NYC Tribeca Film Festival, 2012
In a relatively short amount of time, Robert De Niro’s Tribeca Film Festival has come to rival Cannes and Sundance. Founded in the wake of September 11 to help revitalize Lower Manhattan, the annual festival celebrates film, music and culture and transforms the downtown neighborhood into a hub for glamorous red carpet and gala affairs. The festival screens more than 100 films from around the world and even offers free outdoor “drive-in” screenings—no car necessary.
Visiting the Upper East Side neighborhood in New York City
Couple walking Upper East Side during PhotoTrek Tours
When sightseeing in NYC people often only make the time to visit the more well known tourist attractions such as The Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building and Times Square, to name a few. During our private walking tours, we try to take people off the beaten path and get them into the smaller neighborhoods such as SoHo, The West Village and Upper East Side. In these locations you will get a better sense of a quieter, less traveled part of NYC.
When visiting NYC try to take some time away from the main tourist attractions to visit the smaller, less traveled locations.
Honeymoon in New York City
PhotoTrek Tours captures your Hoenymoon in NYC
Just a few suggestions for those of you readers who are planning to visit New York City as your honeymoon destination. There are a multitude of options available to remember your honeymoon.
An original and unique activity when visiting NYC is to experience PhotoTrek Tours. During this private walking tour of NYC, guests are captured in their own photos with iconic New York landmarks as the backdrop; locations can include Central Park, Brooklyn Bridge, Times Square & Grand Central Terminal to name a few destinations during the 2 or 3 hour tour.
The tour is a wonderful way to capture wonderful memories of your visit to New York while also getting insights on sightseeing for the rest of your holiday. Your guide/photographer will make recommendations for shopping, dining, nightlife and off the beaten path locations to explore during your visit.
Meet the Oscars at Columbus Circle in NYC
While sightseeing in New York City, it may seem like so many places are familiar to you as NYC is the backdrop to so many movies. With the Oscars approaching this Sunday evening, February 26, the city provides visitors and New Yorker’s alike the opportunity to hold an actual Oscar statue.
From February 25 to March 7, The Shops at Columbus Circle will host Meet the Oscars,® a rare opportunity for awards junkies to get acquainted with the famous golden trophy. Have your photo taken while holding a real Oscar. It is a great way to capture some wonderful memories of yourself here in NYC.
Columbus Circle is at the southeast corner of Central Park, near the historic brownstones of the upper west side and and steps from Broadway & Times Square.
Visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC
Along the border of Central Park on Museum Mile, The Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of the largest and most comprehensive museums in the world. With more than 2 million works of art spanning 5,000 years, the Met presents the best of human creativity from around the globe. It’s a museum that continues to develop: in October 2011, after an eight-year renovation, the Met opened a new wing dedicated to art from Turkey, Iran, Central Asia, South Asia and other Arab lands. And on January 16, the museum will reveal to the public the final segment of its newly redone American Wing. Uptown, the Met’s satellite branch, The Cloisters, presents The Game of Kings: Medieval Ivory Chessman from the Isle of Lewis. The show, through April 22, is composed of chess pieces that were found in 1831 off the coast of Scotland. Get your game face on.
Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, Fall 2012
Although Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week’s runway shows and after-parties are invite-only, there are numerous fashion-related events for everyone to enjoy throughout NYC this month.
Fashion week goes from February 9 – 16, 2012.
For the second year running, Fashion Week will be held at historic Lincoln Center. For those looking to do sightseeing in NYC, nearby locations include Columbus Circle, Central Park, The Museum of Natural History and so many other iconic New York landmarks.
Where to watch the 2012 Superbowl in New York City
It is a great time to be in New York City as a tourist when the home team, New York Giants, are playing in the Superbowl. I have been telling all guests during my New York City walking tours that they must find a lively venue to watch the big game. Below are a couple of suggestions followed by ideas on how to spend the morning sightseeing in NYC as the game starts at 6:30pm on February 5th, 2012.
Tonic Times Square, 727 7th Avenue
Dalton’s 619 9th Avenue (Between 43rd & 44th Street)
The morning may be spent walking around Central Park, Brooklyn Heights Promenade or Greenwich Village to name a few locations. You may also want to consider taking in the New York City skyline on the Staten Island Ferry.
New York City Vintage Clothing Show
As a NYC tourist, you can find an array of theater, entertainment, tours, foods and even vintage clothing shows.
The Metropolitan Pavilion transforms into a vintage-lover’s dream, when nearly 90 vintage clothing and textile dealers take over for two days. And while sifting through dresses, shoes and accessories from decades past provides entertainment aplenty, the show also includes a formal exhibition, Christian Lacroix: Darling of Outrageous Excess.
Located at Metropolitan Pavilion, 123 W. 18th St., you are in close proximaty to several other NYC venues. Perhaps you may want to walk over to The Chelsea Market, walk over to Union Square, view the Flatiron building or explore Greenwich Village and Washington Square Park as a few suggestions.
Grand Central Terminal Hosting Squash Tournament
While visiting New York City, Grand Central Station should be on everyone’s to do list.
From January 20-26, 2012, not only will you see all the usual highlights of Grand Central, but there is also a world class squash tournament going on, completely free to view. A court and seating is constructed inside beautiful Vanderbilt Hall. Try to make the time to catch the action.
After viewing the action, you can take the NYC subway uptown to Museum Mile, Central Park, FAO Schwarz or other New York City attractions. If you opt to go downtown you can head to The Brooklyn Bridge, Union Square Park, Wall Street or The Statue of Liberty.
Either way, it provides not only a great venue for the tournament but ideally situated to continue your sightseeing in NYC.
NYC’s International Center of Photography to Showcase New Exhibits
When visiting New York City with the many Broadway shows, museums and restaurants to choose from often the International Center of Photography gets overlooked. It should be on every New York City tourist list of things to do.
Beginning January 20, the International Center of Photography presents four new exhibitions will be of interest to both professional and amateur photographers alike. Weegee: Murder Is My Business (on view through September 2) highlights the work of one of the most relentlessly inventive figures in American photography, whose dramatic and often lurid photographs of New York crimes and news events set the standard for what has become known as tabloid journalism. The Loving Story showcases photography by Grey Villet that documents the story of the couple who was instrumental in overturning all race-based marriage bans in 1967. Magnum Contact Sheets explores how Magnum photographers have captured and edited their best shots from the 1930s to the present. And, finally, Perspectives 2012 focuses on emerging young artists working in photography and video in a non-thematic series of group exhibitions.
Located in the heart of midtown Manhattan, only steps from Bryant Park, Grand Central Station, Times Square and so many other New York City landmarks.