Top Ten New York Attractions
New York City Top Ten Attractions - A brief guide to the places you shouldn't miss when in New York...
Metropolitan Museum of Art
One of the world's greatest museums, the Met is also the largest art museum in the Western Hemisphere. Works of art from all over the world and every era of human creativity are part of this elegant and expansive treasure chest. When canvas and marble overwhelm you, turn to the temples, courtyard gardens, and silky dresses that also make up the collections.
Times Square
Whirling in a chaos of flashing lights, honking horns, and shoulder-to-shoulder crowds, Times Square is the most frenetic part of New York City. With huge billboards of underwear models, superfast digital displays of world news and stock quotes, on-location broadcasts at television studios, and countless other technologically sophisticated allurements, you'll be mesmerised by its usual high-wattage thunder.
Empire State Building
Atop the 86th-floor observatory (1,050 feet high) of this definitive New York icon, you can see up to 80 miles on a clear day. But at night the city's lights are dazzling. The French architect Le Corbusier said, "It is a Milky Way come down to earth." The building is equally stunning from afar. Its pencil-slim silhouette is an artdeco monument to progress, a symbol for New York City, and a star in some great romantic scenes, on- and off-screen.
Museum of Modern Art
A "modernist dream world" is how critics described the museum after its $425 million face-lift. Yoshio Taniguchi, the Japanese architect responsible for the six-story structure, said he wanted to "create an environment rather than simply making a building." Indeed, soaring galleries suffused with natural light hold such masterpieces as Monet's Water Lilies, Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, and Van Gogh's Starry Night. But it's the museum itself that is the attraction.
Brooklyn Bridge
"A drive-through cathedral" is how the critic James Wolcott describes one of New York's noblest and most recognised landmarks. Spanning the East River, the Brooklyn Bridge connects Manhattan island to the once-independent city of Brooklyn. A leisurely hour's stroll on the Brooklyn Bridge's boardwalk is an essential New York experience. Traffic is beneath you, and the views along the East River and harbour are wide open.
Statue of Liberty
Presented to the United States in 1886 as a gift from France, Lady Liberty has become a near-universal symbol of freedom and democracy, standing a proud 152 feet high, on top of an 89-foot pedestal (executed by Richard Morris Hunt), on Liberty Island. You get a taste of the thrill millions of immigrants must have experienced as you approach Liberty Island on the ferry from Battery Park.
American Museum of Natural History
The spectacular dinosaur halls alone make for a thrilling visit. Add the Rose Center for Earth and Space, a 94-foot blue whale, and the Hall of Mammals, and you've only scratched the surface of the millions of artifacts and specimens here at the world's largest and most important museum of natural history.
Central Park
Amid its 843 acres of meandering paths, tranquil lakes, ponds, and open meadows, Central Park plays host to equestrians, softball players, ice-skaters, roller skaters, rock climbers, bird-watchers, boaters, chess and checkers aficionados, theatre- and concert-goers, skateboarders, and more. But nearly everyone occasionally takes the time to escape the rumble of traffic, walk through the trees, and feel, at least for a moment, far from the urban frenzy.
Bronx Zoo
One urban jungle deserves another. Only at the world's largest urban zoo is there room for gorillas to lumber around a 6½-acre simulated rain forest, or tigers and elephants to roam nearly 40 acres of open meadows.
SoHo
The elegant cast-iron buildings, occasional cobblestone street, art galleries, chic boutiques, and swanky hotels make this a wonderful area in which to shop, drink, and dream of a more glamorous life.
