As an avid traveler, I would be remiss if I didn’t write about my choice for the Greatest city in the world, New York. The fact that I was born and raised there does color my thinking a bit but as any one who has ever been to the Big Apple knows –it IS the greatest.
Every American citizen owes it to him or herself to see New York (as well as our nation’s capital, but that’s another visit). The outer boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island are where most the 8 million + citizens reside but we’re talking about Manhattan. My children were actually raised in Bergen County NJ but if you ask them, they are New Yorkers. That’s because they spent so much time in Manhattan as children seeing the sights, Broadway shows, etc. that it’s home to them.
Please find a way to get to New York in the Spring or the Fall (or around Christmas when Rockefeller Center has the giant tree, people are ice skating in the rink under it, and the department store windows are decorated for the holidays. There’s excitement in the air at Christmas.) If not, weatherwise Spring and Fall are perfect for touring:
Downtown – Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Wall Street, Chinatown, Little Italy.
Midtown – the aforementioned Rockefeller Center, St Patrick’s Cathedral, The Plaza Hotel and Grand Army Plaza right next to Central Park.
Further North on fabulous Fifth Avenue, the Metropolitan Museum of Art is a must see. On Central Park West, there is the Museum of Natural History and the Planetarium not to mention the world famous Dakota Apartments.
Dine al fresco or in any restaurant you choose and the food will be amazing. No way mediocre restaurants survive in N.Y.
I forgot to mention that aside from the famous sights and skyscrapers the one thing that makes New York so special are New Yorkers!
