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Bookmark & shareNailing New York
Three days can give you a healthy start on a New York state of mind. Get a small dose of all the major tourist spots, plus the lay of the land, by taking a double-decker bus ride around the city on your first morning. Go for a late-afternoon hot chocolate and snack at City Bakery, stroll through the Union Square Greenmarket and hit a gallery opening or two in nearby Chelsea. Get a late-night feast at Florent or Paradou followed by some sophisticated drinking at Rhône or another nearby watering hole.
On day two, splurge on breakfast at Balthazar, then pick one of the diverse neighbourhoods of downtown - the meandering streets of the West Village or the recently gentrified Lower East Side - and wander, checking out boutiques and parks and local characters. By mid-afternoon, head up to Central Park and watch New York jog by or - if the weather turns bad - check out the Guggenheim nearby. Follow up with a live-music venue of your favorite genre.
On your third day, venture out to one of the outer boroughs - relax in Prospect Park in Park Slope, Brooklyn, then visit the nearby Botanical Gardens and just-renovated Brooklyn Museum, followed by dinner at a (Park Slope) Fifth Avenue hotspot; or take the N, W or R train to Astoria, where art and film museums and Greek food galore await. For a dose of nostalgia, head down to Coney Island and stroll the boardwalk.
A Top Day in New York City
There's nothing like greeting the day with an early morning stroll through Central Park, taking in the birds, the breezes, the Type A personalities working out their stresses with fist-pumping jogs and the laid-back yoga practitioners zoning out in the grass. When the hunger pangs set in, I'll head to my favorite (sort of) healthy breakfast joint, Soda Shop in Lower Manhattan. Since I'm downtown, my next stop will be Brooklyn, which means another relaxed jaunt on foot across the Brooklyn Bridge to Dumbo. It's easy to wander aimlessly in Dumbo, watching the sleepy art colony come to life, as shop owners and artists open their galleries and stores in no particular hurry. Of course I have to swing by Jacques Torres chocolate, where if I'm lucky I can snag one of the three outdoor tables and sip my hot chocolate watching the people go by. When I've had my fill, I'll grab the subway back to Manhattan and head to Canal St in Chinatown for a little bargain shopping, gradually making my way into Little Italy and Nolita, where I can gaze longingly through the windows of the high-priced boutiques on Mott and Prince Sts. To restore my sense of perspective on life, I'll head uptown for the afternoon, taking the 6 train to 103rd, grabbing a taco at El Paso Taqueria, then walking west to Fifth Ave. El Museo del Barrio and the City Museum, two of my favorites, are crowd-free most afternoons. That puts me in a prime position later to stroll down to the Guggenheim Museum on 89th, arriving about an hour before closing, which is when most people are headed out, rather than in. A nice glass of wine around 7 at a quiet boite like Etats Unis, followed by dinner with friends, and then I'm ready to cap off my day with some jazz at an uptown place like Smoke.
Author: Ginger Adams OtisRelated Travel Stories
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Tags: Cities • New York City
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