LA BOHEME at ‘The Met’ : Read on…We are going Monday 9 October
CARNEGIE HALL: Carnegie Hall’s Opening Night Gala
The Philadelphia Orchestra: Read on…Wednesday 4 October
MUSEUMS & OPENING HOURS:
Metropolitan: open 7 days: Hours and Admission
MoMA: open 7 days: Hours and Admission
Guggenheim: closed Thursday: Hours and Admission
Whitney: closed Tuesday: Hours and Admission
Frick Collection: closed Monday: Hours and Admission
Natural History Museum: open 7 days: Hours and Admission
The Tenement Museum: open 7 days: Hours and Admission
The New York Botanic Gardens:
closed Mondays: Hours and Admission
If you are a Botanical Garden enthusiast, you will find this blog very interesting: 55 Stunning Botanical Gardens to See Before You Die
DIZZY’S JAZZ CLUB: Read on… Wednesday 11 October
Beyond these floor to ceiling glass windows is the skyscraperscape of New York City! We sit at these tables, eat our ‘southern inspired fare’, watch the sun set on Central Park, muse over the fairy lights of Columbus Circle and have the best jazz experience imaginable.
More about the best New York City Jazz Clubs
SHOPPING: Tips and favourite stores:
1. Always check the opening hours of the big department stores – some open at 10.00am, others at 11.00am, and closing hours vary as well, but are usually longer than we are used to.
2. Macys, Bloomingdales and other stores have a Visitors’ Center that offers discounts to international customers. Ask one of the attendants for directions when you first arrive. Some also offer gifts if you spend over a certain amount, eg $300 and individual assistants will often top up your freebies! Always ask if a discount applies.
3. Century 21 is a chain of discount retail stores, there are 2/3 in Manhattan, the main one is at 22 Cortland Street, near 9/11 Memorial. Amazing prices! http://locations.c21stores.com/en/downtown
4. My favourite New York shops are the Museum shops, in particular: the Met Museum x 2, the Met Opera, MoMA x 2, the Tenement Museum, the Guggenheim, The Cloisters
My favourite designer store:
Eileen Fisher: https://www.eileenfisher.com/
SOME USEFUL APPS:
NYC Subway – red circle white train logo, extremely useful and easy to use
New York Pass – Travel Guide – blue buildings: Read on…
Walking Tours & Food Tours are available on the New York Pass and will be particularly useful for anyone not attending New Yorker Festival events over the weekend
Viber: for free calls and free texts when you and your contact are both connected to the internet. We have free wifi in our rooms at the Intercontinental, so it is an extremely useful and cost effective way of communicating with people at home.
Uber: online taxi service. You may want to investigate setting up an account.
HISTORY OF AMERICA & NEW YORK: THE VERY SHORT VERSION!
Four(+) centuries of American History: 17th 18th 19th 20th +21st
The very short story:
Hard-working political, religious and socially aspirational refugees, and some adventurers from England, France and the Netherlands (Protestants, Puritans, Quakers, Huguenots) colonise along the east coast of North America, displacing original inhabitants; New York settled originally by the Dutch, surrendered by them to the English in 1664; England eventually gains control of most colonies; new settlers begin to feel oppressed by British home government; War of Rebellion/Declaration of Independence 1783; Westward Expansion: Civil War 1861; USA evolves into independent, free nation and emerges from WWI a world leader.
The short story: with some images
Prior to 17th C – Christopher Columbus 1492 (Spain) arrives in the Americas, but not New York; 1524 Verrazano (hired by French) enters NY Harbour, Verrazano Bridge; French & Spanish fight it out in Carolina, Florida and Grand Canyon
17th C – Europeans arrive on the East Coast – 1607 English settle in Virginia; 1609 Henry Hudson arrives in New York Harbour, hired by the Dutch looking NW Passage (Hudson River); New Amsterdam established; French, Spanish, Scots and Swedes; 1664 English rename NEW YORK
18th C – Revolutionary War 1775 (George Washington); 1776 Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia; 1783 Washington in New York, English leave for good; 1789 Washington becomes 1st President of USA
19th C – 1861-1865 Civil War, states’ rights & slavery; Northern victory – period of Reconstruction, increased immigration, including Irish & Italian as factory workers and labourers; influence of Tammany Hall; Gilded Age of wealthy businessmen/era of cultural patronage, JP Morgan, Henry Clay Frick, Andrew Carnegie; the Met Museum & Met Opera open; Ellis Island, the Waldorf-Astoria; New York at the epicentre of economic growth and westward expansion, “Manifest Destiny”; Native Americans moved onto reservations.
20th Century – WWI, USA a world power; 1902 The Algonquin Hotel opens; Roaring 20s;
1925 1st New Yorker Magazine; The Great American Dream; Great Depression; WWII; Cold War, Arms & Space Races; Korean War; Vietnam; Civil Rights; Middle East & oil, Iraq;
21st C – 9/11; War on Terror; GFC; 2009 Obama elected; 2013 Freedom Tower; 2016 Donald Trump elected
Judith Salmon Travel 