Everyone seems to want to go to NYC and see the Statue of liberty, the empire state and all of the other famous sights. This might be perfect for your first trip however having been to New York on multiple occasions now it just seems like a “postcard tour” without much depth. Here I hope to offer you a more unique and authentic and less generic view of New York, you will see it’s true beauty and vibrant cultures and hopefully leave with zero regrets about missing out on this or that due to queues or costs.
To truly understand NYC, you have to see the neighborhoods as well as the sights. Put your tourbooks away and spend a day wandering around Greenwich Village or the East Village. Go down cool little streets, eat at wherever strikes your fancy.
Spend time downtown, not just at the Trade Center sight. Take the train to the bottom of Manhattan and take the ferry. Walk back up Broadway stopping at Wall Street, St. Johns Church and Ground Zero. Shop at J&R for music and electronics and Century 21 for everything else. Take a break at City Hall Park and continue on to Chinatown.
Head to Brooklyn. Hike across the Bridge and into DUMBO and Brooklyn Heights. Grab some pizza a Grimaldis, grub at Bubbies and desert at the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory or Jacques Torres chocolate. Or, go further into beautiful Park Slope, or Ft. Green, or Brighton Beach. The world is truly your Oyster here, No matter how far you walk you’re always just a ½ hour subway ride from you hostel so just keep on exploring. There’s a fantastic little village with the best bagels in New york and an amazing German Burger joint right by Bergen St station in Brooklyn.
Do see a show, in fact see Avenue Q. Unless the idea of outrageous songs “The Internet is for Porn” and “It Sucks Being Me”, along with simulated muppet sex freaks you out. You’ll bust a gut laughing. Or, see the Blue Man Group and sit in the Poncho Section. Wear the poncho provided, you’ll need it.
What I’m getting at is that there is so much to do in NYC beyond the sights found in all the guidebooks. Sure, go to Ellis Island, Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, and stroll through Central Park. But, stretch your horizons further and you will get so much more out of your visit. Lastly, speak to New Yorkers, especially in Brooklyn, They’ re generally friendly and will get a kick out of your accent but better than that they’ll give you their “2 cents worth” about what they think you should do whilst you’re in NYC and you never know you may end up going to a once a year Caribbean street food and music festival in Brooklyn like I ended up seeing and guess what?… It was Amazing!!
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