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The world next door
Escape to Manhattan
BY DAVID VALDES GREENWOOD

For years, a 30-second commercial spot ran in the Northeast, featuring the most enticing cultural highlights and tourist attractions of what the ads called " The World Next Door. " The images tended toward the bucolic: farmers waving from lush fields, charming European-style boulevards, and pixies dressed like Anne of Green Gables.

It was an ad for Canada. And for a small-town boy like me, the quaint charms it depicted didn’t seem worth leaving home for. When I thought of other worlds, I imagined a buzzing metropolis, with skyscrapers, endless activities, and colorful people — in other words, I pictured New York City.

As an urban adult, Manhattan is still my ideal getaway. If I want to see trends in food or fashion, months — hell, even years — may pass before they make it to Boston. So I look to New York. If I want to see a provocative new play or a singular art exhibit that won’t go on tour, the Big Apple beckons. For my money, New York is the true heart of America. Other contenders, like the Midwest (our geographic center) and Washington, DC, (our political hub) simply can’t compete with it.

That’s why I’m always surprised when fellow Bostonians admit that they never get to the Big Apple. It seems almost ungrateful to ignore such riches when they’re so nearby. Roughly four hours away by car, New York City is as close as the Northeast Kingdom ski slopes and closer than Baxter State Park’s camping grounds. You can wake in Boston, have brunch in Manhattan, see a Broadway matinee, explore neighborhoods, and still be home by midnight. (Of course, spending the night’s great, too.)

Easy to navigate but impossible to exhaust — the fabulous world next door is waiting. But there are just a few things you need to know before you discover it for yourself.

Before you go

The best way to psych yourself up — and come up with a strategy — is to buy a copy of Time Out New York. For whatever reason, this weekly publication arrives late in Boston, so you may find that only a few days’ worth of listings are still current, but it’s a Manhattan compendium without peer. Its listings for art, dining, theater, and shopping are thorough and usually right on the money. But it also includes harder-to-categorize urban events, free activities, sales, and even the current status of various subway lines. I not only buy a TONY before I leave, but if a new one hits the stands while I’m there, I buy that, too.

Booking a hotel

Unlike Las Vegas or Disney World, NYC is a working city first and a vacation locale second. This means that at most hotels, room rates on weekends are actually cheaper than on weeknights. Even so, a typical hotel room for a one-night weekend stay can easily ring up at $150 to $200 (the Radisson, for instance, costs $180 for a discount room). I beat the system by using Priceline.com and asking for a room at a three-star hotel on a $100 bid. Priceline always responds with a warning that such a low bid has little chance of being accepted, but don’t increase your bid — without fail, Priceline coughs up a room for which you would’ve paid at least twice as much at full price. " Three stars " means it won’t be dubious, and you’ll get comfortable digs for your trip. The greatest deals come within 10 days of your arrival time (as hotels get antsy about empty beds), and you can use Priceline right up until departure.

Also check out Hotelfinder.com, where the savings are slightly lower but you can still get as much as 30 percent off — all while doing your own picking and choosing. (A word of caution: what Hotelfinder calls two stars actually can be a little dingy and rough. Stick to three-plus.) Small B&Bs in the city are often under 100 bucks, but you generally need to book further in advance, and many have two- or three-night minimums.

Getting there

Don’t fly. By the time you arrive hours early to get through security at Logan, wait for your flight, fly, land outside the city, find transportation in, and arrive at long last, you could’ve easily driven — and had control over the entire process. You can follow I-95 to within sight of Manhattan, then follow signs for FDR Drive (which outlines the East Side) onto the island proper — you’ll save money over flying and enjoy maximum flexibility about arrival and departure times. Parking can be expensive (either end of Manhattan is cheapest; Midtown prices will make your eyes bleed), but the indoor lots are pretty reliable and take the worry off. Or, drive as far as Stamford, Connecticut, and park overnight at the MetroNorth station, finishing the trip on the commuter rail (which brings you right to Grand Central Station).

You can also take Amtrak (between $120 and $200 round-trip). Book a seat on a reserved train and Amtrak will become the easiest route of all, depositing you in Penn Station. The only drawback — and it’s worth noting — is the limited schedule. Because the last NYC-Boston Amtrak train of the day departs at 7:30 p.m., you can’t see a show on the night you plan to return home, unless you want to take the redeye at 1:30 a.m.

Getting around

The best deal in Manhattan is the MetroCard all-day Fun Pass, available at subway kiosks. A mere $4 buys unlimited rides for a whole day. By the end of a day tooling about the city, it’s saved you a decent chunk of change and the aggravation of waiting in line over and over to buy tokens. You can hop on or off at will, which matters because the subway is the way to do Manhattan. Everything you want to see is within a five- or 10-minute walk of a train. The subway operates on simple logic: it heads either uptown or downtown (much easier than the " inbound " and " outbound " designations in Boston, which switch while you’re still on the train). Just be careful not to get on an express train that skips your stop.

Cabs, on the other hand, can be either a godsend or a nuisance. On busy streets at popular times (just before or after theater curtain, or when it’s raining), you might be stuck flagging forever. If you do get a cab, the rates are good and the drivers are generally pretty knowledgeable, but remember: if it’s rush hour, the subway will be just as fast as being trapped in a cab that’s sitting in traffic.

Where to eat

Part of the fun of being in New York City is that it’s the land of a million eateries. But things add up, so you want to find great meals you can’t get at home, or deals that would be bargains in any city. For breakfast, you can sip espresso and nosh on French pastries at Ceci-Cela (55 Spring Street, 212-274-9179) in Soho, lingering in the tiny back room while locals lines up to grab a treat to go. Or snag a seat at Flea Market Café (131 Avenue A, 212-358-9280) in the East Village, which has a prix fixe menu. My favorite lunch spot is Soho’s Balthazar Bakery (80 Spring Street, 212-965-1785), a brasserie with famed steak frites and fun celebrity-watching. Lunch reservations are usually necessary, but walk-ins may snag a table with a wait (compared to dinner, which requires reservations a month in advance).

Finding the right place for dinner is both exhilarating (so many choices) and frustrating (so many other people want your seat). It is nigh unto impossible to score seats at the hottest spots on short notice, but the number of great restaurants is vast. One excellent choice is Peasant (194 Elizabeth Street, 212-965-9511) in Soho, with a wood-fired grill and an inventive touch with ingredients like wild boar and rabbit. If you want glamour with a little buzz, check out the mother of Indo-fusion, Tabla (11 Madison Avenue, 212-889-0667), in Union Square, but eat downstairs in the hopping Bread Bar, where inventive cocktails and less-formal food will wow you.

Of course, you do have cheap options in every food category, without resorting to fast-food chains. For any meal, but especially breakfast, you might just choose a corner diner that has the gritty, old-school look. Breakfast at Chelsea’s Empire Diner (210 10th Avenue, 212-243-2736) won’t be surprising or inventive per se, but it will be affordable, solid, and damn authentic New York.

What to see

If you’re headed to New York City for the first time, it’s useless to try to see it all in one trip. For a big view, you could take in the sights from atop the Empire State building, but I think you get a better sense of the city’s structure and history from a Circle Line boat tour to the Statue of Liberty. Shake off the fear of feeling touristy and soak in the view, accompanied by a (now surprisingly poignant) narration of the city’s past and present.

Some of the city’s greatest monuments are cultural institutions. The Metropolitan Museum of Art has a world-famous collection housed in a building as grand as a castle. The Guggenheim is a stunning building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, and its eclectic shows are unlikely to tour. You can also just bring your walking shoes and get to know some of the singular neighborhoods: lower Harlem, Soho, Chelsea, the Village (East and West), Chinatown, or over the bridge to Brooklyn (the Cambridge/Somerville of New York).

Show tickets

You can get tickets in advance (check out Playbill.com for complete Broadway and Off Broadway listings), or get them for half-price at one of the two TKTS booths in the city. The Times Square booth is usually mobbed, so get there early and plan to spend a good hour in line for day-of seats (on sale at 10 a.m. for matinee performances; 3 p.m. for evening shows); the downtown booth in Bowling Green Plaza allows you to buy matinee tickets a day ahead (starting at 11 a.m. every day). It helps to have your Time Out New York handy to read up on some of the lesser-known plays.

Shopping

Though Fifth and Madison Avenues have the high-end department stores (Bergdorf Goodman) and major labels (Dolce & Gabbana, Valentino, and so on), many local shoppers head downtown to more unusual galleries and vintage shops — from the East Village through Soho. One can’t-miss destination, even if you don’t plan to buy something, is the new downtown Prada, designed by Rem Koolhaus; it’s the most theatrical store in the city.

What not to do

Don’t let a stranger carry anything for you. Don’t get into a cab that doesn’t look like a cab. Don’t expect a store to let you use its restroom (find a Starbucks instead). Don’t drive into the city between 7 and 9 a.m., or drive out between 4 and 6 p.m. on weekdays. And, dear God, don’t wear all-white sneakers or a fanny pack.

David Valdes Greenwood can be reached at valdesgreenwood@worldnet.att.net

Issue Date: February 21, 2002
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