Lauren Tabbron shares her favourite things to do in Manchester
Jess Astbury regales tales of festivities in warmer climates.
Major attractions
New York is incredible. For anyone who has ever discovered the city that never sleeps you will know how awe inspiring it actually is. The first thing you notice is the height of the buildings and the sheer amount of people on the streets. The first thing I did when I arrived was to check out Times Square. In fact 'Square' is incredibly misleading; in reality it should be called Time Area. Its bright, vibrant and great fun to look around. Highlights are the Bubba Gump Shrimp restaurant (a Forrest Gump themed bistro and the M&M shop), a chocolate lover’s paradise. The Empire State building is definitely a must to visit, mainly because of the spectacular views from the observatory deck on the 86th floor. Expect massive queues and steep prices but I promise it is all worth it in the end.
Central Park feels strangely out of place in such a highly developed city. This is a great place to escape to when the crowds of Fifth Avenue get too much to handle. In order to be a true British tourist I succumbed to a horse and cart trip around the park. The driver, a true New Yorker, loved telling us his stories of the city and pointed out where Amy Adams stood to film Enchanted. Next we hit the Natural History Museum, perhaps one of the most interesting tourist sights in New York. When you walk in the atrium there are two huge dinosaur skeletons and a life size elephant heard to greet you. Other highlights include a life size whale hanging from the ceiling and an incredible Earth and Space centre.
OK girls this is what you have been waiting for....the shopping. Yes, it's incredible so be prepared to spend money! One tip is to stick to your American brands. Any clothes or shoes that are imported tend to be much more expensive so try and avoid these. The Apple store is particularly impressive; it is all below ground except for a clear glass cube on the surface. Bloomingdales and Macy's are very expensive and mostly stock designer labels. For more moderately priced goods check out Forever 21 it stocks Topshop quality clothes for Primark prices! For true fashionistas you can wander past Bryant Park and venture into the New York Public Library where they filmed the wedding scene in Sex and the City.
The Statue of Liberty is a fair distance away from Times Square and other Manhattan attractions, but the subway is very accessible. We queued to get on the ferry for at least two hours and although Lady Liberty is nice to look at it did not warrant such a long wait. Despite this I am glad that I managed to see all of the major tourist attractions. Having spent seven hours on a plane halfway across the world I wanted to see the sights that I have seen on TV for most of my life. Overall, the best way to see New York is to walk. The traffic is so congested that taxis can barely get from A to B and they drive so erratically that you fear for your life at every turn. Expect high levels of security, metal detectors and bag searches in most of the tourist venues and an imposing police presence on most of the major avenues.
Major hassles
Annoyingly you can only walk about ten feet before you are stopped by a traffic light and a gobby traffic cop shouting at you. Although the atmosphere was great, there were too many people in New York and I personally would not recommend going at Christmas time. The tree at Rockefeller Centre is beautiful and the ice rink in Central Park is very picturesque but you can’t get close, the queues are too long and the crowds are too big. I went for three days and it was not enough time. I could have easily spent a week there which would have enabled me to explore a much larger area of Manhattan. If you do plan to visit in the winter make sure you wrap up warm, it was -11°c, with an even colder wind chill factor. They get heavy levels of snow and ice so be prepared to wear walking boots, hats, scarves and I recommend buying ear muffs.
But… I would love to go back to New York. It is a creative, lively and exciting place to be and the shopping and sightseeing is fantastic. Next time I would go at a random time of year when the crowds are smaller, this way you can really experience New York as a living, breathing city.
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