 700 E 9th St
These are indeed good - I would recommend taking Abraco and Ninth St. Expresso as part of days shopping around the East village - it is definitely where I saw all the little fashion shops - between 5th Ave and Avenue A - and then down into the Lower East Side. There is one big vintage place called Screaming Mimi’s (382 Lafayette Street) that had lots of stuff. For other cafe’s and the like - “Bon Pain” is a good chain and there are a few of them.
So - a day for the museums, a day shopping in the East Village/Lower East Side, I went to Coney Island one day and spent another just walking around mid-town along Broadway - if you have more time, I am sure you will come up with other creative things to do.
Bars and Clubs, alas, I am less use because my cousin brought me around and apart from ‘there is a good bar somewhere around 23rd Street, 3rd Avenue’ I can’t remember any detail. Anyone care to add to this?
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5th of August, 2008
Not a lot to add to that, as I saw much the same stuff when I was over.
MOMA, the Museum of Modern Art is small and full of key pieces from the last couple of centuries. Van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night’ is there, and it’s worth the price of admission alone. Your milage might vary for most of modern art, but the energy and passion still leaps from this painting as if it were finished yesterday.
Things to do that are more about experiencing New Yorks ‘Americana’
- Hang out in a bar all day and get to grips with their unique system of tipping and kick-backs. Go slow. There is a good reason the beer is weak.
- Hit a proper Jewish deli and experience some of the world’s most cunningly crafted sandwiches.
- Go to a baseball game. This could take a while, but the people are friendly and love to explain a rule-set that makes cricket sound simple.
- Wander up 5th Avenue and wonder what all of the fuss is about.
- Go see the *lobby* of the Empire State building. It is a wonderful hymn to Art Deco.
- Whatever you do, *TALK* to New Yorkers. All that “I’m walkin’ here!!!” stuff is a bunch of crap. They’re a very friendly bunch.
6th of August, 2008
Tipping in bars is a nightmare. You people ruined me — I didn’t drink before I went to Dublin, then when I got back and tried to order things I’d get the stinkeye from bartenders because it didn’t even occur to me to tip.
Baseball rules are simpler than you think. I think people who love baseball try to make it sound a lot more complicated than it is. Anyone who’s interested should come to LA and experience a Dodgers game from the outfield bleachers. It is not like any baseball experience I’ve ever had anywhere else.