things to do: new york city

this is going to be a long post, and i am definitely no expert, but i love traveling and i've spent quite a bit of time researching things to do in new york city. living only two hours away from one of the greatest cities in the world is something you need to take advantage of! this summer i've gone up to new york twice. neither of these two particular trips was very involved or elaborate, but i had a lot of fun. here's what we did.

somehow i convinced my dad to go up to new york with me in april to see (don't judge me) nick jonas in how to succeed in business without really trying before the show ended its run. he was fantastic, as was the entire show. we drove up to the city that morning and got tickets for $30 with general rush. some broadway shows have general or student "rush" policies where you can get pretty great tickets at great prices the morning of the show. if you want to see a particular show, look up their policy online to see if they have any deals like those. if they don't you can also purchase half-price tickets for broadway shows in the tkts booths in time square and south street seaport.

after we bought our tickets we headed to the metropolitan museum of art. i've been plenty of times before but it's so enormous there are always new things to see! at the time they had a pretty incredible exhibit displaying the stein family's art collection. (if you aren't familiar with the steins, maybe you remember gertrude stein is depicted in the movie midnight in paris!) they had an astounding collection, mostly picassos, matisses, and cezannes. my favorite part was seeing matisse's woman with a hat. it was incredible in person; the colors in reproductions just can't compare. it was really neat to read about each of the paintings and how the steins acquired them. they bought woman with a hat very inexpensively and at first none of them could stand to look at it!

before heading to our show we grabbed lunch at my fave, shake shack. it's a definite new york experience and i think their burgers and shakes are great. in fact, they just opened a shake shack in philadephia and i'm thinking i need to head over there and get a bite.

my other trip to new york this summer was with my mom and lauren. we did a little shopping in soho and then we went to see newsies. they got me tickets for my birthday, and oh man, was it fantastic! seriously, if you have the chance to go see it, go. we were in the second row and it blew. my. mind. the dancing is incredible, not to mention jeremy jordan aka jack kelly. as a long-time newsies fan, it was just about perfect.

here are some other new york recommendations i have based on my own new york experience and my online research.

THINGS TO DO
-go to the top of the empire state building.
-explore times square.
-walk the brooklyn bridge and brooklyn heights promenade.
-shop at the brooklyn flea market or hell's kitchen flea market.
-shop on broadway in soho: zara, h&m, madewell, etc.
-go to a broadway show.
-go to a taping of a tv show. martha stewart, jimmy fallon, and david letterman tapings are all free, but you have to sign up in advance.

-go to a museum. i love the moma and the met, but there are dozens of other art museums in new york, like the guggenheim, the cloisters, the frick, etc. target hosts some free or discounted museum nights like friday nights at the moma. if you have certain memberships to other museums you can often get in free as well. our membership to the philadelphia museum of art gets us into the met for free. there are plenty of other museums in new york besides art museums, too.
-(in the winter) go ice skating. bryant park is supposed to be the cheapest rink in the city.
-go to rockefeller center. do top of the rock or go ice skating or just shop.
-(in the summer) go to coney island.
-go to central park! find the balto statue and that gazebo/pavilion from enchanted
-ride bikes in central park.

-go to ellis island to see lady liberty.-just walk and wander. i like the idea of exploring a specific neighborhood (soho, noho, greenwich village, chelsea, financial district, upper east side, upper west side, theatre district, etc etc)

-check out the manhattan temple.
-ride the subway! it’s a must.

PLACES TO EAT
-shake shack. i’m obsessed. so good and they have locations all over the city.

-in brooklyn: grimaldi’s pizza (under the brooklyn bridge) and brooklyn ice cream factory. i haven’t been to either but they’re both highly recommended.
-levain bakery. supposedly the best cookies in nyc.

-momofuku milk bar. city bakery. sprinkles cupcakes.
-john’s pizzeria and bleecker street pizza. both in greenwich village.
-popbar. gelato popsicles. these were so good.
-more restaurants i’ve never been to but i’ve heard highly recommended so just google them if they sound intriguing? bubby’s in tribeca. eataly. stand. dinosaur bar-b-q in harlem. asia dog. brgr. nooï.
-chelsea market.
-ellen’s stardust diner. singing waiters! a real nyc experience.
-for the chick flick lover: café lalo (where meg ryan gets stood up slash “runs into” tom hanks in you’ve got mail) or serendipity (like in the movie serendipity! and the frozen hot chocolate is supposed to be amazing, though overpriced)
-doughnut plant. they’re supposed to have really amazing donuts with really unique flavors.
-for macarons: ladurée (probably the best but also the busiest and most expensive), macaron café, bisous ciao, la maison du macaron, bouchon bakery.

-also, when you're in the city, i highly recommend the urbanspoon app. you can look at all the restaurants near you based by distance, rating, or price, and you can even check out the menus. it's a life-saver.

i hope these are helpful! enjoy your next trip to the city!