New York — Beachcomber Pete Travel Adventures

New York City, The Statue of Liberty

The most popular and famous tourist attraction in New York City, the Statue of Liberty is a sprawling monument to American principles of freedom and justice. The Statue of Liberty, an icon of freedom and a symbol of American virtues, remains as the not to be missed site in New York to this day.

The statue was first created by French law professor and politician Edouard Rene de Labiulaye to commemorate and honor American independence. The statue began construction in France in the early 1870s, and was shipped to America for assembly before its public unveiling in 1886.

The statue has become one of the world’s most visited and beloved tourist attraction. The statue receives over 3 million visitors annually is a free attraction.

There are several reasons a trip to the Statue of Liberty will be absolutely unforgettable. The statue itself is a paradigm of 19th century architectural feats, and is widely celebrated as a beautiful artistic attraction. The statue has also become a symbol of democracy, liberty, and freedom and is widely associated with America’s independence. The fascinating historical significance of the statue is proudly on display within Ellis Island, the location of the Statue of Liberty. The stunning view from the top of the statue is a much-coveted sight, and travelers from across the globe come to New York to experience the breathtaking sights from the top of the Statue of Liberty.

The Statue of Liberty is a ferry ride away from New York City. One must expect to pay a fee for the ferry, as no private boats are allowed to dock on Ellis Island. While the statue and base are currently closed for renovation, the tickets for entering the actual statue must be purchased in harmony with the ferry tickets. Special tickets for entering the crown, the highest point with the most sought after views on the statue, must be secured up to a year in advance. The large demand for trips to the crown derives from its stunning view and its illustrious reputation.

For those going up to the crown, reservations should be made many months in advance. If you plan to rent an apartment for days in New York, make your reservation for visiting the crown at the same time. The climbers are allowed medication, cameras, and water for their trip up to the top of the Statue of Liberty. The stunning view makes the slightly strenuous ascent all the more memorable.

The Statue of Liberty offers a wealth of knowledge pertaining to American liberty and freedom, along with a massive artistic work well renown within the artistic community. The statue offers top-notch views if the surround water, and is a celebrated landmark that all should attempt to visit within their lifetime.

Filed Under: featured, New York, New York City, The Statue of Liberty, Times Square

Times Square, New York City

Taking a trip to New York City for a week or just a day, Times Square, New York City is one of the most popular attractions in the world. Many people refer to it as the center of the universe. If that doesn’t sell you, then perhaps nothing will. The best part about Times Square is the lights. This might be obvious to most, but what most people don’t know is the best way to experience the lights.

Staying in a New York apartment or Hotel? The best time to visit Times Squrae is at dusk. This is when the day turns to night and the lights transform the scene. If you’re a photographer or if you like to film, then this is one of the best opportunities you will find anywhere. Keep in mind that Times Square is busy at all times. However, during a weekday there are more businesspeople than anything else. At night, it’s all about tourists going to the theater. During the weekend, it’s most tourists day and night, but contrary to popular belief, there’s plenty of room to roam. You will also find more street performers on the weekends. These performers include dancers, singers, musicians and pretty much anything else you can imagine. The most important note of all is that Times Square has been cleaned up to an incredible degree over the past ten years. The seediness has been run off by police and it’s now a clean and safe place to visit.

The first thing many people might notice while visiting Times Square is the shopping. You can find everything from discount novelty stores to high-end apparel stores. The discount stores are often small and offer a lot of character. The higher end stores are enormous – often two floors – and are extremely spacious. If you go during the week, then you should be able to find some great deals. Since the crowds are always massive on the weekends, they don’t offer as many discounts.

The dining options here are numerous. However, most of them are chain restaurants that fall into the casual dining category. For a more unique experience, eat at one of the restaurants on the side streets near the theaters. Also consider visiting the wax museum. This is a lot of fun and surprisingly affordable. If you’re going to see a show, consider Wicked first, especially if there is at least one male in your party. Both men and women tend to love Wicked. If you’re traveling with kids, see The Lion King.

Even if you have no plan at all, you will still enjoy Times Square. Just take a sroll from your hotel or apartments in New York and enjoy the energy, lights and people that make Times Square the liveliest place on earth.

Filed Under: featured, New York, New York City, Times Square, United States

Long Beach, New York

Long Beach combines the sophistication of New York City with some of the best natural scenery on the East Coast. Appropriately nicknamed “The City by the Sea,” Long Beach has long attracted visitors from all over the world.

The first inhabitants of what is today known as Long Island were the Rockaway Indians. In 1643, the Rockaway Indians sold their land to English colonists. For the next two centuries, colonists would use the island for fishing and other industries. It was not until the mid 19th century that families began to settle on Long Island. Several decades later, William Reynolds decided to invest in Long Island. Reynolds was already well known for his work on Coney Island. Hoping to establish the “Riviera of the East,” Reynolds constructed Mediterranean-style buildings with stucco exteriors. The city hit it big in the 1940s, when several famous actors came to perform at the local theaters.

Today, Long Beach has a population of over 33,000. The community has a higher density than most suburbs, but retains the close-knit feel of a smaller town. Many residents commute into greater New York City, although some stay on Long Island to work in the tourism industry. An equally large portion of the population is employed in the technology and aerospace industries.

Arts and culture are of chief importance in Long Beach. There is an annual fine arts show hosted at Kennedy Plaza, as well as an arts and crafts show hosted on the Boardwalk. Although the Long Beach Theater saw its most prosperous days in the 1940s and 1950s, the theater still generates quite a following. The Long Beach Theater Arts Collaborative hosts a variety of classes and workshops in hopes of developing artistic talent in future generations.

Education is extremely important in Long Beach. The suburb boasts some of the best schools in all of New York. Adults can continue to foster an education at the city’s three branch libraries, the Martin Luther King Community Center and the Long Beach Historical & Preservation Society Museum. In addition to the community center and museum, tourists enjoy visiting the Red Brick District, the Ocean Beach Boardwalk, the Holocaust Memorial at Kennedy Plaza and Veteran’s Memorial Park.

Filed Under: featured, Long Beach, Long Island, New York, New York City, North America

Long Island, New York

Many visitors to the New York City region never even consider visiting Long Island, and New Yorkers tend to dismiss Long Island as nothing but an endless strip of dreary suburbs. But nothing could be further from the truth. Whatever your interests, Long Island has a lot to offer a traveler willing to venture eastward from Brooklyn and Queens.

Long Island is well known for its beaches — both the calmer waters of Long Island Sound and the wilder waves on the Atlantic side. Jones Beach, designed by the great Robert Moses, is probably Long Island’s most popular beach destination. Whether you prefer surf, stillwater, or pool swimming, you’ll find it at Jones Beach. The beach also offers surf fishing, boating, concerts, golf, and a nature preserve. Jones Beach can get crowded in the summer, but there’s no shortage of other outstanding beaches to choose from. Hither Hills State Park and Heckscher State Park are favorite destinations for those who want to mix camping and hiking with their beach time. If you want to get wet but don’t like the beach, try Splish Splash Water Park in Calverton, which the Travel Channel selected as one of the nation’s top water parks.

Long Island’s East End, in particular the Hamptons, has long been a favored resort for New York City’s elite. This means the East End also offers high-end shopping and dining, without Manhattan prices. Antique shops and art galleries also abound. But the East End is also Long Island’s farm country, so you can find fresh-off-the-farm fruits and vegetables, or pick them yourself.

The East End is also home to over 40 wineries, most on the North Fork. While Long Island’s wine country is not as famous as California’s, Long Island wines have won increasing respect among oenophiles. Whether you’re just tasting or planning to fill out your wine cellar, a day trip to the wineries is a pleasant way to spend time in beautiful natural surroundings and experience flavors you’ll find nowhere else.

If history is what you enjoy, plan a visit to Old Bethpage Village, a meticulously restored 19th-century town. During the summer, Old Bethpage Village is also the site of the annual Long Island Fair and regularly hosts Civil War reenactors. Another great destination for history buffs is the town of Oyster Bay, where you can visit Sagamore Hill, the mansion of former president Theodore Roosevelt. Now a national park, Sagamore Hill is as unusual and colorful as the man himself. Be sure to visit the nearby Theodore Roosevelt Bird Sanctuary, near which the president and his wife, Edith, are buried.

Speaking of Bethpage, it’s also home to the famous Bethpage Black golf course, which hosted the 2002 and 2009 U.S. Open and is open for public play. However, the wait to get on Bethpage Black can be fearsome, so you might be better off taking your clubs to one of Long Island’s other world-class golf courses, such as Eisenhower Red, Cantiague, and Merrick Road.

Traveling with kids? Adventureland in Farmingdale has been a Long Island institution for decades. It offers rides for all ages, including thrill and water rides, as well as traditional carnival games and arcade games. For more educational pursuits, visit the Long Island Aquarium in Riverhead or the Long Island Children’s Museum in Garden City.

Filed Under: featured, Long Island, New York, New York City, North America

New York City, New York

A walk through New York City can be overwhelming to the senses. The air is filled with the cacaphony of rumbling traffic, honking horns, shouting voices and the scent of roasting chestnuts, kebabs and honey roasted nuts wafting from street vendor carts. An endless parade of bright yellow cabs stream by, while vivid images on video billboards flash and fight one another for an onlooker’s attention.

New York City was founded in 1624 by the Dutch West India Company and was first known as New Amsterdam. In 1664, the Dutch lost New Amsterdam to the English, who renamed it New York. The colony flourished and by 1790, New York grew to be the largest city in the United States, which it remains so to this day.

New York City, today, is a bustling, diverse city made up of five boroughs — Long Island, Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan and Staten Island. It is a city filled with tourist attractions and iconic images, including Wall Street, Central Park, Fifth Avenue, Broadway, and the World Trade Center memorial, just to name a very few.

Getting around the city is relatively easy, as New York boasts an extensive public transportation system that includes subways, buses, taxis and ferries. Driving a car in New York is not recommended. Many locals don’t even own one, as parking is extremely limited and traffic is usually terrible. One of the absolute best ways to get around the city is by walking.

Strolling through New York, a visitor can meander from one interesting neighborhood to another. For example, a typical walk could start in lower Manhattan in the financial district with a stop at the World Trade Center memorial. Moving northwards, a visitor could browse Chinatown’s Canal Street for imitation designer scarves and purses or hit the real designer stores in SoHo.

Another walking itinerary could include stops at the Empire State building, Rockefeller Center, and Times Square, where visitors can purchase same-day tickets to enjoy top Broadway plays. Central Park is just a quick walk away and is an enjoyable oasis of green in the middle of the city. In all of New York, an unbelievable selection of restaurants and bars beckon passers-by to sit and enjoy a meal or throw back a pint.

If walking isn’t your thing, then climb aboard one of the many tour buses that cruise the streets, and don’t forget to take a ferry trip to visit Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.

New York’s weather is pretty stereotypical. It is generally hot and humid in the summer, and cold, with periods of snow, during the winter. Temperatures can swing wildly in the spring and fall, when Mother Nature is desperately trying to decide what she wants to do. Although the winters can be bitter, Christmas is one of the best times of the year to visit New York, as the streets are filled with people, the Rockettes are dancing at Radio City Music Hall, and the city’s famous Christmas tree shines brightly over Rockefeller Center.

Filed Under: featured, New York, New York City, North America, United States

New York, United States

When travelers think about coming to New York they usually imagine Manhattan– Times Square, the Met, and shopping on Fifth Avenue. But the state of New York has so much more to offer visitors, from great shorelines to the Catskill Mountains, to the wine country in the Southern Tier. When you explore the state beyond Central Park, you may fall in love with a New York you never imagined.

Long Island’s Hampton’s offer beaches welcoming in spring and summer and beautiful in fall and winter as well when the crowds have left. It’s an easy drive from the center of the city (avoid rush hours) or take the train or a ferry.

If farmland, orchards, wine country and breathtaking hillsides are your passion, head to upstate New York. In the Catskills nature offers lovely panoramas– especially with fall foliage. At the Canadian border Niagara Falls beckon.

Nearby, the Finger Lakes wine country rolls toward the Pennsylvania border. Local wineries provide tours of their vineyards, and tastings of award-winning wines. If you get as far as Corning, visit the Steuben Museum for glass art treasured around the globe.

The New York State Thruway takes you to Albany, the state capital. Plan a short visit there and take a tour of the statehouse. Leaving the capital you may want to wander the winding back roads to explore picturesque villages tucked away in New York’s gateway to the Berkshire Mountains. Antique shops and country stands sit next to rambling farms set against rolling hills with the mountains rising behind them.

Head east again and follow the edge of the Hudson River Valley leading back to Manhattan. This area has long been the refuge of New York’s elite who built fabulous estates along the river within an hour or so of their midtown offices.

Back in the city, climb to the top of the Empire State Building to take in the fabulous view one last time before you say good-bye to the Empire State. From your perch you may be able to see beyond the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island almost as far as your entire New York itinerary took you– from the Hudson Valley to the upstate highway, and Long Island sound glistening in the sunset.

Close your eyes, and make a promise to return to New York again soon, because there is even more New York for you to explore next time

Filed Under: featured, New York, North America, United States