Known as the City That Never Sleeps

Copyright (c) 2008 Deborah Klinger

Known as the city that never sleeps; you will need to have at least seven days in New York City if you want a real taste of what it has to offer the visitor. One of the busiest visitor locations in the city is the Empire State Building and even if you don't get to the top there is still a great deal to see. For even better views, when the weather is fine, it requires a trip to the top of the 820 feet tall Rockefeller Centre. Visitors to New York will often get the best view of the Statue of Liberty from the many tour boats but New York has seen a dramatic rise in the number of tourists since 9/11 and often it is worth disembarking at Ellis Island instead.

As an alternative why not go to Staten Island via the free ferry and look at the Statue of Liberty from there; this is also a great place to spend some time enjoying the talents of local (almost professional) street entertainers. Whilst you are on a seven day visit to New York New York a trip to the area where the Twin Towers used to stand has become something that every person who visits this great city must do. It's strangely moving location and the terrorist struck World Trade Centre site covers a huge area but it is a peculiarly unfriendly subject for the photographer. The reason many people travel all the way to New York, even for a weekend, is for the stores and you can pop along to Tiffany's or look for bargains around Broadway and Lower East Side.

Bloomingdales is another famous store (for the wealthy) to look around but it is Maceys, who will give 11 percent discount on production of a tourist card where most people will head for. Another popular visitor destination, which is currently closed for refurbishment is the ISASM or the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum which will be opening it's doors again late in 2008; if you're going to be there next year it will be a worthwhile place to see. There is a great deal there with the focus on the USS Intrepid, a Second World War aircraft carrier but Concorde is also there and many other interesting vessels, including a submarine. The New York City Police Museum is worth an hour if you're down that way; it's free to enter but a five dollar donation is recommended to help with its upkeep; because it's about New York's finest (and some not so fine), it has some really excellent NYPD souvenirs.

Another museum is the Lower East Side Tenement Museum which focuses on the appalling conditions experienced by the immigrants back in 1864. If Central Park is on your list of places to see then there is another museum aptly named the City of New York Museum which has exhibitions exploring the city's past, its present and the future. It is all housed in a beautiful building and entrance is free but a nine dollar donation is recommended. Most visitors seem to be on a flying visit so end up missing some of the most beautiful areas and that's why seven days in New York should really be the minimum stay.