New York City, NY 6 minutes / Windows Media Player

Please note: This piece was edited and assembled in the Spring of 2001, months before the attacks of 9/11. We decided that as a tribute, we would not alter the footage of the city and as such, we have left the video intact. As well, this is a city that could particularly use your visit these days, and as always... New York is amazing! Maybe more now than ever...

---

 

	To: New York, New York From: Province/State British Columbia Alberta Saskatchewan Manitoba Ontario Quebec New Brunswick Nova Scotia PEI Yukon Territory Nunavut Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware DC Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming

The Big Apple is home to the American Dream and the place where everyone seems to head when they "want to make it", on Broadway, in film, music, art or at the stock market. It is one of the most expensive cities in the United States to live and visit, with hotel rooms usually starting at US$150 - $200, but that is well worth it. After all, you're in NEW YORK!

The Statue of Liberty

Now, New York is made up of five boroughs, including the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island, but it is Manhattan that visitors flock to when they go to New York. On this island you will find Central Park, Soho, Broadway, Greenwich Village, Fifth Avenue, Wall Street, and of course the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Times Square

Driving in New York is not recommended, since almost every street in Manhattan is a one-way and traffic is always so heavy that even well-experienced drivers try not to take their car downtown. Instead, use the extensive subway system which will let you go anywhere all day for a $4 Metrocard. Or just hop in one of the thousands of yellow taxis that New York is famous for. But the best way to see any city is walking, and New York is no different, especially not when there's so much to see.

The best way to tour Manhattan would be to do a section of it everyday you're there. For example. If you're there for 3 days, start at the tip of the island at Battery Park. Here you can either take a paid tour that will take you to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, which you can then climb. Or, if you'd like to save some money, head over to the Staten Island ferry. This service is free and will take you right past the Statue of Liberty on one side, and the Brooklyn Bridge on the other. You don't have to get off the ferry when you arrive on the other side. Just stay on and the boat will turn right around.

Staten Island Ferry

Then walk north towards the World Trade Center and Wall Street. If you keep walking, you will hit the trendy Soho and Tribeca and then Chinatown. A little to the east, you can retrace the steps of writers like Jack Kerouac in Greenwich Village.

Take day number two and dedicate it to shopping, or window shopping. But make sure you get up early and go to the TKTS Booth in Times Square. Here you can line up for same day, half-price Broadway tickets. Once you have those, walk through Times Square and along Fifth Avenue, take a tour of Radio City Music Hall, and go to the top of the Empire State Building. And of course, end the day with the Broadway show you got tickets for that morning.

On the third day, go to the Upper East to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Then walk through Central Park, across the Great Lawn and up to Belvedere Castle. Make sure you leave the park on the Upper West Side. Just walk around and see the way people live and enjoy the relative quiet. By ending your trip up here, you will come home relaxed and refreshed and won't need a vacation after your vacation.

The Manhattan Skyline

So this is our suggestion of how to see Manhattan Don't try to do too much. Instead, maybe decide you'll come back some day to see the rest. With so much to do and see, you can easily become overwhelmed and may not completely appreciate everything. But you can still say you went to New York!

(Oh, and if you don't want to come across as a tourist, be a true New Yorker and don't take pedestrian traffic lights too seriously... but make sure to take care!)