Isle of Joy

Living in New York City practically my entire life, except for periods of schooling and some jobs elsewhere, I sometimes forget how much there is to do here, often at very little cost. The City is still in many ways the Paris or London or Rome of its day. I won't say I've ever taken it for granted, but the recent visit of some friends from Los Angeles and some of their comments brought home to me anew the vast range of choices available here. For my newly-discovered international readers, here are some great ideas of world-class things to do on a visit.

On our first get-together this time around, we visited the New York Botanic Gardens in the Bronx. I confess this was probably only my second visit ever, but my wife loves plants and the outdoors and served as a guide for the four of us. These 250 acres are absolutely beautiful in the spring; everything there made my houseplants look like scrub-brush. The Bronx Zoo is nearby and makes me feel like I'm on an African safari minus the travel.

Our second date was filled with a roster of activities taking up an entire day until my friends' cousins meeting for dinner. We started with a round trip on the Staten Island ferry, which involves a free 10 mile RT from lower Manhattan. This provides a spectacular view of the financial district as well as Governor's Island, which was the military HQ when Britain ruled the colonies. From there I planned a short walk up Broadway to the Freedom Tower, which had just passed the 1000 foot mark to again become NYC's tallest building. On the way I casually pointed out Trinity Church graveyard, where Alexander Hamilton was buried. It turned out that my friend's husband was a great fan, and the tour stopped in its tracks until he could get a picture of Hamilton's gravestone. Next came the Freedom Tower, mobbed by tourists, who were essentially simply looking at the construction of another Manhattan skyscraper.

Following a Chinese lunch at Ho Yip, a popular spot for local Asian and non-Asian workers downtown, we took the subway uptown to A La Vielle Russie, a very high end purveyor of Faberge and other pre-revolutionary Russian antiques, which my friends love to see whenever they can. Next followed a walk in Central Park, conveniently located across the street. Time did not permit a visit to the Museum of Natural History and its Planetarium on the West Side, but since my friends return to the City periodically,they made a mental note to begin there next time. As time ran out, we stopped briefly to see the inside of beautiful Temple Emanuel on Fifth Avenue, the largest Reform Jewish synogogue in America, as well as its museum.

Everything we did throughout the day was completely free, except for the subway rides and our $7 lunches. The Botanic Gardens are not cheap, but as members we had guest passes for our friends. On their own, our friends went to several Broadway shows, which are definitely expensive, even with discount tickets. But the thing about New York, which struck me anew as I took them around, was the dazzling, endless array of things to do, and how many of them cost absolutely nothing. For example, we didn't get to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art this time, since they had already seen the major temporary exhibitions there, or to go to Coney Island Beach. But I did get to eat great pastrami sandwiches for dinner with them at famous Katz's Delicatessen on the Lower East Side.

Thanks to my friends, I got to enjoy a whole array of activities, some of which I normally would not do as a local. I guess in some ways it is like a parent who gets to see the world anew through the eyes of their young children. Anyway, we hardly scratched the surface, so I encourage my out of town readers to come here and have a blast. I am sure you will enjoy being a tourist here as much as I did for a couple of days with my friends.