Travel Itinerary Plus Photos
Posted on July 20, 2018 Posted by Athena Scalzi 23 Comments
Hello, everyone! I’m here today to tell y’all about my upcoming travel schedule. On Tuesday, I leave for New York City, where I will be staying with my wonderful friends, Meg and Will. New York City is such an awesome place and I’m so happy to be going for the third year in a row. My last two visits there were so amazing, from doing tourist-y stuff to kayaking at a lake house, I had a seriously awesome time and cannot to go again.
I didn’t take a whole lot of pictures when I was there the past two times, but here’s a couple I really like.
Here’s a view of Manhattan from the Flatiron:
Freedom Tower:
Skyline across the water:
And here’s me and Meg splashing around in a waterfall!
So, after New York, I’ll be back home for a couple of days before I leave to visit my family in California. We went to Tahoe for Easter, and I visited them in January, so even though I’ve already seen them twice this year I just love them so much that I’m willing to make the five hour flight to Cali to see them yet again.
While I’m traveling I’ll be sure to post all about my adventures. This time, I’ll be sure to take a few more photos than I did the last couple times. Have any of you been to New York before? Or maybe you live there? What’s the best place to eat? What’s the most fun thing to do? Let me know in the comments, and have a great day!
Please make a trek out to Flushing. Take in Chinatown, incredible cheap eats. Then head to Little Pepper in College Point. You won’t regret it for a second!
Welcome! Long time New Yorker here. NYC is a lot of things to a lot of people. I assume I don’t have to warn you to avoid the tourist traps: avoid Times Square unless you have to, practically no one who lives here has actually visited the Statue of Liberty (especially as the free Staten Island Ferry goes right past it), and Top of the Rock is frankly a better deal than the Empire State Building. That said, you mentioned in your welcome post “reading, writing, photography, baking/cooking, and looking at the stars”. Reading: The Strand is legendary, one of the greatest used book stores anywhere, and the Reading Room of the main branch of the New York Public Library is amazing. Writing, well, lots of writers here but aside from cliches that show up (Washington Square) I’m not sure where you’d go.
Baking/Cooking, welcome to the most restaurants per capita in North America (Montreal is no 2 btw). Worth going to a truly great restaurant. Le Bernadain, Eric Ripert’s place is always a great choice if you like fish; (note that it’s not cheap, but expense it to your father as “blog research” is my advice), but there are a truly huge selection of choices, and don’t underestimate Brooklyn (a lot of the best Chefs are over there now; see eg Faro in Bushwick which is quite possibly the best restaurant I’ve eaten at in quite a while). Russ and Daughters will make you realize how bad supermarket smoked salmon is relatively, and Katz’s is still a thing for a reason. As a counterpoint, Queens has pretty much a restaurant from almost every country you can name, often ludicrously cheap (someone else mentioned Flushing for chinese, though actually the best Dim Sum is probably Brooklyn Chinatown right now IMHO and the best Indian is in Edison NJ which is a bit of a hike). Baking there are so many choices I’m not ever sure what to say (not sure it’s worth standing in line for a Cronut though). Stars, well, lots of light pollution here, not the greatest, but I would point out that the American Museum of Natural History has the best Planetarium in the world (no joke, they literally called up Zeuss and said “pimp ours up to be better than ANYONE ELSE”). Their shows tend to be a bit celebrity heavy but otherwise awesome, and it’s run by Neil deGrasse Tyson.
Since you have in the past mentioned Techno I’m out of touch with the club scene but I’m sure it’s there (though as I recall you are under 21 which may be an issue); just remember in my day no one (regardless of sexuality or gender) would ever dream of going to a non-gay club. For Anime the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens is a fun museum though I’d probably call it second tier after some of the others. For photos I strongly recommend taking the A up to Fort Tryon Park and the Cloisters, probably the most underrated location in NYC; it’s the Met’s Medieval Wing and is literally the combination of 4 European cloisters that were shipped, brick by brick, from NYC. Also don’t forget the International Center for Photography, and just for fun shopping B&H Photo is an absolutely unique institution.
“Have any of you been to New York before?”
I spent 4-5 months in NYC in 1976 writing a WYSIWYG editor for Time Magazine. Lived at the Plaza, worked on the 45th floor of Rockefeller Center. It is truly said that when you’ve spent time in New York City, everywhere else is “out of town.”
“What’s the best place to eat?”
For me, it was Windows on the World, on the top two floors (106th and 107th) of the World Trade Center, North Tower. It still chokes me up a bit to think about it.
Have driven through, no thought of stopping. Last time there was as a kid aged 10. 1964 Worlds’ Fair. If you haven’t been to the top of the Empiure State Building, it is the ultimate ‘tourist’ thing to do. Anywhere, ever.
Upstate NY has a lot to offer as well. Niagara Falls, Thousand Islands (Clayton NY on the St. Lawrence), Adirondacks, Herkimer Diamonds, Howe’s Caverns, Hudson River Valley. There is plenty to see and do outside the Big Apple. Have fun.
The “Freedom Tower” brings back memories from ~17 years ago, when my office was 4 blocks east of the WTC. The day itself (Sept. 11, 2001) was too surreal to feel like a real memory. I mainly remember getting out of the subway at Fulton and Broadway each day and looking at the smoking pile where the Borders Bookstore used to be before heading East to work. I also remember feeling grit between my teeth from the concrete and asbestos (and who knows what else?) dust that hung in the air for months, to the point that I started wearing a HEPA mask.
The “Freedom Tower” has always depressed me, pretty much from the day they started talking about it. It always felt like a symbol for how the whole USA turned to xenophobia and unthinking retaliatory action in response to the attacks. The attacks themselves didn’t really scare me (they were too surreal, plus I never felt all that safe in NYC, anyway.) The reaction of the USAan population did — and still does. (The soldiers in paramilitary uniforms with assault rifles that roam Grand Central and Times Square make me really nervous — how long before something spooks them and they spray bullets all over a rush-hour crowd?)
Great pics of great buildings! Don’t forget to photograph the Flatiron from the Empire State Building, thereby looking down on your father’s publishers, literally if not figuratively!
Yes, I can also recommend the Hudson Valley. I live near the Tappan Zee bridge, and one of the joys of where I live is coming down from the ridge along the river and seeing the Tappan Zee spread out before you, with the tiny-looking boats on it and the hills beyond it, and looking North to the bends in the river past Peekskill. You can see why there was a whole school of painting dedicated to the Hudson Valley.
To best appreciate it, take a Metro-North train from Grand Central up to Poughkeepsie and sit on the left side (the river side) of the train. Keep an eye out at Spuyten Duivel for the Palisades, and, somewhere past Peekskill, for West Point and Storm King. If you can drive, try the road between Peekskill and the Bear Mountain Bridge. The scenery is spectacular and there are places you can pull off and climb on the rocks. (But stay under 30 mph, maybe even 20, as it’s a long way down if you run off the road :-) ) If you’re an adventurous and sure-footed hiker, drive past Cold Spring to Breakneck Ridge and hike to the top. Lots of spectacular views.
They have a lake house in NYC? Who knew? Just kidding.
Yes, I live here. I’m old, but any advice I have to give is yours. What kind of restaurants are you looking for? Any specific neighborhood or borough?
I’m sure that you will have a great time.
New York is a great place to visit. My job as a newspaper/magazine editor required me to go to NYC quite often. Today, I’m lucky to get to Piqua or Troy (hi, neighbors!).
If you do go to Katz’s or Russ & Daughters (as recommended above), you need to also check out (just down the street) Yonah Schimmel (amazing kasha knishes) and, for brunch, my cousin’s Grand Street Baking Company.
And Brooklyn is way more than Williamsburg.
I highly recommend visiting Ellis Island and maybe the Tenement Museum (apparently you have to reserve a tour in advance) – an important reminder these days of our immigrant heritage. NYC is the quintessential city of immigrants – growing up there, I thought anyone who was 4th generation had been here a really long time!
The Metropolitan Museum of Art or the Bronx Zoo are both pretty neat.
Oh my, NYC…I’m 46 and I’ve lived in New York State since I was 9, but before Thanksgiving 2015, I had been to NYC twice and only driving through with my father. We finally decided in 2015 to go to the Macy’s Parade. We got there the night before, taking Amtrak from Buffalo. Walked out of Penn Station onto the street. Now, I grew up hearing how “When you go to NYC, don’t look up! They’ll know you’re a tourist and mug you!” I had that in my head…and then walked out the door and immediately my eyes shot up and I yelped, “Holy S***, it’s the Empire State Building!”
That trip was utterly magical. I still get misty-eyed when I think about it. Yes, we did a lot of touristy stuff, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Sigh!!! Have fun!
Welcome! Good timing – restaurant “week” starts on Monday (and runs through August 17, so calling it a week is a bit of a misnomer). Lots of great restaurants have extra-great prix fixe meals showcasing what they do best. The lunch prix fixe tend to be particularly good deals for getting upscale food at reasonable prices, so google to see what restaurant week menus that places are doing.
I second Whomever (especially on Strand and AMNH), though I’ll note that Cloisters are FAR, so don’t expect to do much else that day if you’re going up there (the actual Met does also have a quite extensive collection of arms, armor and Medieval art in the main museum as well). Also, FYI, since March the Met now actually charges admission to out-of-staters.
Restaurants – really, everything, everywhere. What do you like? We probably have it. If you’re around Union Square (Strand) – personal favorites are Veselka (2nd Ave and 9th Street, Ukranian comfort food, try the peirogies) Hearth (upscale Italian at 12th & 1st Ave, restaurant week), Gotham Bar & Grill (12th Street b/t 4th & 5th Ave, a West Village New American fixture that’s become a little too familiar for me at this point, but has great steak), Mighty Quinn’s BBQ (Greenwich Ave near 7th Ave – yes , NY BBQ is a thing, and I just recommended it. You’ll be surprised) and John’s of 12th Street (12th street and 2nd ave, an old-school Italian place that do a slow-cooked meat ragu that’s amazing).
Upper West Side (AMNH) – I’d suggest just going into the park for fun. For food, there’s lots of upscale restaurants around the upper parts of midtown, maybe check out Columbus Circle
I was only in New York once, on Columbus Day 1976. We went to the top of the World Trade Center, rode the subway, and saw the Broadway show California Suite, which was funny because we were from Orange County, California, and our hosts were from (Beautiful Downtown) Burbank, so we got the geographical jokes* but nobody else seemed to.
*from the IMDb quote for the movie, which was the same:
Hannah Warren: Jenny tells me you’ve moved. You’re not in Hardy Canyon anymore.
Bill Warren: Laurel. Laurel Canyon.
Hannah Warren: Laurel. Hardy. What the hell.
We were in New York in April, and went back at my daughter’s request to the National Museum of Mathematics at Madison Square. It’s a small museum for NYC and really oriented toward older kids more than anyone else, but it’s fun.
We also saw the amazing David Bowie exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum, but I think that just closed a week ago. (The Brooklyn Museum is a great, underrated place in general, though.)
A great, inexpensive place to eat is Junior’s in Flatbush (I think there are other locations in the city too, but Flatbush is the original). Amazing sandwiches and desserts (their cheesecake is famous).
Standard touristy things: the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the American Museum of Natural History, and the USS Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum are all well worth visiting. We went to MoMA on this trip and the number of world-famous masterpieces on the top floor was almost overwhelming. The brochure says right up front how to get to Van Gogh’s “Starry Night”, but it’s only the tip of the iceberg.
Like you, I’ve been lucky enough to get to NYC three times in the last four years (my mother lives in the Adirondacks). I have two STRONG recommendations. One, go and see the show In and Of Itself, which is magical and dark and thrilling, and two, visit one of the small museums in town. I went to The Museum of the Chinese in America on my last visit. No lines, a reasonable fee, and an incredible portrait of America. I want to visit the Tenement Museum on my next trip. NYC gets in your blood, and then you find yourself planning a long weekend there every year. Enjoy!!
Shopping along Park Avenue and Madison Avenue, looking for quirky little shops that specialize in something you won’t see anywhere else. PreColumbian Art or Far Northern Innuit Art, or Antique somethings from somewhere you aren’t really sure where it is.
MOMA, Met Museum of Art, American Museum of Natural History, The Frick Museum, The Morgan Library, are all great, The Frick and the Morgan are the former homes of robber barons turned into museums with their collections. The Guggenheim Museum, a neighbor and friend became the guy who designs and builds the displays for exhibitions at the Gugg.
Carnegie Hall for a show, anything there will be good, see the opera once in your life at the Metropolitian Opera or the New York Philharmonic Orchestra for a symphony concert… best of class, with a crowd from all over the world come to see the best! I don’t love opera at all, but we had a ball seeing one at the Lincoln Center. Same for the Orchestra! World’s best, can make you cry with the right music.
Jazz clubs, the Village Voice or Club Iridium, not cheap, but cutting edge music.
Ellis Island is a great museum of immigration, as noted above, I wasn’t crazy to go but the others wanted to so I went and was amazed at what a great job was done with the place.
Just realized I had a few typos there, most importantly Zeiss, NOT Zeuss. Having the King of the Gods branch out into Planetariums does sound like a fun Neil Gaiman short story though. Also Matthew McIrvin: Just to be pedantic it’s ON Flatbush Avenue, but not IN Flatbush (the neighborhood itself is miles away); it would be considered downtime Brooklyn. No biggie but might get confusing.
Since I’m posting again I realize that I forgot the biggie which is of course performing arts. J R in WV mentioned the classics, which are true, but also there’s Broadway of course. You won’t get Hamilton tickets, but there are a bazillion other things on. Book of Mormon, Spongebob is closing soon but awesome, Waitress, Dear Evan Hanson, so much else, we are living in a golden age. Don’t underestimate regular theatre which is much easier to get tickets to, and consider TKTS; go to the South Street Seaport or Brooklyn locations as the lines are always much much less. There’s a bunch of interesting avant-garde stuff going on also; for instance, there’s several great Immersive type stuff going on where you walk among the actors: Sleep No More was the original (and worth going to) but also Down She Fell and some other stuff. Consider also just wandering the various galleries in Chelsea/Soho/The Meatpacking District/etc.
Also: How not to annoy the locals. Remember we walk fast. Don’t stand in the middle of the sidewalk gawking. If you walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, and you should, stay out of the bike side (as someone who cycles from Brooklyn to Manhattan every day this is a sore spot to me). Also, and this is more to others reading, don’t stress to much; NY has a much worse reputation than it deserves; it actually is one of the safest cities in the US at this point and you are probably more likely to trip over a table in an outdoor cafe than be mugged. Also, I’ve never NOT see a tourist get directions when asked, so don’t worry about that. Actually the classic NYC thing is to have multiple people get in an argument as to the best way to get somewhere on the Subway. Classic New York: “To get to JFK take the A to Far Rockaway” Second person chimes in: “Yes but only every second A goes there and the A has the worst on time performance, the E to Jamaica is better” First: “Actually it’s the C has the worst as of this year, didn’t you see the latest straphangers stats?” (third person) “Why not just go to Penn and take the LIRR?”; other two people glare at him and all three start yelling about dwell times while the Tourist looks confused.
(Also, in all seriousness about the Subway, they do change it all around on the weekend for maintenance so do pay attention).
Ugh, Downtown Brooklyn, not Downtime Brooklyn. I can’t type.
I like “downtime Brooklyn” I approve that message.
If you don’t mind my pimping out my own neighborhood, you could have a pretty amazing day doing
Brooklyn Museum
Brooklyn Botanic Gardens (next door)
Brooklyn Public Library (next door to that)
Prospect Park (if you’re inclined. The Shmorgasburg food vendor festival in the park every Sunday is fun)
Skip past the Barclay’s Center Stadium
Food (the aforementioned Junior’s is a short train trip from Grand Army Plaza to Nevins Street, but there are a lot of good eats around this area)
Live theater/music/show/movie at Brooklyn Academy of Music
Except for Prospect Park, these are all within about a mile and a half, start to finish
Riis Park, in Queens, if you want to swim in the Atlantic. Thought Coney Island may be easier to get to.