The Caves of New York

I offer a few of the gems and pitfalls that I have discovered since moving to the city. Since I don't make very much money, I try to find cheap thrills. There are some great deals in city and many fun freebies (especially in the summer), but you may have to look... or check out a few of my recommendations.

Quick Tips:

Wear comfortable shoes. Most people (especially Americans) are ill-prepared for the amount of walking they will do in the city. Even when you use the subway, there are quite a few stairs you'll have to climb in/out of the station, plus final destinations are usually a few blocks away.

Go to the bathroom before you go out and plan your breaks carefully. There are very few clean, safe public restrooms in the city. Unless you want to get stuck buying a coffee at a Starbucks and standing in line for 20 minutes to go, make sure that you use the bathroom whenever you get the opportunity. Trust me on this one.

Best Way To Get Around:

The subway is easily the best way to get around. Go for the Unlimited Ride Metrocards. They will let you get on and off whenever you want, and you can use them on city buses, too. If you need to get across town (east to west), your best option might be a bus. Free bus and subway maps are available from any occupied subway booth (located outside most major turnstiles).

WARNING: Make sure that you want to enter before you swipe your card at the turnstiles. There is an 18-minute delay allowed between swipes. You can, however, get around this by walking up and catching a local bus - transfers to/from buses are free within 2 hours of a swipe.

Sushi Yu is one of my favorite sushi restaurants in the city. I mostly had delivery service, but once in a while I ate at the restaurant. The decor is minimalist with light-wood tables and chairs. The service is generally good. The food is not cheap, but it is moderately inexpensive for sushi.

The sushi selection isn't the largest I've seen, but the quality is fresh and light. Many sushi restaurants in the city have very dense rolls that feel a little heavy - not so with Sushi Yu. Although a little more expensive, the Yu Special Roll and Rainbow Roll are good choices.

This was the cornerstone café for my first year in the city. Although it has been taken over by cooler-than-thou hipsters, it still offers an affordable, tasty weekend brunch. Weekdays are good for cheap $3.50 breakfasts. The dinner fare is of the standard diner-chique variety (gourmet burgers, wraps, and pasta dishes).

The best reason to go to 7A, however, is the view. The restaurant rests at the corner of 7th Street and Avenue A (thus the title) and is a great place to people-watch. It also offers some good canine-watching views as the alt-rich and trendy walk their dogs and cell phones to Tompkins Square Park.

This is the best museum of pre-20th-century art in the world and easily the best bargain in the city. There are MANY days worth of art, so it's often best to just pick a couple of exhibits and really explore them. The $6 audio guides are fantastic and can be used in any exhibit, even the touring ones. It is really a must-have if you are alone or in a group that splits up for a couple hours.

This is the best freebie in Manhattan. The best time to go is a little before sunset. There are wonderful views of Lower Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Verrazano Bridge, Governor's Island, Ellis Island, and the Statue of Liberty.

Stand along the back railing of the ferry in either direction. They offer the best opportunity to see the city and maneuver from one side to the other.

A great little bonus trip is to check out a minor league baseball game with the Staten Island Yankees. See http://www.siyanks.com/. The stadium is within walking distance from the ferry and a lot of fun.

This is the primary stop for artists. Their prices are competitive and they have everything. In the early fall and spring, expect to see crowds of art students from all over the city as they stumble up and down the aisles with syllabuses in their hands. The crowds can be annoying, but this is when Pearl is best stocked.

If you step out the back door, you will find a series of other Pearl Paint stores on Lispenard Street (1 block south of Canal), including a frame shop and excellent craft shop.

The concerts tend to be top-tier indie rock, mainstream rock, and reformed punk/new wave bands. The bouncers and staff are generally unfriendly, and if you're a smoker, you will hate the smoking arrangements that stick out you outside one door with a little metal barricade around you.

The space tends to feel a little oversold, and there can get to be a real crush up front and along the sides, but they do have a balcony and bar where you can retreat should things get too much.

There are much better venues in the city, but if you're dining to see one of these performers, then you're probably not going to get a chance to see them anywhere else in the city.

Bring your earplugs, because this black-box space can get incredibly loud. You won't find a more intimate venue in the city to see the Next Big Thing in indie rock.

Cover charges are a bargain for those who are in-the-know regarding bands with buzz. The layout is basic and a little claustrophobic, as the only avenue from the front door to the performance space is sandwiched between the bar and restrooms. If you catch a peek behind the curtain next to the performance space door, you have decent chance of watching the act in the midst of changing.

The intimacy can be a bit much, but this might be your only chance to be within arm's reach of future rock stars. Get there early and you might be able to snag a seat against the wall. There's no angle to the floor, so if you get stuck behind someone taller, then you can forget any chance of seeing the band.

This is a beautiful and often-overlooked museum along the northern edge of Manhattan. It's an ideal place to take a picnic lunch and enjoy a beautiful view of the Hudson River.

Rockefeller bought the land across the river from the Cloisters and donated it to the state on the condition it was never developed, thus the wonderful green views.

The Cloisters Museum contains is primarily composed of architectural and religious artifacts from medieval Europe. Entire church interiors have been recreated stone-by-stone. The highlights of the museum are a famous collection of unicorn tapestries and the series of cloistered gardens.

FYI: If you don't mind a leisurely return trip downtown and would like to check out the scenery of Manhattan aboveground, take the no. 4 city bus across from the entrance to the Cloisters. It will take you all the way to MET.

This is the best park in Manhattan for its raw, untouched beauty. Inwood Hill Park is the only natural forest and salt marsh located on the island of Manhattan. The Lenape Indian tribe resided here, and it is possibly the site where the historic sale of the island to colonialist Peter Minuit took place.

The park has a number of baseball fields, which are packed from spring through late fall by league play, especially by Inwood's significant Dominican population. The bulk of the park, however, is filled with towering, pre-colonial trees and a valley where a series of glacial caves can be found.

There are a number of beautiful outlook points where you can see Inwood, the Cloisters to the north, and the Hudson River. There is a program, currently in it's fourth year, to introduce eagles to the park, and it isn't unusual to spot a pair circling high above the park or swooping into clearings (and onto rooftops) to catch a quick meal of squirrel or pigeon. In fact, there is a live webcam that the park runs during the summer that can be found at the following address:

http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_about/parks_divisions/urban_park_rangers/eaglecam/rangercam.html