Embrace Your Inner New York State of Mind

If you haven’t ever been to the Big Apple, now’s the time. If you have been there, even multiple times, you can never get enough of what some call the Crossroads of the Western World.

by

Travel

Is it possible to sum up the features and appeal of New York City in 500 words? No, it’s not. But I can help you with just one word—GO! If you haven’t ever been to the Big Apple, now’s the time. If you have been there, even multiple times, you can never get enough of what some call the Crossroads of the Western World.

NYC is home to 8.5 million souls scattered across five boroughs—Manhattan, The Bronx, Queens, Staten Island, and Brooklyn, the latter newly gentrified and the place to be. NYC covers 302.6 square miles and is the most densely—and diversely—populated city in the U.S., with a gross metropolitan product of $2.16 trillion. No wonder the city never sleeps—it’s too busy stoking the country’s economic engines.

Fly direct daily from Milwaukee’s Mitchell International Airport (MKE) on either Delta Air Lines or United Airlines to John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) on Long Island or LaGuardia Airport (LGA) in Queens. United also offers nonstop connections to Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR), located in New Jersey and convenient to lower Manhattan.

So, what’s to see and do in NYC? Neither of us have the time to discuss all the options. But the first thing you should do is listen to Billy Joel’s “A New York State of Mind”, the native New Yorker’s homage to the city he loves, highlighting it’s broad, universal character and vibrant, colorful energy. More than most places, having the right attitude is critical to your enjoyment of NYC, too.

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But Let’s Talk Touristy Stuff

  • No trip to NYC is complete without seeing a Broadway play. The theater publication Playbill (playbill.com) currently lists 30 productions currently running on Broadway and beyond. Best of all you can still buy same-day half-price tickets at both of the two TKTS Booths either in Times Square or just outside Lincoln Center.
  • NYC includes the largest harbor in the U.S., so boat tours are popular attractions. Sail the harbor for a view of the city and its landmarks or book a tour to the Statue of Liberty or Ellis Island, where from 1892 to 1954 more than 12 million immigrants entered the U.S. for the very first time. Chances are your lineage can be traced back through the immigration center’s records.
  • Midtown Manhattan is dominated by Central Park, 843 acres of greenspace designed by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted – also responsible for Milwaukee’s Lake Park, Bradford Beach, Washington Park and others – and partner Calvert Vaux. Visit the carousel or Strawberry Fields, the John Lennon memorial, or hike the park’s trails. Best options include the classic horse-and-carriage tour located at the south end of the park near the Plaza Hotel. It brings back a more easygoing, civil time.
  • Art? Central Park is lined on the east and west with impressive museums, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art (1000 Fifth Ave.), America’s largest art museum and also known as The Met. The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (1071 Fifth Ave.) is designed in a unique spiral style by Wisconsin-born architect Frank Lloyd Wright. If you need a Picasso, Pollock or Kandinsky fix, this is the place.
  • Bagels? There’s no end to the options, especially in Manhattan. We prefer the hand-rolled variety from Zucker’s Bagels & Smoked Fish (370 Lexington Ave.), but we have a good friend who grew up on Ess-a-Bagels (831 Third Ave.) Best of all, both types can be ordered from home, along with other Big Apple culinary delights, through goldbelly.com.
  • Bars? No shortage of these, either. Try McSorley’s Old Ale House, NYC’s oldest Irish saloon at 15 E. Seventh St. in the East Village. Opened in 1860, McSorley’s was one of the city’s last “men’s only” pubs up until 1970, when laws prohibiting gender discrimination were passed. Notable bar habitues included Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, Teddy Roosevelt, Woody Guthrie, Hunter S. Thompson, Dustin Hoffman, and John Lennon, among others.

Finally, make it a point to visit Ground Zero, (180 Greenwich St.), the 9/11 Memorial & Museum located Downtown at the former site of the World Trade Center twin towers. Nothing better represents NYC’s resiliency than the way the city came together in yet another definition of a New York state of mind.