8 places to go to in New York

New York is beautiful, and millions of people dream of visiting it. But New York is different. In order not to spoil your acquaintance with the Big Apple, pay attention to eight places from which you need to stay away.

1. Empire State Building

The leader of the charts - the Empire State Building, the correspondent writesSnob»In New York Ksenia Semenova. This 102-storey building is known to everyone at least from the scene of King Kong, when a huge plush monkey with a leather chest, perched on a spire of a skyscraper, knocked down small airplanes with another paw, holding the kidnapped girl in another paw. This tower is the undisputed symbol of New York, seen in all the films shot in this city; but actually getting on it is a boring and time-consuming business. Immediately what the hitchhike comes up: upstairs (standing for two hours) mostly those who do not distinguish the Brooklyn Bridge from Manhattan, will not notice Broadway at all and hardly remember the difference between avenues and straights, the grid of which is interesting to look at from the height of flight. But people continue to stand courageously and be photographed in any weather and in any light, and even in the impenetrable fog.

It is much more interesting to look at the Empire from afar and to imagine what would happen if the idea of ​​the authors came true and the airships approached the spire. And also think about the fact that this is the only building in the world that twice became the tallest in its life (the second time it won the title after the fall of the twin towers). Or that a woman once jumped off of him, and so beautifully landed on a limousine standing below, that she was now forever glorified in Andy Warhol's work “Suicide”.

It is also good to take a helicopter tour, in which the pilot acts as a guide, and then wander around the city in search of buildings seen from a height.

2. Central Park

Almost inferior to the popularity of Empire. But I really do not like him, and if I find myself there, it is solely by the will of the acquaintances who come to New York for the first time. Mainly I draw their attention to small islands of rock, “ripping up” well-groomed lawns - this was Manhattan from the very beginning, this is its foundation, on which all these crazy skyscrapers stand. The reason for my dislike is the innumerable crowds of tourists, who seem to purposely strive to get under the feet of the runners and under the wheels of cyclists. The park is restless and uncomfortable. These are, of course, light cities, but how difficult it is to maneuver there among people with cameras who want to see the famous reservoir Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis - the most popular place for jogging movie characters of all stripes.

Better to spend time on the lawns of Bryant Park or Washington Park. In the first summer, they show an open-air cinema, in winter a great skating rink is flooded, and in the second, urban madmen, street dancers and very often excellent musicians constantly hang out, and you can listen to them for hours.

3. Statue of Liberty

Most of my friends who have lived in New York for many years have never climbed a green lady. And they are not going to: there is absolutely nothing to do on a small island, except to walk around the ladies' legs, which you cannot even photograph from such close distances. Moreover, in recent years, it has been permanently repaired: either the head is repaired, then the body. It’s much nicer to take the free ferry from Manhattan to Staten Island and back and look at the statue from afar. Here you have the feeling of an emigrant sailing from Europe, and a good view of the statue, downtown and the ocean (especially at sunset) and, in fact, a huge ferry that you can use to run around and take pictures of the surroundings from various angles. Here you can feel yourself not as a tourist, but as an ordinary resident: in the evening, tired managers move from one island to another, chatting about this; listening to their conversations is like sitting at a Moscow kitchen. By the way, Americans say among themselves more and more about food.

4. "Best" restaurants

In the restaurant, about which American friends say: delicious, amazing, amazing, incredible, o-bal-den-ny !!! - It is better not to go, or carefully choose a visit time. Because, most likely, there will be a huge queue (Americans love to stand in line), and the food will not stand out anything special. In New York, much is said about in the highest ratings, the tradition is this: here everything is the best, the most tasty and the most unusual. In part, this is true, and it makes it extremely difficult to use applications like Yelp and Foursquare; scolding is bad form and you will find out that it is in this particular place that the best pizza in the world is on sale, however, in that restaurant around the corner they also serve the best pizza. Therefore, listen carefully to the application tips and boldly go where you like the interior, the smells, the atmosphere, etc. In New York, food is everywhere at a high level. The big problem is only with Russian restaurants. Why? Riddle.

5. McDonald's

Perhaps the biggest disappointment in New York. After Moscow's McDonald's, for example, on Pushkinskaya, which is almost a restaurant, and where couples with flowers are in love, students are generally pleasant, and where the food is generally tasty, and the coffee is generally good, American McDonald's "- dirty, disgusting eatery. And the best anti-advertising establishments are the wide-open doors through which a very large human being squeezes through. Potatoes and burgers for all that just tasteless. Approximately the same situation with the network giants Burger King, Dunkin Donuts and Baskin Robins.

6. Times Square

Actually, I love Times Square. And I always wave to a huge screen, where they show me and a dozen more people. I feel at the same time a complete idiot, but very happy. Times Square is a place where you don’t need to go according to all the rules, but in fact it’s really worth it. Here, the energy of all of New York, there is a huge traffic of people and cars, crazy ultra-modern advertising, almost penetrating you, in addition, a few children's stores, which usually disappear even adults. Banal "crossroads of the world", but more precisely you will not tell. The only day it’s not worthwhile to appear here is 31 December. At midnight, a crystal ball, which marks the arrival of the new year, is lowered from the skyscraper. But, in order to wait for this moment, you need to stand on the fenced square for at least four hours without toilets and alcohol. It always amazes me how people in such a situation manage to so sincerely rejoice at some kind of ball.

7. Musicals

Every evening in Times Square there are queues at the red box office with large letters TKTS. Here they sell tickets for the evening musical at a discount. Ticket worth an average of 80 dollars. And in the Metropolitan Opera at this time give “Manon” with Netrebko, in the Brooklyn Academy of Music - a performance with Kevin Spacey, in the IFC cinema - an evening of rare films, in the Blue Note - the performance of the famous jazz quartet, and in the Hotel “Carlisle” on the clarinet Woody Allen plays, and all of this is comparable at a price or even cheaper than a thundering, bright and completely pointless musical like the Lion King.

8. Harlem

You need to go to Harlem, but not for what impressed readers of guidebooks go there for. And they go there to meet big and scary African Americans at their own risk. It would seem that the very idea of ​​unlucky motorists shooting without warning and stealing cars from unlucky motorists accidentally stopped at a traffic light is naive nonsense, but such an attitude is still as common as the idea among Americans that bears are walking around Moscow. Bears, by the way, walk the streets in the neighboring state of New Jersey, and in order to be afraid of black people, it is better to go to Queens, at night, while heart-rendingly screaming the n-word! However, you can get this very word in a respectable area of ​​Manhattan.

Harlem is beautiful area of ​​Sugar Hill, where beautiful old mansions rise on the hills, churches where real hooligan masses take place in the mornings, and musical institutions, the most famous of which is Apollo Theater: here at the dawn of a career Michael Jackson sang in the Jackson's Five family group.

Read also on ForumDaily:

Luxury hotel on a tree in New York, which will not leave anyone indifferent. A PHOTO

In New York, launched a new ferry route

What New York really looks like and what is not customary to talk about

In which areas of New York is it difficult to live because of the huge number of dogs

Do you want more important and interesting news about life in the USA and immigration to America? — support us donate! Also subscribe to our page Facebook. Select the “Priority in display” option and read us first. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our РєР ° РЅР ° Р »РІ Telegram  and Instagram- there is a lot of interesting things there. And join thousands of readers ForumDaily New York — there you will find a lot of interesting and positive information about life in the metropolis.