Whitney Museum – worth a trip

If you’re not so much in to art and museum just like me, you still should visit at least one or two art museums while being in New York City.

Personally I prefer to go to galleries where you can find many of them especially in and around Chelsea. Galleries are to me more interesting, the art is fresh, inspiring and sometimes you can even meet the artist in person. Also it feels to me to be more free in the way of thinking about the art. Everything that is in a museum is already judged to be worth it to be in a museum so it can’t be that bad…

Anyways… My trip to the Whitney Museum of American Art (99 Gansevoort St, New York, NY 10014) on last Sunday was definitely worth it, especially since I saved the $22 entry fee, thanks to Bank of America.

Not only the view from the cafe on 8th floor is great, also the art itself is amazing. Check out the current exhibition before you go.

While you are in the neighborhood consider a stop at the Chelsea Market (75 9th Ave, New York, NY 10011) or the Gansevoort Market (52 Gansevoort St, New York, NY 10014).

FREE cupcakes

Get up early and secure one out of 100 cupcakes for free, every day at Georgetown Cupcakes in SoHo, 111 Mercer St.

Order a coffee and ask for a free cupcake. It’s totally worth it getting there.

Favorite places in Central Park

Central Park is in the summer the place to go for all New Yorkers who stay in the city over the weekend. It’s the place where you go running, cycling, picnicking, having birthday parties and most important, where you meet up with friends and hang out.

When I was visiting NY the first time I wanted to see this vibe and went on a Saturday even though it was more crowded.

Yesterday I was cycling with my friend.  We took a break after the first loop, sat down and listened to someone playing guitar. A bridal couple walked by and the musician stroke up a love song for them, they danced and everyone watching was applauding. That was such a lovely scene.

Here is my favorite tour in Central Park with some must-have-seen places:

Start at Columbus Circle and target for the Cherry Hill Fountain. Take the trail that is taking you to the Bow Bridge, one of the favorite spots for marriage proposals. Cross the bridge and head towards the boat house. There are some great dead end trails with lead you to the left side of the Boat House where you can relax your feet while sitting on some rocks, enjoying the sun and watching couples taking a boat tour. The Boat House is great for having a brunch or also just some coffee and cake.

Continue your walk surrounding the boat house and going south towards the Bethesda Fountain and Bethesda Terrace. Walk through the arches and take the stares up to continue walking on The Mall which is home to artists drawing portraits. Also the New York Art Factory is offering paintings from selected NY artists. Keep your walk in the south-east direction, you’ll cross the rocks in the foreground and the skyline in the background. In between is the ice rink in the winter and the carousel in the summer .

You can expand the tour by adding a stop at the Turtle Pond and Belvedere Castle.

My recommendation is, to rent bikes for 2 or rather 4 hours (ask for a lock if they don’t give it to you automatically). You can find good deals on Groupon. Unfortunately the nice areas are only accessible through paths where you need to walk your bike, but it’s worth it and the park is just too big to walk through completely.

Lunch in Bryant Park

Bryant Park, located between 5th / 6th Avenue and 40th / 42nd Street is my favorite place to during lunch break. Get a coffee or something to bite from one of the places around and sit down, relax and enjoy the view. I like the sandwiches at Picnic Basket at 65 W 37th St, close to 6th Ave (<link>) very much. If you’re more up to a salad, then Just Salad (<link>) or Fresh&Co (<link>) are my favorites.

While you’re there combine your visit with exploring the NY Library with it’s lovely old fashioned reading rooms.

Also check out events for live music or movies:

• HBO Bryant Park Summer Film Festival <link>
• New Music <link>

Avoid the Subway nightmare

The New York City Subway, a subsidiary of the MTA (Metropolitan Transportation Authority), is one of the oldest metro systems and runs 24/7. Some visitors are worried to find their way because of the big network that consists of almost 500 stations and about 12,000 subway cars.

Fares: Single ride $2.75, 7 day unlimited $31.00, 30 day unlimited $116.50. Purchase of a new, reloadable card $1. There are no zones to be considered which makes it quite affordable and easy to use.

Don’t be scared, just follow some tips and rules:

• Download the NYC Subway app to your cell phone (iTunes <link>) (map also available in offline mode)
• Be aware that there are express and local trains (e.g. 2 and 3 train are express and stop only at 34th St and 14th St while 1 train is running local and stops at 28th, 23rd and 18th St as well. Local stops are indicated by a black circle, express stops by a black circle on the map. Exceptions esp. after midnight and on weekends are announced. If you’re not sure, just ask someone. Most New Yorkers are happy to help.
• You should check the direction of you train before you enter the metro station. Some stations have separate entrances for uptown and downtown trains. This applies especially to local stops along the 123 and 456 line.
• You don’t know what is the fastest route? Just enter your destination in google maps and it will tell you the options.
• Planned service changes are unfortunately quite common especially during weekends. Check the white announcement posters in the stations and trains or check online <link>.
• Keep in mind that Manhattan is smaller than you might imagine which means sometimes it’s more efficient and more fun to walk instead of taking the subway. 10 blocks takes you approx. 10 minutes.

Birthday Cake: Chocolate-Espresso with Peanut butter icing

One of the differences between Germany and USA is, who brings the birthday cake. While in Germany you would bring a cake to your colleagues on your birthday, it’s the opposite in the US. Last your my colleagues surprised me with an Ice Cream Birthday Cake that was so yummy. I wanted to give the same pleasure to my new colleague who just moved from Germany.

I looked for recipes on foodnetwork.com (link), my favorite place to get inspirations, and found the perfect recipe. Two layers of dough that includes espresso, chocolate powder, buttermilk and coconut oil topped with a mix of cream cheese, butter, peanut butter and powdered sugar.

For the icing I used only half of the powdered sugar than what they say in the recipe as I found it sweet enough already. Since I have only one springforms I cut the cake in two layers when it was cold.

The cake tastes a bit like Reese’s and my colleagues loved it. It was a great surprise.

In order to have my boyfriend also enjoy eating the cake that was in our fridge I baked the same cake again but this time only half of the ingredients, didn’t cut it through and topped it with a thin layer of the icing.

Sex and the City tour

When I left Germany my colleagues were so kind and didn’t want to let me go without a little something and bought tickets to the New York Sex and the City tour which was a great idea and I’m very thankful for. 

They took us for 3.5h with the bus through the city starting at the Apple store on 5th Avenue and 58th St and dropping us off at Bryant Park. Since I watched only the movies some of the scenes which they showed on the TV in the bus were not familiar to me, however I still enjoyed it. We got off the bus during the tour at the bar where Carrie and Mr. Big celebrated their engagement (Buddakan in Meatpacking District), Carrie’s village apartment (at 66 Perry St) and Steve’s bar (at 174 Grand St) where you could get a cosmopolitan.

My personal highlight was to eat a cupcake after visiting the brownstone.

Was it worth it, for me probably not (tickets are about $50). If you are a true fan, you might want to consider it.

See the City from Above

You like to fly? You like to see the amazing city from above? You should do it! Book a helicopter tour, for example through http://www.travelzoo.com where they always have good deals.

For $119 you will take off fromSouth Street Sea Port in Financial District and soar over Manhattan for the next 15 minutes. I was lucky and was sitting in the front next to the pilot, that was a wonderful experience. The space in the back area was not as convenient as in the front but just enough. A little worrisome was the door that seemed to be unlocked. We were glad no one of the other passengers dared to touch it. After taking off we circled around Governors Island towards Liberty Island, continued along the Hudson River all the way up to the Great Lake of Central Park and then returned to Financial District. The advantage was, everyone – sitting on the left or right side of the helicopter – was able to enjoy the unobstructed view.

My concern, if 15 minutes was too short, was cleared out after the first few minutes. For me it was just the perfect duration. Enough to see not only Financial District but also Midtown and Central Park but not too long to feel too my dizzy.

  

Bring cash or get onsite at ATM?

Often I get asked if you should bring cash when you travel to NYC and therefore change it in your home country. Since banks also need to live from something they exchange the currencies by not using the current exchange rate but a rate that is in favor of the bank. This way they hide the transaction fee. In order to avoid that I recommend to not get cash in your home country but get it at an ATM once you are in the city. You should inform yourself about the transaction fees (in my case 1% plus USD 3.00 per transaction). You can easily pay the subway ride as well as the taxi with credit card. Which bank you should go to? Any of the big banks like Chase, Bank of America Citi or any other. Just avoid ATM machines in bars or supermarkets.