Recently I have received numerous email inquiries about traveling to New York City. Always responsive to our readers, we have created a new destination page on our Web site aptly called "Taking a Bite of the Big Apple." However this is no ordinary bite. My daughter, a former Manhattan resident, has given us a comprehensive insider's view of where to eat, where to walk, and what to do on a budget in one of the world's most exciting cities. I also added in my two cents at the end.

The following insider's guide to New York was written by my daughter Monique who lived in Manhattan for 6 years. Here are a few of her pointers:

Driving in NYC is akin to insanity. I recommend taking a bus, train or plane into the city or at least parking your car for the whole time you are there.

Park your car at Port Authority (right off the Lincoln Tunnel) and keep it there the whole time you are in the city. The public transportation (buses and subways) are phenomenal and taxis are cheap. Get a good subway/bus map and walking map.

Ride in a cab at least once for the true crazy New York experience. (I knew I finally passed the "New York" test when I could take a taxicab ride without fearing for my life. Once you get in one, you will realize why you shouldn't be driving in the city.)

Wear excellent walking shoes or sneakers and walk EVERYWHERE!!! This is how you will get a great feel of the city.

In terms of safety, New York is INCREDIBLY safe now. It will actually be safer than many places just outside the city. Having said that, take typical city precautions, always know where your wallet is, at night stay where people gather (tons of people in NYC, so this usually isn't an issue.)

Here are some of the 'cool' places that teens will enjoy. Luckily for you, this is where the cheaper restaurants are.

EAST VILLAGE: This is a must. This has to be the best people watching in the world. Everything from the Asian woman who paints her hair, nails and makeup florescent to the fully pierced tattooed types. If it is subculture you are seeking, you will find it here.

Walk along St. Marks Place between Ave. A to 3rd Ave. Tons of cool shops (a wee bit overpriced, walk off the main drag to find stuff cheaper) to buy neat-o things, like blue shades or funky jewelry.

My favorite people-watching place is The Crooked Tree. On the south side of St. Marks between Ave. A and 1st Ave. (Big tree in front.) I take ALL my friends here. It is a phenomenal French creperie. Meals are reasonable, healthy and very casual. It is a very typical East Village place, so check out the people around you. The service is slow, but use that time to watch the crowds pass.

A great dinner place is Yakuniku West. Located on 9th St. between 3rd Ave and 2nd Ave. Often a long wait after 9pm, but worth the wait. This is a traditional Japanese restaurant where you take of your shoes and grill the meat yourself at your table. It is also very reasonably priced. For your family, I recommend getting two or three platters: beef, chicken or fish and some sushi.

There are also other inexpensive restaurants along the strip: DoJo is rather cheap and there is an Afganistani restaurant that is pretty good, too.

You can walk all around this neighborhood, but also consider heading West along St. Marks, which turns into 8th St. When it dead ends at Broadway, take a left, then a right onto 4th Ave. or a right onto Bleeker. Continue heading West. This is the West village, a little more touristy and a little more expensive, but just as fun. If you walk along 4th Ave., you will come upon NYU's campus pretty quickly. Perhaps college aged kids will want a tour. (check out http://www.nyu.edu to see if they offer this.) The West Village continues all the way to the river. If you are wandering here, I recommend a map because it can rather tricky. On 4th St. and 6th Ave. is the hotdog and Papaya juice place. Cheap and famous. My family ate here 15 years ago when we were tourists.

Also consider picking up a Village Voice (free paper from any newsstand). You can find walking tours of Manhattan advertised. I highly recommend these as they will go over the history that you might have missed. Other places to find these tours are Where Magazine, available in many hotels, or from the tourist bureau. Some neat topics might be NYC during the Prohibition (see the Speakeasies) or during the Plague, etc. (GlobaBrenda adds: There is now a Five Points Walking Tour, prompted by the movie, "Gangs of New York").

Many tourists wind up on Times Square. I wouldn't eat at any of the restaurants here if you paid me. They are expensive and have BAD food. Instead walk to restaurant row. (I can't remember the exact street, 8th or 10th Aves.), but the tourist bureau, any guidebook or any cop will probably know. You'll get to walk through some of the seedier places in Manhattan, but it is not anywhere as bad as it looks anymore. Just watch your purse.

If you are interested in watching a Broadway show, this is the place. Consider stopping at TKTS first. (I think their Web site is http://www.tkts.org.) for cheap tickets. These are mostly near Times Square.

If it is a beautiful day, walk along the watch from about 28th St. all the way down to Battery Park. Very pretty with tree lined parks and such. This is also near ground zero and Wall Street. You should find out ahead of time from the tourist bureau if they are now giving tours of Ground Zero. There might be a waiting list. There is also a lovely park, great for little kids, just north of the world financial centers (WFC) along the West side.

Another downtown area worth a walk is SoHo. A hipper, more loft like, neighborhood to the villages, but still just as cool. Restaurants are expensive here. This is where many famous models live, like Frederique who was made famous by Victoria's secret catalog.

Consider a picnic lunch in Central Park. There are also lots of museums near Central Park worth a visit. The Upper East Side is rather posh (and where many museums are located). It is worth a little walk around to get the feel of what it might be like to own the multi-million dollar apartments here.

The Upper West side is a little more professional and younger. There are a number of reasonably priced restaurants here and it is also where the Natural History museum is located. Mostly, it is residential.

WHEW!

I hope that helps. Monique

GlobalBrenda: Now that you have had the Insider's View of New York, I will cover the more standard family attractions:

Empire State Building -A must-see

Circle Island Tour -This a great way to get a water view of Manhattan and I think this view is far better than the one atop those double decker buses that cruise thru the streets of NYC. Besides, it is more fun to walk those streets to get a feel of the neighborhood. If you don't want to pay the cost of a Circle Island Tour, simply buy a round trip ticket for the Staten Island Ferry and do it on the cheap. You will miss the history lecture but you will pay about 1/4 the cost.

The Statue of Liberty - Be prepared to spend 3 hours in line in the summer for this attraction. This is the norm. It is memorable to climb all the way to the top but you should seriously consider whether you want to spend the 3 hours waiting or doing some other attraction, such as Ellis Island. The Ellis Island ferry takes you right by the Statue of Liberty so you will get some great camera shots.

Ellis Island - This is a 3 to 4 hour excursion including the beautiful ferry ride. I recommend it heartily if you are interested in the history of America's immigration. This is NOT a dry history museum, rather it is full of warm and humorous anecdotes and stories.

Museums, Museums, Museums

NYC is one of the great museum cities of the world. Try to see at least one of the most famous - the Natural History, MOMA, or check the Web sites for some of the small unique museums or special visiting displays in the big ones. Just this past weekend we visited the Ukrainian Museum in Manhattan. Admission was about $1 per person, it took about half an hour to view and we saw a beautiful and extensive display of Ukrainian Easter eggs. Many of the large museums offer free admission on Sunday mornings, another way to save money.

Transportation

If you are using the subways, I recommend you buy a Metro card for $10 or $20. A family of 2 or 3 can use the same card. (Just swipe the machine as each child goes through). It is a big convenience and you get a free ride thrown in for every $10 you spend. Get a subway map and learn to use it. Locals may not be able to help you, as they only know their own routes.

And to repeat what my daughter suggested, walk through at least one of the local parks to see how the Manhattanites enjoy their leisure time. They pursue it as vigorously as they do work. Watch out for the roller bladers!.

Readers' Comments

June `03

P.P. writes, "Your newsletter is great and I appreciate the work it must take. Just thought I'd make a couple of comments on your New York article, as I took my two teenage sons there last summer. With regards to the Statue of Liberty, we decided to start our day catching the ferry from Battery Park to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island and didn't encounter any line-up at all other than a short line to go through their security set-up. As for scaling the Statue of Liberty, we were told that this has not been allowed since September 11th and wouldn't be allowed for the foreseeable future, mainly as a security safeguard. Regardless, it was a wonderful experience and highly recommended.

With regards to museums, one that my boys thoroughly enjoyed was the Sea/Air/Space Museum, located on a decommissioned aircraft carrier harbored on the Hudson. It includes a submarine tour, multiple warplanes, an Apollo capsule, etc. The planes are located on the carrier's runway deck and are truly impressive.

(GlobalBrenda note: Our reader P.P. is referring to the carrier Intrepid. The informative Web site is: http://intrepidmuseum.org/)

With regards to the restaurants in Times Square, there is one that is rather fun. It's called Elaine's Diner and is part restaurant, part show in that the waiters and waitresses burst into song while serving. The food is mediocre diner fare but the atmosphere is so much fun, it makes up for it.

I would like to recommend the hotel we stayed at -- The Skyline Hotel. I believe it's located on 10th Avenue at about 49th Street, just a short walk west of Times Square. We received very reasonable rates (for New York) and our room was large by New York standards, with a separate vanity and sink area outside the bathroom, a must for a mom traveling with two boys. I know someone who paid three times what we did for a room 1/3 as large in another hotel. The Skyline was clean, the location was great and the bonus was an indoor pool, although we were too busy touring around to check that out.

I'd definitely recommend anyone thinking of going to New York to make the trip. Prices are certainly lower and security was very good as far as I could see (there seemed to be a police officer everywhere you looked and security to get in most buildings was even tighter than many airports). Our trip was one of the best I've ever had with my sons."

K.K. suggests, " Also, a great place to splurge in NY is Serendipity - around 63rd St. and 3rd Ave - great ice cream desserts - perhaps if you eat a late lunch you would want to take a stroll uptown if the weather is great, have ice cream and then because the restaurant is on a one way street with taxis coming off the bridge - getting a cab back to your hotel is NEVER a problem - we have even had them fighting over us."

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