| Subject: Re: fundamentalism is scary |
Author:
Raisinmom
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Date Posted: 16:41:08 07/17/02 Wed
In reply to:
Astrid
's message, "Re: fundamentalism is scary" on 21:45:13 07/16/02 Tue
LOL, Astrid, we do seem to know how to clear a room.
New York is indeed busy, but not dangerous, at least not compared to other large
cities. Indeed, our crime rate plummeted and we're now really safe, considering the
city's size. Anyway, here's some info, and I would love to answer any other questions
you might have if you do plan to come here -- I love this city and want others to love it
too.
NYC is made up of five boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens and Staten
Island. Most of the sights I expect you would want to see -- the Metropolitan Museum
and the many wonderful smaller museums (my favorites: the Cooper-Hewitt and
especially the Frick), Times Square, the Statue of Liberty, Wall Street, Fifth Avenue, the
Chrysler Building, Lincoln Center (ballet and music), Radio City Music Hall, Carnegie
Hall, the Library -- are in Manhattan. I consider Manhattan totally safe during the day at
least below 96th Street, which is traditionally the line where Harlem begins. Frankly, I've
found much of Harlem to be perfectly safe as well, especially during the day, though
some parts are still ruled by drug dealers and sometimes people will look at you funny if
you are white (out of surprise, not anger). Anyway, all the sights I named are below that
line.
There are a few sights not in the area I described; for example, MOMA (the Museum of
Modern Art) recently moved to Queens for a few years while its Manhattan building is
renovated. There's also the Bronx Zoo and Botanical Gardens, which are both
wonderful, but in the middle of some not-as-wholesome areas, and the Brooklyn Zoo
and Botanical Gardens. There's the Coney Island Aquarium, a personal favorite of
mine, right on the famed boardwalk (and you must promise me to get pizza at Totonno's
if you go there). There are also lovely areas in Brooklyn and Queens you might want to
walk around (I'm not sure what you like to do on vacation, but I like strolling a new city
and just looking at the houses and streets). There are also fun ethnic enclaves in both
Brooklyn and Queens, so if you have an interest in finding an authentic sari, for example,
you'd want to go to Jackson Heights, Queens. Now the areas are a bit more varied in
the "outer boroughs," so you do need to be more careful there -- you don't want to be in
the South Bronx, for example, or some areas of Brooklyn. But you can handle these on
a case-by-case basis.
Manhattan by night is like any city at night -- you should keep your eyes open. But
unless you're going to be in Alphabet City (on the Lower East Side), or possibly the
Union Square area, which I think are really two of the last parts of lower Manhattan I
might not want to walk around at 11 pm by myself, it's no less safe than other cities, and
probably more safe than many. But I'd go pretty much anywhere in Manhattan south of
96th Street by myself up to about 11 pm without worry.
Getting around is actually pretty easy in NYC. The subway is cheap ($1.50 per ride, no
matter how far you go) and fast, and kids love it. All lines are safe during the day; I
don't ride the subway after about 9 pm alone, and I don't take certain subway lines after
9 pm at all, even with company (the ones I don't take are non-Manhattan lines, and may
be just fine, but I don't know them as well as my usual routes). The subway covers an
immense amount of NYC and, with the awful traffic, is the best way to travel during the
day. You can also take buses in Manhattan (also $1.50), which are fun for kids and
tourists because you can watch, say, Fifth Avenue roll by, but you often get stuck in
traffic. I can't remember how old your kids are, but you can take strollers on the
subway but must fold them on the bus. You can also take cabs, which are pretty
reasonably priced. I would strongly recommend that you *not* rent a car -- the traffic is
terrible and there's nowhere to park that won't cost you an arm and a leg. But my
favorite way to get around is to walk. Manhattan is relatively compact, so with some
sturdy walking shoes and a stroller for younger kids, you can really see the city. (For
example, I routinely walk about 2 miles a day on errands, shopping around my
neighborhood, etc., and often more if I go to another part of the city.) Of course you
can combine walking with subway, bus, etc.
Where to stay is a hard issue. Manhattan is just very expensive, and does not have
many family-friendly hotels. (I wouldn't recommend staying in one of the other
boroughs, since you will spend most of your time in Manhattan and will want to go back
to your hotel easily.) There are affordable hotels, mostly clustered in the theater district,
but this is a pretty loud and tacky area; I'm not crazy about it. There's a couple of
all-suite hotels that might be good for families, like the Embassy Suites on Third Avenue
in Midtown, but I don't know what their prices are like. You could probably get a good
deal downtown, though, since those hotels are still hurting from September 11.
Which brings me to Ground Zero. There ain't much to see anymore; it's been paved
over and is now shocking mostly to NYers who are still stunned to see the World
Financial Center from Fulton Street (it used to be blocked by the Towers). And there's
a sort of gross street-vendor thing that's going on around the site. Still, you may be
surprised by how big the area is, and amazed by the things that miraculously are still
standing (like St. Paul's Chapel, where Washington worshipped, which was across the
street).
Okay, I'm sure that was much more info than you wanted -- sorry! Like I said, I love
this city and want others to enjoy it too. Astrid, I think you would find it just
fascinating.
On a related subject, did you know (probably!) that you can get much of the NY Times
online at www.nytimes.com? You need to register, but it's otherwise free. And on the subject of NY websites, check out http://ndm.si.edu/ (the Cooper-Hewitt's site) and www.frick.org (self-explanatory).
BTW, sorry about the weird formatting -- I saved this to an email, and the formatting got all messed up.
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