ESCAPE FROM THE JUNGLE Visit New York’s Central Park. Take a walk, a boat ride or just enjoy a picnic and discover for yourself why Central Park is so popular www.centralpark.com
MoMa, WHAT’S THAT? Take a look around the “MoMA” museum of modern art. Two centuries of mind-blowing contemporary art under one roof! www.moma.org
HEIGHTS AND VIEWS Go up to the observation deck at the top of the Empire State Building, one of New York’s tallest buildings. If you’d rather avoid ESB overcrowdings, you’ll enjoy Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Center www.esbnyc.com www.topoftherocknyc.com
MEATPACKING DISTRICT Head for a night out in the Meatpacking District, described by New York magazine as “New York’s most fashionable neighbourhood”.
DON’T THROW YOUR MONEY AWAY There is so much to do in New York for free! NYC is a vibrant cultural centre, and has plenty to offer the curious traveler. Look out for rock jam sessions in Greenwich Village, famous for its bohemian vibe, free walking tours of Manhattan, even free summertime Shakespeare performances in Central Park. www.clubfreetime.com
HAVE A DRINK AT MET MUSEUM TOP DECK Apart from visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art itself, it’s worth to go up and take a break having a drink at the top deck with wonderful views to Central Park. Don’t forget to go over The Cloisters (same ticket is valid), the branch of The Metropolitan Museum of Art devoted to the art and architecture of medieval Europe. www.metmuseum.org www.metmuseum.org/cloisters/
CHELSEA MARKET Chelsea Market has become a boutique and cool food market. It used to be the National Biscuit Company complex. The seafood market is the best in the city. www.chelseamarket.com
BROADWAY SAVINGS IN TIMES SQUARE TKTS Discount Booths offer tickets to Broadway and Off-Broadway musicals and plays at up to 50% off. With dozens of productions on sale every day, there’s something for everyone! 47th street at Broadway Av www.tdf.org
BRONX BOTANICAL GARDEN Just one of the world’s best gardens. For a casual fan of trees and flowers, a trip to New York Botanical Garden Bronx might just be the thing to launch you into the ‘plant lover’ category. Either way, the Garden is so exquisite that it tends to be consistently found on even the savviest New Yorker’s suggested itinerary. http://www.nybg.org/
PS1 MOMA LONG ISLAND CITY (QUEENS) P.S. 1 is an internationally renowned museum devoted to contemporary art. It is known for its avant-garde exhibits and for leading the alternative space movement. Artists collaborate with the administrators, and some have studio space on site. P.S. 1 is affiliated with MoMA, but has a much looser, crazier feel. http://www.ps1.org/
GRAFFITI MECCA AND HOME TO ARTISTS IN LONG ISLAND CITY (QUEENS) Just blocks from P.S. 1 is 5 Pointz, the Institute of Higher Burnin’. Not a museum or gallery, 5 Pointz is a living collage of graffiti art covering a converted warehouse full of artist studios. The art of famous and novice graffiti artists covers the building’s facade, all done with the encouragement of the building’s owner. It’s a well-known sight from the elevated 7 subway, which runs behind 5 Pointz. http://queens.about.com/od/thingtodo/ss/lic_art_2.htm
SOCRATES SCULPTURE PARK IN LONG ISLAND CITY (QUEENS) On the East River waterfront, the Socrates Sculpture Park hosts outdoor sculpture by contemporary artists and puts on community events. The events make the area come alive. Enjoy beautiful views of Manhattan skyline while strolling through amazing outdoor cutting edge art-work. Address: 32-01 Vernon Boulevard Long Island City, NY 11106 T 718 956 1819 / F 718 626 1533 Admission: free, open 365 days a year from 10am to sunset
PROSPECT PARK IN BROOKLYN Prospect Park is a 585-acre urban oasis located in the heart of Brooklyn, New York City’s most populous borough. Popular activities range from skating to birding to pedal boating to picnicking on the Long Meadow on beautiful days. The Park also boasts a stunning variety of natural and geological features. Brooklyn’s only forest is here, along with a complex water system, rolling meadows and shaded hillsides. http://www.prospectpark.org/
SUNSET PARK IN BROOKLYN The park that gives Sunset Park its name is a beautiful piece of land that offers stunning views of Manhattan, downtown Brooklyn, and even Staten Island and New Jersey. Take your camera and get the higher point by sunset time. You’ll be amazed by what you’ll see from there. Sunset Park may be one of Brooklyn’s most diverse neighborhoods. Here you’ll find charming brownstones, a thriving Latin American culture, Brooklyn’s largest Chinese community, and a recent influx of young New Yorkers in search of cheaper rents. http://brooklyn.about.com/od/brooklynneighborhoods/p/SunsetPark.htm
Harlem New York
1. SUGAR HILL AREA
Bounded by 145th and 155th Sts. and Edgecombe and St. Nicholas Aves.
W. 138th and W. 139th Sts. between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. and Frederick Douglass Blvds.
Some of the few remaining private service alleys that once ran behind the city’s town houses (where deliveries would arrive via horse and cart) lie behind these elegant 1890s Georgian and neo-Italian homes, visible through iron gates. These blocks attracted African-American doctors, lawyers, and other professionals, earning its enduring nickname in the 1920s from less affluent Harlemites who felt its residents were "striving" to become well-to-do.
3. MOUNT MORRIS HISTORICAL DISTRICT
The Mount Morris Historic district is one of the most architecturally attractive parts of Harlem. Bordering on Marcus Garvey Park, most of the buildings were constructed in the late 19th Century as one-family residences for wealthy merchants. Currently there is extensive renovation and construction as the area undergoes an economic revival, as evidenced by scores of newly rehabbed homes.
4. JUMEL MANSION
Morris-Jumel Mansion, Manhattan’s oldest house, was headquarters to General Washington in September and October of 1776. It’s true! Washington made his headquarters here at the Mansion during the fall of 1776. It was during this period that the General’s troops forced a British retreat at the Battle of Harlem Heights. Do not miss the astonishing and unique new York architecture on 160th St, just nex to Jumel Mansion, those houses use to be occupaid for soldiers during American-English war.
Five original cloisters form France and Catalonia were taken to New York in the early XX century by George Gray Bernard. John D. Rockefeller Jr. took over the collection by donating large sums of money for maintenance. The cloisters are the only medieval museum in USA.
Harlem Jazz & Restaurants
Harlem is been the meca of jazz for decades in the United States. All around Harlem you can find interesting jazz clubs. Chic&Budget suggests:
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