NYC: Five days, five boroughs

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/05/2011 (5303 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

NEW YORK — I’m not entirely sure exactly how many times I’ve been to New York City, but I do know I’ve never left Manhattan. This time around, I do want to literally get out of my comfort zone and take in NYC’s five boroughs. I only have five days to do it.

 

STATEN ISLAND

For years, Staten Island has been ridiculed in "Saturday Night Live" skits for being the garbage dump of New York City, and because of a stereotypical view of its high Italian-American population.

The former landfill site has now been turned into a massive park, and the tourism bureau of Staten Island is cashing in on its heritage with a tour through some of the best pizza parlours in town, finishing with Italian ices for dessert.

There are also the neighbourhoods around PS 52, where members of the hugely influential hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan grew up, and the church where some of the most important scenes from the movie "The Godfather" were shot.

For the past five years, Staten Island has staged a small-scale film festival to honour its links to the movie biz. On opening night at the gorgeous St. George Theatre, we watch a staccato conversation between a lady dressed to the nines and a fellow in track pants and a T-shirt. RZA from Wu-Tang is supposed to be the guest of honour, but we leave for dinner before seeing him.

Public transit for the somewhat sprawling borough is very limited, so if you want to explore areas away from the ferry terminal, your best bet is to rent a car for the day.

If you need enticement to go, I will point out the ferry from Manhattan is free, it takes you past the Statue of Liberty, and you can buy beer on board.

 

BROOKLYN

Brooklyn has gone through a renaissance in recent years, welcoming in young families and hipsters in their skinny jeans and fixie bikes. I wonder how my zoomer parents will like it.

We lug our lunch with us as we walk over the Brooklyn Bridge, and eat it on a sun-drenched dock in picturesque Brooklyn Heights. The heat convinces us we deserve a sweet treat from the heavenly-smelling Jacques Torres chocolate shop. Everything is made on the premises, including nut brittle with a pleasant little kick of spice.

My mom loves gardens, so we hop on the subway to get to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. It includes a Shakespeare garden with more than 80 of the plants mentioned in the Bard’s poems and plays, and a fragrance garden, specifically designed to appeal to people with visual impairments. Visitors are encouraged to touch the plantings, even crushing a leaf or two to experience it more fully.

The price of the ticket includes same-day admission to the Brooklyn Museum, but time is ticking and I want to head to hipster central in the Williamsburg area of Brooklyn. To get there by subway, we would have to ride the train into Manhattan and then back into Brooklyn, so instead we try to flag a cab for what should be a 10-minute ride.

Big mistake.

Unbeknownst to us, right around 4 p.m., taxi drivers are making an exodus en masse to Manhattan for a shift change. They have no interest in a Williamsburg fare. An hour and a lengthy walk/jog later, we finally convince a driver to take us the rest of the way.

Fortunately, my parents are in good shape and the ‘hood is worth it. We check out the parade of zanily fashionable girls streaming in and out of Beacon’s Closet, a vintage clothing shop, while their boyfriends try their hand at the halfpipe ramp built into the skate shop next door.

Our reward for our hard travels is a tour through the Brooklyn Brewery, a beverage or two in the beer hall, dinner in a factory converted to a Turkish restaurant, and slices of key lime and chocolate pie at Egg, a tiny keyhole of a diner.

 

BRONX

What little I know of about the Bronx relates to the zoo, the Yankees, and the fact singer/actress Jennifer Lopez grew up there.

This time around, I vow to explore parts unknown, including Arthur Avenue, billed as the "real" Little Italy. We wander in and out of delis and cafes, sampling salumi, meatball sandwiches, cappuccino, and cannoli.

Then we take a long subway and bus ride to get to City Island, a seaside escape for locals. It has a bit of a New England small town feel to it, full of cottages and seafood restaurants.

For $50, we rent a little outboard boat from Jack’s Bait and Tackle, and take it out on the water. Theoretically we could try fishing, but we’re content to putt around for the afternoon. We can eat the catch of the day and trade salty stories with the locals at the Black Whale pub.

 

QUEENS

The tranquil afternoon has us energized to tackle Queens the next day armed with a subway daypass and an ambitious plan — to feast on the arts and food to be found along the 7 train, which was declared a National Millennium Trail by then-president Bill Clinton in 1998. Dubbed the "International Express," it celebrates the incredible cultural diversity and the immigrant history of the area.

We deviate from the plan right away, using the R train to have breakfast at a Greek diner and get to the Museum of the Moving Image. We simply can’t resist a place that has so many treasures from film and TV, including the chariot from "Ben Hur," set drawings from "The Sopranos," and four actual Cosby sweaters. The displays also break down the science behind moving pictures, take you into the control room experience of a live sports broadcast, and allow you to try voicing over a cartoon.

 

We get on the 7 to check out PS 1, a contemporary art museum in a former elementary school. The huge exhibits are sometimes cheekily incongruous with the settings, and I reflexively check for a hall pass before going to the bathroom.

Across the street is 5Pointz, a building that has had its exterior turned into a graffiti museum. You have to wonder how some of the artists got up to the third or fourth storey to spray their pictures — I think twice about asking the rather tough-looking fellow starting on a new mural. There’s even more art on the roof of the building.

We stop off at the Jackson Diner in Jackson Heights for Indian food. I tear myself away from the jewelry shops to hop back on the train to go to Louis Armstrong’s house through a predominantly Spanish-speaking neighbourhood. The jazz great could have lived anywhere after becoming rich and famous, but he stayed in the modest brick home on 107th Street for nearly thirty years. We’re too early in the day and the year to see the summertime concert series, but the home has essentially been preserved as it was during Armstrong’s time.

The last stop of the day is in Flushing, at Spicy and Tasty Restaurant for some of the best Chinese food I’ve ever had, including a ginger consomme with plump Manila clams and clear rice noodles scented with sesame oil, livened up with spicy pickles.

 

MANHATTAN

I’ve saved Manhattan for last, with the idea of targeted relaxation — small bursts of activity to check out some of my favourite things, without overdoing it. We start the day off early with lemon ricotta pancakes and blueberries at Locanda Verde, an Italian tavern restaurant in a hotel owned by Robert De Niro. It’s so good that I vow to come back to see what Michelin-starred chef Andrew Carmellini can do with dinner.

Then it’s off to the Caudalie Spa at the Plaza hotel for a massage invoking the power of fruit. A bowl of freshly crushed grapes is mixed with grape-seed oil in a bid to revitalize my skin; it feels great, and is pretty funny when the grapes roll off me and bounce onto the floor when I get up.

Time is money, and never is that more true than today. I head to Times Square to pick up a CityPass from the tourist information centre of NYC & Co, the official tourism marketing organization for the city. For $79, it incorporates tickets for six different attractions — and lets you cut to the head of the line for admission.

I do indulge my inner child and ride the ferris wheel inside the Toys R Us store in Times Square. Best marketing gimmick ever.

Then it’s off to Pier 83 for a two-hour sightseeing cruise aboard the Circle Line around mid-and Lower Manhattan. The eminently entertaining tour guide takes passengers through ancient and new history with a deft mix of emotion, humour and authority.

While I’m doing that, my husband is geeking out at the USS Intrepid at the next dock, which has been turned into a floating sea, air and space museum. Exhibits include a diesel Growler submarine, an Air France Concorde, and a detailed history of the aircraft carrier’s distinguished service.

We nip off to the observation deck on top of 30 Rockefeller Plaza to drink in the sight of the Manhattan skyline for miles around, and then snag a sandwich in the leafy green environs of Bryant Park.

An errant bocce ball hits my chair, and the apology takes the form of an impromptu lesson from veteran players Jason and Tony. It’s an honour, as court time is in demand and all of the players are serious.

We traipse off to the Upper East Side to take in a Picasso exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It’s incredibly expansive and lusty, with detailed information on the painter’s many affairs of the heart. I wish there were time to go to the walled medieval garden at the Cloisters, an adjunct facility on the northern tip of Manhattan, but there simply isn’t time.

Instead, we go west to the Museum of Natural History for the gemology and ocean displays and a show at the planetarium, before declaring we’ve got our money’s worth out of the CityPass. Four out of six ain’t bad.

After a much-needed nap, it’s back to Locanda Verde for warm asparagus salad with truffle dressing, perfectly al dente gigantone with meat sauce, and a hefty portion of juicy rare duck, glazed with fennel.

We have just enough room and time to sneak in a drink at the Breslin Hotel, where the lobby has been turned into a lounge that looks entirely like the study area of a university library, with long wooden tables and goose neck lamps. I wish it were possible to sample the hotel restaurant’s menu, which operates on the "pretty much everything on an animal is edible" philosophy, but I can’t do it. I’m simply full to the brim with the best of everything that all of New York City has to offer.