I'm going on a trip to NEW YORK on 2023

El most important and known district New York is Manhattan, even many people believe that New York and Manhattan are synonyms. Manhattan is an island 21 kilometers long and 3,7 kilometers wide limited by the Hudson (west), East (east), and Harlem (north) rivers.

These are the different parts that make up Manhattan:

Washington Heights: Its name comes from Fort Washington, an 220th-century fortress that served to protect itself from attacks by British forces. This part goes from XNUMXth Street to Harlem, north of the island.

Harlem: its most important street is 125, where the famous Apollo Theater is located. This area begins where Upper Manhattan ends and ends at 155th Street.

Upper Manhattan: In its western part, in the area that rises higher, is the University of Colombia and the Cathedral of San Juan el Divino. It can be said that it is the highest part of Manhattan, it begins in Central Park and ends at 96th street.

Midtown Manhattan: It is the southern end of Central Park, it extends from 14th to 59th Street. The most important thing about this area are its skyscrapers, which start at 33rd Street, and where the Empire State Building is located, which is the most famous.

Lower Manhattan: It is the point where New York originated, it is the southernmost part of the island. In it is the financial district and the government bodies. This area covers from the south of the island to 14th Street.

City independent up to 1898, Today Brooklyn is the most populous of the five municipalities that make up New York and the second in extension. It has more than two and a half million inhabitants and 183 square kilometers.

Due to its rapid industrialization and the dizzying increase of inhabitants, which placed it as the third most populous city in the US during most of the nineteenth century, the original city of Brooklyn by the end of the century it absorbed the towns of New Lots, Flatbush, Gravesend, New Utrecht and Flatlands.

Part of the biggest attractions of the city you should see are the Brooklyn Museum (200 Eastern Parkway), the Astroland Amusement Park (1000 Surf Avenue), the New York Transit Museum (130 Livingston Street), the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (900 Washington Avenue), the Green-Wood Cemetery (500 25th Street), the Grecian Shelter (Prospect Park), the Holy Trinity Church (157 Montague Street), the Kol Israel Synagogue(603 Saint John's Place), the Old Fist Reformed Church (729 Carroll Street), the Saitta House (1135 84th Street) and the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of the Transfiguration of Our Lord (228 North 12th Street).

As for transportation, 18 lines of metro and numerous Bus they go through Brooklyn. There are several highways and roads that surround the districtsuch as the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, the Gowanus Expressway, the Prospect Expressway, the Belt Parkway, and the Jackie Robinson Parkway. Through the Brooklyn, Manhattan and Williamsburg bridges it connects with Manhattan.

The Bronx is one of the five districts that make up New York City. Crucible of cultures, nationalities and languages, it was a synonym for poverty and crime during the last quarter of the twentieth century, leading many of its neighbors to leave their old homes in search of less dangerous areas.

Nowadays 1.400.000 is the people who live in the Bronx, most of them of Hispanic and African-American origin (53,5% and 30,1% respectively). The main spoken language is Spanish, with an 45,2%.

Due to its particular geographical situation (it is the only one of the five districts that is on the mainland and not on an island), The Bronx is connected to the other boroughs and the rest of New York State by numerous bridges (Brooklyn, Spuyten Duyvil, Henry Hudson), motorways (Bronx River Parkway, Bruckner Expressway, Huchtinson River Parkway) and tunnels. On the other hand, lines 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 6X, B and D of the metro have 70 stations in different parts of the area.

A tip for all those who finally decide to stop in the Bronx is to try avoid, as far as possible, the South, the poorest and, in many cases, conflictive despite the efforts being made to regenerate it.

Queens is, with 283 square kilometers, the largest district unlike the five that make up New York City. Due to the diversity of nationalities that reside here, it is considered the most ethnically diverse urban area in the world.

Some of the sites that it is interesting to visit if we go through Queens are the First Reformed Church (153 Jamaica Avenue), the Citi Field (126th Street with Roosevelt Avenue), the Noguchi Museum (32-37 Vernon Boulevard), the New York Hall of Science (47-01 111th Street), the Queens Botanical Garden (43-50 Main Street), the Queens Museum of Art (Flushing Meadows Corona Park) and the Flushing Town Hall (137-35 Northern Boulevard).

Regarding mobility in the area, there are twelve lines (A, E, F, G, J, M, N, Q, R, Z, 7, 7X) that serve their service through 81 stations. As for the bus, about 100 different routes operate within Queens and 15 make their way between Queens and Manhattan. There are several bridges that connect Queens with the adjacent municipalities, such as the Bronx Whitestone Bridgeplatforms, Throgs Neck Bridgeplatforms, Robert F. Kennedy Bridgeplatforms, Queens Midtown Bridge or  Roosevelt Island Bridge.

In conclusion, one could say that, above its monuments and buildings, the great claim of Queens is power stroll through its streets and observe the exotic mix of races, cultures, languages ​​and lifestylesthat occurs there.

Staten Island, known as Richmond to 1975, is the most geographically independent New York district speaking: the only occupies an island of 151 square kilometers and is the one is further from Manhattan.

The most prominent enclaves of Staten Island are the Staten Island Zoo (614 Broadway), the Historical richmond town (441 Clarke Avenue), the Staten Island Botanical Garden (1000 Richmond Terrace), the Staten island museum (75 Stuyvesant Place), the Sailors Snug Harbor (914-1000 Richmond Terrace), the Conference House Museum (7455 Hylan Boulevard) and the National Lighthouse Museum (11 Lighthouse Plaza).

La faster and cheaper way to move between Staten Island and Manhattan is the free ferry, whose journey takes less than half an hour and allows you to see the Statue of Liberty in all its splendor.

If we prefer transport by land, We have the possibility of taking a bus that will take us to Brooklyn Or until Manhattan, both passing through the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, according to the plan we have for the day.

This part of New York, if not for reasons of force majeure, It is not the most recommended tourist, since it is the one that worse communicated is with respect to the rest of the city and does not have essential places that are a must visit.

Strolling through the main avenues of New York and having the feeling of being small ants next to its imposing skyscrapers is an unforgettable experience, but it is much more be able to fly over the most famous monuments of the city from a helicopter, being able, in some moments, to almost touch the buildings.

All itineraries, from the most affordable to the most expensive, pass through the key points of the city, that is, la Statue of Liberty, Wall Street and the hudson river. The estimated average travel time is, according to the choice, between 12 and 25 minutes.

There is a possibility, if you travel to New York as a couple, to hire the service for two, which consists of a 20-minute ride that passes through Central Park, the financial district, the Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge, the new Freedom Tower and the United Nations headquarters.

It is very important to keep in mind that flights at the end of the day are relatively scarce and that it is a very requested service by tourists, so it is highly recommended book the tour well in advance.

Surely we have all seen movies in the well-known gospel masses, ceremonies in which all members of the community sing together to praise God with very characteristic and catchy rhythms while dancing to the music, creating a true spectacle worthy of admiration.

In New York they are numerous churches in which gospel is sung every Sunday, being in general open to tourists. The majority they are located in Harlem, the quintessential African-American neighborhood, located north of the island of Manhattan. Many of these congregations they have their own web, so we can check schedules and locations on their websites.

Some of the best known are the Abyssinian Baptist Church, Antioch Baptist Church, Lagree Baptist Church as well as the First Corinthian Baptist Church. Normally in all Mass at the 11: 00, but it is always better to check it on the church's own page to avoid surprises. Something very important is arrive early enough, since often the temples are filled due to the great influx of tourism.

Although Masses with music are celebrated on Sunday, there are some churches where he is officiated on Wednesday afternoons, as is the case of the aforementioned Antioch Baptist Churchplatforms, Greater Refuge Temple as well as the Bethel Gospel Assembly.

Before or after, all those who travel to New York end up doing the mythical walk on the Hudson RiverEither to visit the Statue of Liberty or, according to taste, to do the complete tour around the island of Manhattan.

If yours are not ships and you do not have much time, There is a free ferry that offers the possibility of getting to Staten Island The Staten Island Ferry, which is the name of the ship that will ride us without paying anything, in addition to getting us to the island, it will give us the possibility to contemplate from the water the skyline of the big city, the Statue of Liberty o Ellis Island

For those who have more time, from the 83 dock the boats of the company Circle Line 42 leave. They have several modalities: from the 75 minute walk by Liberty Island, Ellis Island and the World Financial Center, until the of 3 hours which completely surrounds Manhattan, thus being able to have views of the entire city from the river.

Another possibility, for lovers or simply for those who wish to take a break after an exhausting day, is to make the trip at night, thus being able to contemplate the illuminated skyscrapers of Manhattan, the Brooklyn Bridge and the Statue of Liberty in all its splendor.

Broadway is known for hosting dozens of theaters in which some of the most famous musicals and plays in history are represented, As is the case The Phantom of the Opera, which has been on the scene for more than twenty years.

Before choosing which musical to go to, we must keep in mind that these They fall into three categories: on-Broadway, off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway. The first category corresponds to those productions that have a high budget and are presented in the most prestigious theaters (more than 500 locations).

The second and third are for the functions that take place in rooms of Between 500-100 seats y less than 100 seatsrespectively.

Where to buy tickets?

Es advisable to buy tickets online, which will ensure that we can choose what we want to see and where. If it has not been possible to acquire the locations via the Internet, there will always be TKTSa Times Square sales office in which they sell same-day tickets at very low prices.

Of course, do not expect to get one for the great musicals, or for the best sites, in addition to being mandatory a good dose of patience due to the huge queues that can be formed to get one of these tickets.

With 4km in length and 800 meters in widthCentral Park is the largest park in all of New York and one of the largest in the world. Each year receives around 25 millions of visitors. The park is located located in midtown Manhattan, between 5th and 8th Avenue (also called Central Park West) and 59th (Central Park South) and 110th (Central Park North) streets.

Central Park, despite looking like a large natural park, contains several artificial lakes, rinks on ice and grass areas, which are commonly used to practice sports. If we want to walk through the park, we should know that there are many spaces and corners where we can forget the hustle and bustle of the city. Since valleys y lagos  but also spaces for sports or even museums.

The largest valley is called "Great Lawn", located at the height of Metropolitan Art Museum. To the south of the park we can find the Zoo and to the north the Conservatory Garden, which is a botanical garden.

As for the monuments we can also find great variety. Highlights the Belvedere Castle, where a meteorological observatory is currently located until the so-called Strawberry Fields in honor of John Lennon.

If we want to practice some sports we have the call Park Drive, a circuit that surrounds the entire park with a tour of 10 km and in which we can go around the park mounted on a bicycle that we can rent inside.

Cultural jewel and one of the pioneers in its category, the Museum of Modern Art or MoMA it is one of the world mechs of modern art. Account with more than 120.000 works exhibited between paintings, sculptures, photographs, books, drawings, films and architectural designs.

Some of the great pictorial works that can be admired in its walls are The dance (Matisse), Water Lilies (Monet), The starry Night (Van Gogh), The Avignon ladies (Picasso), The dream (Henri Rousseau), Broadway Boogie Woogie (Piet Mondrian), Self Portrait with Short Hair (Frida Kahlo), Cans of Campbell Soup (Andy Wahol) and The Persistence of Memory (Dali).

It is advisable, if time permits, to drink something in any of the two coffee shops with which the MoMA counts (second and fifth plants) or, directly, stop to regain strength in the restaurant of the first floor. It is also advisable to take a walk around the grounds, where diverse sculptures by Picasso, Rodin, Aristide Maillol or Barnett Newman.

You can get to MOMA both metro (The nearest stations are at the intersection of 53rd Street with 7th Avenue, B / D / E lines and 5th Avenue, E / M lines as in bus (lines M1, M2, M3, M4, M5, Q32, X9, X10, X12, X14, X17C, X17J, X30 and X42).

With more than two million works exhibited in its permanent collection, all of them of the highest level, the Metropolitan Museum of Art (known colloquially as the Met) is a must for all those tourists who visit New York and who are lovers of any of the different branches of art.

And this museum has examples of virtually any artistic expression created across the globe: Egyptian art, from the Middle East, from Greece and Roma classical, from Asia, Oceania, Africa; European and American painting, decorative arts; drawings and prints; medieval art; musical instruments and endless more samples related to Art History until completing the nineteen departments in which the museum is organized.

The amount of works exhibited is so great that It is convenient to plan before buying the ticket what galleries and works you want to see, because if you do not run the risk of getting lost and end up walking aimlessly through the extensive corridors.

Another important point to keep in mind is the large library that the museum has and that It has almost 700.000 volumes, the majority devoted to the History of Art and the different auctions and samples of objects that have taken place in the existence of the Metropolitan.

The Met is the second museum, just behind the Louvre, which more visitors receive each year, ahead of other great exponents of culture such as the British Museum, the Prado or the Hermitage.

The first of a long series of museums dedicated to housing works by artists that emerged from the mid-XNUMXth century to the present day, the Solomon R. Guggenheim, or simply Guggenheim, is a landmark in New York City since practically the same day it was inaugurated in 1939.

Yes, the first location of the museum  It was not the groundbreaking building in which the collection is currently housed, but the apartment of Solomon Guggenheim himself, who began collecting in 1929.

It took fifteen years to be able to raise the structure projected by Wright, in the course of which both his patron died (Guggenheim died in 1949) as its creator (Frank Lloyd Wright succumbed only six months before he could inaugurate his work). On October 21, 1959, after years of difficulties, the current Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum began its journey.

Indicate that, the museum tour is done from bottom to top and the different rooms are painted white. Finally, add that the paintings and sculptures are not displayed differently, but forming a total set with the intention of helping the visitor to give free rein to the senses and their creativity.

Few museums can boast of offering their visitors the opportunity to see inside and in great detail a aircraft carrier of World War II, a submarine capable of launching cruise missiles or one of the mythical supersonic airplanes Concord They still survive.

Well, in the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum from New York it is possible to know this and much more, since in its cover and surroundings they are exposed more than thirty aircraft who once served in the different units of the US army.

This unique tourist attraction (suitable for both military and passionate world fans) is It sits on the west bank of the island of Manhattan, at pier number 86.

Other claims are the virtual simulator, the graphic recreations of the most famous battles in which the US has participated or to be able to see in first person what day-to-day life was like on board the Intrepid or Growler, the submarine that the museum has.

As a curiosity, to say that it is in the own ship where the main acts are carried out on the occasion of the Fleet Week (Fleet Week), which is normally held at the end of May and in which the members of the Navy, the Marine Corps and the Coastguard Service participate.

Since its founding in 1869, The Museum of Natural History in New York has enjoyed great prestige that reaches to this day, as well as attests to being the seventh most visited cultural entity in the world and the fourth in the US.

The museum's funds are made up of approximately 35 million pieces, being stored without being able to show a large number of them due to the limitations of space it suffers.

The different collections they stay throughout 45 rooms, each dedicated to a different area: African mammals,  meteorites, Origin of Man, precious gems and minerals, ocean life, recreation of habitats around the world, vertebrate evolution, primitive and advanced mammals, North American mammals, Dinosaurs y a long etcetera that covers all branches of Biology, Anthropology and Natural History.

The planetarium, built in a glass cube connected to the main building, offers the possibility of contemplating the Earth's geological history since its inception, photographs of the arrival on the moon and diverse exhibitions related to the Universe.

In short, we could say that the Natural History Museum It is a highly recommended stop on our trip, whether we go with children or without them. The only advice is, as in every great museum, select the rooms that interest us before starting the visit to avoid saturating ourselves.