First thing that blew my mind about this city is how loud New York is. Loud trucks are moving through the city, mail car was left near us for 30 minutes with the motor ON (probably to keep the inside cool to 18 degrees), conditioners are old and loud, walls seem to be built from paper and so much more... I get, why this city never sleeps, it is not that easy at all! New York to me feels very surreal, everything seems so familiar, like a song you like, when you hear it for the second time. Architecture in New York is mind blowing, you recognise a lot from TV and movies, but at sight you also get a grasp of the grand history, wealth and how ahead of time this city was. In financial district we tried to sneak in some buildings to see them from inside, it is so reach in details, marble, gold and, my favourite, American Art Deco. Next thing, that hit me, was pain in the back. Though air-conditioned spaces to a degree of freezing were not a surprise, the difference between 35 degrees in metro stations and 18 degrees inside the wagons was. Sadly, by the end of the day two, I could no longer walk. A tourist during summer should have a sweater or a jacket with them at all times. Also a special shout out for the ridiculously big portions in some pubs and restaurants. Once, we witnessed two skinny teenagers destroy what seemed like a weekly portion of sugar in one pint milk-shake, decorated with cotton candy, a lollipop, marshmallows and a muffin! I would definitely have a sugar comma from that one. Instead of going through the trip day by day, I present you a list of things that I 100% recommend to do in New York.
- Get tickets to the taping of your favourite talk show. It is free! I have been to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and The Late Show With Steven Colbert, but there are so many more to see, including Saturday Night Live (though this one is pretty hard to get to). You can order the tickets online, which we did for one show, for another we got standby tickets.
We took advantage of jet leg and woke up at 4AM to take place at a standby quire on the W 49th street under the shadow of the Rockefeller center. They hand out numbered tickets at 9:00AM, so next five hours we were stuck speaking to a man, who was querying from 10PM of the previous day. That was sometimes annoying, but also the most unique experience of getting to know, someone local, his life and his views of politics, of the outside USA world and of his taping experience. If you get a ticket online, make sure to check, whether it is general or priority admission. We got to the second show about 2 hours in advance and were among the last 8 people, who got in.
- Take advantage of the museums. Everyone can find something to their own liking, check out different City Passes for better offers. Here is what I visited:
The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum. Saw the actual rocket Enterprise, Concord and many not so famous navy machines. My advice, if you are not into navy and rocket science, just check out those two I mention above and get out fast.
Check out the new rebuilt One World Trade Center. The two fountains at the place where Twin Towers used to be made a deep impression, but nothing compared to the museum underground. When we walked out, I wanted to cry and scream "Why do people do that?", I felt exhausted, but glad to have seen it.
I missed the Stature of Liberty Museum, but my family went and praised it quite a bit. They discovered, how immigrants used to come to USA through the port in New York.
The MET Museum treated us with Met Gala exposition on topic of Catholic Church in fashion and lovely view from the roof. What's amazing I that parts of the museum are styled to the particular époque. You can get a feel of a renaissance atrium, the Louvre or a catholic cathedral, where there was the main installation for Met Gala with dramatic music, dimmed lights and spooky atmosphere.
The Empire State Building & The Top of the Rock We've been to the first one at night, which is magnificent and quite overcrowded. What stands out, is how you can tell, where The Times Square is by the amount of light in the area. I think better to visit the roof of the Rockefeller center during the day, otherwise you will see pitch black instead of Central Park.
Do not neglect checking out the New York Public Library, which is unimaginably cinematic. Besides numerous reading rooms and a very cool mechanism for bringing books form the archive, we saw a temporary, but very informative exhibition on the 60th movements and permanent exhibition on Vinnie the Pooh, all that was free.
I guess MOMA needs no introduction. After being inspired by numerous art works, we made a New York collage from our museum tickets, admissions and other stuff we grabbed during our New York trip. And made it a tradition!
Also we visited a Victoria's Secret & Pink shop as if it was a museum. Some of the runaway costumes with incredible wings are displayed there. It is an exhibition of craft-ship, brought to the limits of what a human can create and wear.
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Landmarks not to miss: Brooklyn Bridge, Stature of Liberty (especially, when you can admire it from the free orange fairy to the Staten Island), get some dumplings in China Town and experience late dining atmosphere in Little Italy, chill your feet in the fountain at the Washington Square park, be blinded by the Times Square at night. After taking some funny pictures in front of the Trump Tower, before you reach the Central Park, sneak inside the Plaza Hotel. Central Park is huuuuge, but also huge squirrels live there! Somehow the most fat and fluffy squirrels are in the Central Park and it is not like I didn't look elsewhere. If you have any energy left, come to Harlem, check out performances in the Apollo Theatre and take a walk along the Lenox Ave for some cinematic frames.
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Don't forget the not-so-known gems. Gaze at some architecture by Zaha Hadid while walking the High Line, find the Whispering Gallery at the Grand Central Terminal, take a cable tram from E 60 St &2 Av to the Roosevelt Island, admire the Manhattan skyline from the Gantry Plaza State Park, basically under a very instagrammable Pepsi-Cola sign.
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Be a local in Greenwich and West Village. Check out thrift shops and bars, find hipster coffee place and, in case you feel homesick, have a taco in Burrito Loco Mexican restaurant and some Czech Pilsner Urquell in a pub called Doma na Rohu. On the way to Comedy Cellar we saw a person walking his pig and found out some history of the Christopher Park.
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Do some Broadway! I chose The Lion King Musical (with some help of Priyanka Chopra and her 72 questions interview). The show blew our mind. It costs about 200$ per person and is aways sold out completely, but it was completely worth it! It amazes you, how much visual illusion is possible without digital special effects. I also wanted to visit a drama or a comedy production on the Broadway, but there is only so much you can do in one trip. Nevertheless, I can recommend trying to buy Last Minute Tickets, especially, if you are on a tight budget.
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Laugh your guts out in Comedy Cellar. You pay admission of about 15$ and are obliged to have two drinks, which we found quite cheap. I don't recommend to get beers though, it will put you in a good mood, but you will miss out some of the stand up, while getting in and out of the bathroom.
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Get to the riverside very early, if you want to see the fireworks on the 4th of July. Little did we know, how many people there are in New York... Because of the security precautions an hour in advance you already couldn't get anywhere in a position with a good view. Well, we saw some lights over other peoples heads and a highway, at least it didn't take us too long to get back to the hotel.
That's all from me, as they say in New York, Have a good one!