Howcast

Visiting Union Square

Howcast — Tue, 13 Aug 2013 17:22:09 +0000

Transcript

Union Square is awesome and it’s become a real hub of New York City activity. Union Square is pretty much where downtown begins on fourteenth street and park avenue south. You know it’s been a really important spot in New York City history I’d say forever. Theres always been a lot rallies and a lot parades and a lot of demonstrations that take place there. Now the most important thing that happens at Union Square I’d say would be the farmer’s market and its the biggest Farmers Market in New York City.The Farmer’s Market is awesome, it is so fun. There are farmers that come from hundreds of miles outside of new york and they bring anything from you know apple farms, to vegetable farms to the veal guy, you got the chicken guyto the pretzel guy and everything is homemade. There is the person with the shearling slippers that also sells the lamb that the shearing slippers came from. Just walking around the market and getting yourself a cup of cider and some veggies or a big thing of lettuce or kale. Uh, its wonderful experience. its a real taste of new york and something not to be missed. So on the other side of where the farmers market is there is kind of an area where all the skateboarders hang out and all the demonstrators and people that have signs that you know they kind of want to have their political thoughts heard and the guy with the free hug sign. Don’t give the “free hug” guy a free hug, you never know where he’s been. Um, and [laughter], and there’s just kind of people hanging out and there’s another section of the park where there’s a dog run, some people bring in their dogs and you know all the nannies with the babies walking around. Um, and its really nice to just kind of hang out there and have lunch and kind of absorb it. So those are just few spots in Union Square that I like. Uh, Enjoy yourself, you know you’re at the beginning of downtown and, uh, you have all of New York City in front of you.

Visiting New York City’s Fifth Avenue

Howcast — Tue, 13 Aug 2013 17:16:49 +0000

Transcript

Fifth Avenue is one of my favorite streets in New York City. I guess it’s more than a street it’s an avenue and an avenue in New York means that it runs North South. I suggest that you start at the metropolitan museum of art and you start walking downtown. and you’ll walk along the park and its really really beautiful. and then you’re going to hit the Plaza Hotel which is on fifty seventh street. and that’s really gorgeous.And then right after that you’ll hit Bergdorf Goodmans and then you’ll hit Harry Winstons. Harry Winstons is this really really expensive jewelry store that you have to make an appointment to go inside and they have enormous enormous diamond rings. Across the street from Harry Winstons is Tiffany’s, where you do not need an appointment to look at diamond rings so you should poke your head in there. Also in that neighborhood is FAO Schwarz. Which is a really famous gigantic toy store where you can buy like little kid Ferraris and gigantic life size lions and like the biggest Lego set in the whole entire world. Um, as you keep making your way downtown you’ll also hit Saint Patrick’s Cathedral which you should poke your head in too, its really beautifu.. and then of course you’re going to hit Rockefeller Center. Its cool to go to Rockefeller Center and watch all the other ice skaters and you know if its christmas season you can look at the tree. Fifth Avenue ends at Washington Square Park which is down in Greenwich Village and it ends at the Washington Square Park Monument, which is a wonderful really fun creative place to kind of go hang out. There’s a great park there and there’s always people playing guitar and theres a gigantic fountain that’s really famous. So that’s a little tour of Fifth Avenue definitely make the most of it. theres so much see You could spend all day bouncing around Fifth Avenue and kind of checking out all these different wonderful places and so many of them are free. So, um, What a great way to see New York City, right?

Visiting Alphabet City in New York

Howcast — Tue, 13 Aug 2013 17:10:55 +0000

Transcript

Alphabet City has changed alot over the years. You might have heard of it may be referred to as maybe Needle Park, just a really really dangerous kind of horrible place in New York to go, uh, its not like that anymore, its changed.. Anyway, now its amazing. Everybody loves Alphabet City and Alphabet City is named that because of the avenues. Theres avenue A, B, C, and, D. So, Tompkins Square Park is really the heart of Alphabet City and if you want you can walk around the whole circumference of it and theres great bars, and restaurants, and little shops. It’s wonderful because so many people have like kind of newer smaller shops that they’ve opened and people are really creative and theres a lot of labors of love down there. And you can really see it. and you can really feel it from the ambiance. The best things, and the reason why people most, mostly go to Alphabet City is to eat and drink. There are tons of great restaurants and tons of great bars. One of my favorite restaurants down there is actually a German place called Zum Schnieders. Zum Schneider is on Avenue C and its fun all year round, but during Oktoberfest it is bananas. They bring like an umpa lumpa band in there and everyone is in lederhosen and everyone is singing and you have these gigantic beers and you’re eating wiener schnitzel and its tons of fun. Theres a lot of speakeasies that are also these kind of secret hidden bars that have popped up in Alphabet City. There is Death and Company, which is really cool. Oh, theres Please Don’t Tell, also know as P-D-T, which to get into you have to enter a hot dog shop and then you go inside of a telephone booth, and then you pick up the phone in the telephone booth, and then this magic door opens and there is this hostess is there and if you have a reservation you can sit in this awesome little bar and the cocktails in the bar are phenomenal. You know, just kind of I really suggest getting lost and exploring and kind of make the most of it and you know kind of really feeling kind of the vintage feel and the ambiance and the artistic kind of revelry that goes on down there.

Best Activities for Kids in New York City

Howcast — Tue, 13 Aug 2013 16:58:59 +0000

Transcript

You know it’s not always easy as one would think to keep kids entertained in New York City. Uh, there’s a lot great things for adults, but I do find kids get bored and they get tired from walking around. And it’s hard, you know it’s hard bringing a kid to a city that they’ve never been to before cause they’re just not as interested in all the things that you think are cool. One of the most famous things to do with kids in New York City is to go to Serendipity. Serendipity is an ice-cream shop and a restaurant that is on the Upper East Side it’s around the corner from Bloomingdales. Its’ been there forever and it’s a great place to go for big hot fudge sundaes and footlong hot dogs, frozen hot chocolates. They also have like chili, you know you can get like lunch. Personally I would skip the savory foods and I would go straight to the desserts, because the desserts are amazing. You can buy like a thousand dollar sundae there,which you should not do, because it just a marketing ploy, but I think its fun that it is on the menu. So after you are done with Serendipity and everyone has a real sugar high going, uh you can go next door and then you can go to Dylan’s candy shop. Dylan’s candy shop is this really cool gigantic candy shop and have all this retro candy, and all this new candy, and they have these pillows that look like gigantic candies. And, its just, its kind of expensive for candy, but who doesn’t like candy. Um, and its, its, Its certainly worth a pass. Um, a few other things to do with kids are there are some great toy stores in New York. FAO Schwarz is on around like fifty-seventh street and fifth avenue and that’s like the world’s most expensive toy store, now its a little bit less expensive. I think they realized that no one could buy their child like a child size Lamborghini, even though they are still for sale there. Um, and then they have like really like incredibly expensive dolls and they have life size giraffes and you can make your own Muppet in the FAO Schwarz which is really cool. So you can pick out the head and the eyes and the outfit and you know it really is an acting muppet, its from Jim Henson’s Muppet shop which is amazing. So there’s a wonderful Toys ‘R Us in Times Square and at the Toys ‘R Us there is a ferris wheel. People love the ferris wheel, it’s free. I knew people on their lunch break who use to go and get on the ferris wheel and just spin around. And whenever I bring my nieces and nephews to New York we always go and check it out and go for a little spin and uh that certainly is a really fun thing to do when you are in Times Square and you’re not sure where to go. Another great place is Max Brenner’s. Max Brenner’s is sort of like a modern day Serendipity where they have all these crazy desserts. They have gourmet S’mores, and they have all these chocolate fountains of vanilla chocolate, and milk chocolate, and dark chocolate and it’s just like you come out of there and you are just on fire from amount of sugar you’ve eaten, but its fun and you guys will all have a really nice time. If you can go to Central Park there a lots of different playgrounds that are really fun. They have like different swings, and like pyramids you can climb in, and caves you can go into. Of course there is the zoo, theres two zoos in Central Park. There is the childrens zoo which is for like littler kids where you pet like llamas and you can look at tarantulas and at these little animals and then there is the big kids zoo. Where they have the um seal pool and then they have the penguins and they have this tropical room where there is toucans flying around and it’s like you’re inside the jungle. Those are just a few activities there’s of course tons of other things to do with kids in New York City, but those are a few of my highlights.

Best Time to Visit New York City

Howcast — Tue, 13 Aug 2013 16:43:40 +0000

Transcript

The weather in New York City is great, it’s warm in the Summer, its cold in the Winter, it’s beautiful in the Spring, and it’s lovely in the Fall. It’s pretty much like that every single year. So, sometimes we certainly have extremes. Summer in New York City can be really really hot and its sweltering out, its not fun. Um At night in the Summer it tends to cool down, it’s really lovely out. In in the Winter it can get bone chilling, Okay, I’m not going to lie, it can get really cold here. The way the wind whips through the buildings, can like cut you like a knife sometimes. And it depends, you know last winter it wasn’t that bad and it never really got like super freezing. But I’ve had like other winters where we’ve had like insane snow storms where the city grinds to a halt, which is really awesome if you get to experience that. And the snow is piled like two or three car lengths high and everyone is like walking in the street in the middle of the street. But the two best times to come to New York City is the Spring and the Fall. The Spring is beautiful in New York, you know the tulips are coming up, Everyone starts getting really excited that it’s getting warm out. And everyone is in a really great mood. It’s sunny out earlier and the sun comes out later at night, so that’s really nice. Spring time in New York doesn’t get much better. The Autumn is also awesome. And the reason why I like the Autumn to travel and visit places is cause it’s kind of back to school for everybody. You know, its Summer is over everyone’s school vacations are done, or maybe your summer trips are done and everyone’s kind of back to work and you get to really see what’s going on in the city and how it functions on a normal day to day level. As opposed to you know you when you’re coming here in the Summer time on a weekend this place is dead-sicle. No one is in New York on the weekends, because most people are running off to the beach somewhere, but come September it’s great. Then the leaves start to change in New York, we’re really big on like Fall foliage. Everyone loves like leaves changing colors and people get excited to break out their sweaters. It’s complicated, but you guys are all smart and I’m sure you can figure it out. And that’s my advice for weather in New York City.

Visiting New York City’s Museum of Modern Art aka MoMA

Howcast — Tue, 13 Aug 2013 16:09:47 +0000

Transcript

The MoMA is one of the most popular museums in New York City. It’s always super crowded, it’s also the most expensive museum in New York City, but it’s wonderful. The MoMa cost twenty-five dollars per person to go. One thing that I think is the most important thing at the MoMA you can do is go early. The place gets packed. And it’s not fun seeing art when there’s a million people try to look at the same painting or exhibit as you, so you know the earlier you can get there, beat the lines, beat the rush, you’ll be a much happier person. The food at the MoMA is great, there’s a formal restaurant which is delicious. There’s also a more casual restaurant which that’s in the MoMA, so that’s good for if you want to get a quick bite. The food is still very gourmet, not too expensive, it’s communal seating. and uh I’m always surprised with how good it is. One thing a lot of people probably don’t realize about the MoMA is that you get free audio tours. So, upon price of admission, you get a free little headset that you can listen to as you look around at the different exhibits. If you really want to get out of paying the admission to go to the MoMA, on Friday’s from four to eight it’s free. So, again get there early, enjoy your time there, and the exhibits are incredible. I mean, you you never know what you’re going to find there, but it’s always something really important and and something that when you go home and you tell your friends everyone is always jealous that you’ve gone to see it.

How to Use the New York City Subway

Howcast — Tue, 13 Aug 2013 15:57:30 +0000

Transcript

So getting around New York is really easy, we have a terrific subway system. And it’s one you shouldn’t be scared of, because it’s really hard to get lost. The first thing you are going to need is a little subway map and then you’re going to get a metrocard. Now, this isn’t like other countries where you can buy a metrocards in like magazine stores and stuff like that. You can really only buy a metrocard down in the station, but luckily there’s so many stations it’s easy. There are two different options when buying a metrocard. You can buy an unlimited metrocard, so you can ride as much as you want for like the week or the month. Or you can pay as you go. And If you do buy a pay as you go card and let’s say you put like twenty bucks on the card or 50 bucks on the card then you get a little bit of a discount the more you spend. Subways pretty much just run uptown downtown, and then there’s two that go cross-town. There’s the Shuttle, which only has two stations, it’s only Times-Square or Grand Central Station. As long as you are looking at your map and you know where you’re going and you know what station you’re at, you’re pretty good. I actually have a great app, so I’m always kind of checking it before I get on the subway, while I’m on the subway. You shouldn’t feel embarrassed to look at a map. Also, something to think about is you know that the subways are twenty-four hours, which is awesome. They are always running here. It’s a great ride, they’re clean they’re nice and everybody is really helpful, and of course if you ever need any advice, you know, find someone else on the subway to ask. People in New York are really really friendly. Those are some tips on taking the subway in New York City. Have a good trip and a safe ride.

How to Visit NYC Museums & Galleries

Howcast — Tue, 13 Aug 2013 15:47:54 +0000

Transcript

The Natural History Museum and the MET, which is the Metropolitan Museum of Art, are my two favorite museums in New York City. Not only are they what I considered to be the best in New York, but they are also free. The Natural History Museum has so much great stuff to see. There’s the Whale Room which has that gigantic sperm whale that is floating across the ceiling. And then of course there’s the dinosaurs which are incredible. Some of the other museums in New York are the MoMA, which is the Museum of Modern Art. Again a great museum. A few other museums that are a little bit smaller, but are super cool are the Cooper Hewitt. Cooper Hewitt is on the Upper East Side, up on Fifth Avenue. It’s a design museum. They just have great textiles, or they talk about architecture, or they talk about all things that are design, it’s really cool. One fun thing to do is to poke around the Chelsea Gallery District. If you go between eleventh avenue and tenth avenues, from approximately Twenty-third street to Twenty-sixth street you are just going to find door to door galleries and they’re all free. And of course they have wonderful art, some’s more avant garde than others. And It’s really interesting, you never know what you’re going to get with each gallery, because they all have their own curators and of course they’re constantly rotating. Those are some of my favorite museums. Of course that’s not all of them. There are tons of wonderful places to go and art to see, but those are just some of my highlights and just a little of advice from a local to you.