10 Things to do in New York City (USA)

 A melting pot metropole with grandiose skyscrapers and billboards, amazing night shows and magical lights

 

Who has not dreamt of visiting once in a life time New York City?

New York fascinates me and I would like to share with you what I like the most about the “Big Apple”

 

Some quick facts about New York:

• was discovered by the Dutch in 1624
• was called New York in 1664 when the King of England gave it to the Duke of York
• over 8 Millions people live in NY City
• about 800 languages are spoken

 

   

1. Spend a day in Central Park

 

•   Was the first landscaped garden in the America when it opened in 1859
• Extended from 700 acres when the land was bought in 1853 to 843 acres a decade later
• Is located on West and East Side and is sourrounded by many museums
• Has lakes, ponds, fountains, a zoo (opened in 1871), a castle, fields to play baseball and softball, an iceskating rink in the winter, tennis courts, carousels and much more
• 20,000 people worked to make the garden
• 270,000 trees and bushes were planted
• Today about 35 millions come to Central Park yearly.
• It closes only a few hours each day from 1:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m.
• Is perfect to observe birds nesting, scrules and watch dogs
• Sunbath in Sheep Meadow Field
• Stroll through Strawberry Field, named over 30 years ago in memory of John Lennon, who was killed not far away while walking back home.
• Relax by the fountain and take a small row boat on the 18 acre lake

 

 

  2. Visit Times Square

 

• Located on 7^th Avenue and Broadway. Broadway Street is 12,4 miles/20 km long, going from Lower Manhattan in the Financial district, through the theater district to Central Park
• Got its name from the New York Times Building in 1904. It later changed to One Times Square Tower.
• Is a place for theaters, late night shows like David Letterman, good restaurants, billboard advertisements and lots of lights.
• You will find expensive hotels like The Peninsula New York, Chatwal New York, Renaissance and Sofitel hotels.
• Is an exciting place to be at New Year’s for the drop of the gigantic New York Ball made of Waterford crystals. The ball has been falling to celebrate the New Year since 1908. It went from 700 pounds (320 kg) at the beginning, to 400 pounds (180kg) from 1920-1943, to 150 pounds (68 kg) until 1980. Today it weights 11,875 pounds (5386 kg)!

 

 

3. Cross the Brooklyn Bridge

 

•   Built by the Roebling family first by John August Roebling and finished by Emily Roebling, his daughter in law
• Idea for a bridge was proposed in 1855
• Bridge was inaugurated in 1883 after 14 years of work.
• is located near Chinatown and meets up with Brooklyn Heights
• It crosses the East River.
• Held by 4 cables and has 6 traffic lanes.
• It is a beautiful place to stroll along the Brooklyn Heights Promenade. You can see Lower Manhattan, Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.
• Has a great ice cream place: the ice cream Brooklyn factory with great view of NYC skyline
• Walking on the bridge is very enjoyable so you won’t even notice the 1.2 miles/2km length!

 

4. Go check out the well known Manhattan buildings

• Empire State building: New York icon, located on 32d street and Madison Square Garden
• Rockfeller Towers: built in 1939 in Art Déco, located in Midtown
• New York Public library: main reading room is fantastic. Library opened in 1911 and was renovated in 1998. It has about 15 millions works.
• Chrysler building: built in 1930, it was the tallest building in New York until Empire State Building was finished one year later.

• Grand Central Station: biggest train station in the world
• Donald Trump Towers: building of the 58^th floors finished in 1983 for the business man D. Trump. The architect is Donald Scutt, who passed away last year. It has some office buildings and apartments.
• Power Stock exchange: located on Wall Street in the Financial District in Lower Manhattan. Building was built in 1903. Daily trading average is said to be of 53 Millions dollars (2008).

  

 

5. Stop at Ground Zero

 

• Was named this way after the deadly terrorist attack of 9/11, which killed 2752 people
• The Twins towers which were destroyed by airplanes that day had been built between 1966-73.
• The Twin towers were the tallest towers in New York until 1974 with 110 flours.
• The terrorist attack could have killed many more people knowing that on a normal day 50,000 people worked in both towers and an additional 200,000 people visited the towers.

 

Rebuilding:

Who has not watched on T.V. the attack over Manhattan on Sept 11^thand saw the Twin Towers one after another caught on fire and burn down to the ground. I watched it live as it unfolded and remember vividly this sad day: the smoke and dusk as the people tried to flee through the streets and the Brooklyn Bridge, the screams and ambulance sirens…

It has been a decade. On Sept 11^th this year, 2011, New York will remember .

I went to Ground Zero in 2005 and there was still lots to be done to rebuild. Many architects wanted to rebuild and there was a contest. Some of the architects selected, among many others are: David Childs, Norman Foster and Richard Rogers.

Not two towers will be rebuilt but five. The first tower was supposed to be done in 2011 for the 10^th year anniversary of the attack. However it will only be done in 2014 due to delays. The 72d flour of 105 has just been finished. The tower was first called Freedom tower but was later renamed One World Tower.

Rebuilding started in 2006. Silverstein Properties owns the area. The New York Daily News in 2009 wrote that according to a real estate study from Cushman and Wakefield the 5 towers would not be finished and occupied fully until 2037! A long time.

6. Check out Chinatown

 

• Number of Chinese is difficult to estimate, but one thinks it has over 150,000 people
• It is the largest Chinatown outside of Asia
• Go there to eat and buy Asian products.
• Restaurants offer authentic Chinese food like Cantonese duck, dumplings and fried rice
• There is a Buddhist temple.
• Be careful with pick pockets.

 

7. Visit St. Patrick’s Cathedral

  

• Is a beautiful sacred site in Neo-Gothic style
• Named in honour of the Irish saint, St Patrick
• Paid by the New York Irish immigrants
• Original cathedral was built from 1809-1815.
• Actual cathedral started in 1858 and ended in 1879.
• Located in Midtown
• Is visited by 5,5 millions people yearly
• Pope Benedict XVI was the first pope to have a mass there in 2008
• Has an amazing nave, rose window, pieta and 3 organs

 

8. Don’t miss the Empire State Building

• Located on 5^th/33d/34^th street
• Got its name from Henry Hudson who called New York the “empire state”
• Was the world tallest building until 1971 with 102 floors
• Was built from 1929-31
• Since its opening 80 years ago it welcomed 110 Millions visitors
• It has an amazing limestone facade and Art Déco spire
• Has a great Observatory on the 86^th floor
• Many Hollywood movies such as Sleepless in Seattle, King Kong & The Day after Tomorrow have used the building.
• Is free until Age of 6. Then, entrance fee is 20 dollars.
• Is especially beautiful at night. You can see all of Manhattan, lit up bridges and the Chrysler building.

 

9. Walk through Little Italy

• Go there for authentic Italian food
• Located between Soho and Chinatown
• Italians are in New York since the 1880’s
• Mainly only on Mulberry street
• Area has gotten smaller and smaller. The New York Times called it “Littler Italy”
• Since the 1960’s the number of Italians in Little Italy district diminished. In 2009, out of 8,600 people living there, half only were foreigners but from that, 89% were Asian!

 

10. Enter the Grand Central Station

• Is the world’s number one train station with ½ Million people daily
• Trains travel to other part of the US and to New Jersey. It has 5 subway lines
• Holds 44 platforms and 67 tracks
• Was built from 1903-1913 and renovated in 1998
• Has a 125 feet/38 meters ceiling
• Located in Midtown on 87^th East/42^nd street

If you have more time:

What you can do depends on your taste but you can do some great shopping in New York. As well you could go to some nice art museums, go to the piers, the Coney and Ellis Islands and see the Liberty Tower.

You can take the ferry for the Liberty Status and Ellis Island in Lower Manhattan.

The well known arts museums are:

Metropolitain Museum of Art, Moma & Guggenheim Museum

Airports:

You can fly to J.F.K. International Airport located in Queens or Newark International in New York City.

 

With no doubt you will enjoy New York!

 

• Big Apple
• Central Park
• Chinatown
• Chrysler Building
• Empire State Building
• JFK airport
• New York
• New York Stock Exchange
• Times square
• USA