| "body"> | | | | largest suspension bridge - and the first to be |
| Four Buildings, two Museums, one Bridge and a Station | | | | constructed of steel. This bridge is a popular film |
| If you only have days in New York, these are the | | | | location, used as a backdrop for films like 'Saturday |
| places to see. | | | | Night Fever' and 'Mo' Better Blues'. Although you might |
| Rockefeller Center | | | | have seen it on celluloid; nothing beats the wonder of |
| Between Fifth & Seventh Avenues and 47th | | | | standing on it for the very first time. |
| Street & 52nd Street | | | | Metropolitan Museum of Art |
| Urban architects have tried to imitate the scale and | | | | Fifth Avenue, at 82nd Street |
| complexity of the Rockefeller Center ever since it | | | | New Yorkers regard this Museum as |
| was built in the '30s, but no one has ever succeeded. It | | | | home-away-from-home during the winter months. |
| covers two entire city blocks! People hang about the | | | | Spending endless hours pouring over the art: then |
| pedestrian spaces between the Maison Francaise and | | | | retiring to the café for something warm. This |
| the British Empire Buildings, looking down on the | | | | treasure trove of 1.4 million square feet of galleries is |
| ice-skating rink, which in summer is used as a | | | | virtually impossible to do in a single afternoon, but don't |
| café. Sunset is the best time to visit, as the | | | | be put off: the art you will see cannot be viewed |
| views accompanying the cocktails at the elegant | | | | anywhere else. Friday evenings are particularly |
| Rainbow Room can be spectacular. The famous art | | | | pleasant. Relax in splendid surroundings, enjoy a |
| deco Radio City Music Hall is situated on the western | | | | cocktail, and listen to a string quartet. |
| side of the complex. | | | | Museum of Modern Art |
| Empire State Building | | | | 11 West 53rd Street, between Fifth $ Sixth Avenues |
| 350 Fifth Avenue, at 34th Street | | | | A storehouse of some of the world's most exciting |
| The top of the Empire State Building is legendary both | | | | and contemporary art of the twentieth century, the |
| in movies and in life. Taking this trip is one of New | | | | Museum of Modern Art houses some of the most |
| York's highlights. The road travelled goes a bit like this... | | | | significant modern paintings, drawings and sculpture. |
| take a high-speed lift up to the 80th floor in under a | | | | The collection has grown to include 150,000 paintings, |
| minute. Take a second lift to the 86th floor. Queue | | | | sculptures, drawings, prints, photographs, architectural |
| again to continue to the 102nd storey, where there's a | | | | models and drawings, and design objects. MoMA also |
| 360-degree view with 50-mile/80-km visibility on a | | | | owns some 22,000 films, videos, and media works, as |
| clear day. Think of innovator, Douglas Leigh, the man | | | | well as film stills, scripts, posters and historical |
| who worked out how to bathe the tower in different | | | | documents. |
| coloured lights using plastic sheets and coloured gels. | | | | Solomon R Guggenheim Museum |
| Try to visit the Empire State Building at sunset when | | | | 1071 Fifth Avenue, at 88th Street |
| the place is less crowded. You can watch the city | | | | In 1943, iconoclast architect, Frank Lloyd Wright drew a |
| lighting up: the view is particularly stunning at dusk. | | | | citrus press, and submitted it to the New York building |
| Chrysler Building | | | | authorities. 16 years later, this innovative and |
| 405 Lexington Avenue, at 42nd Street | | | | remarkable design came into being, commissioned by |
| New Yorker's have a great fondness for this | | | | Solomon R Guggenheim to house his notable collection |
| magnificent building. Although you can't visit its luminous | | | | of works by modern artists. It was completed six |
| pinnacle - made of stainless steel arches and shaped | | | | months after Wright died. The cylindrical design of this |
| like a '30s Chrysler car's radiator cap - you can visit | | | | building and use of volume and space make it one of |
| the fabulous art deco lobby of red and brown marble | | | | Wright's masterpieces. In January 1990, a new gallery |
| and chrome, with original inlaid wooden elevator doors | | | | building - designed by Gwathmey & Associates, |
| and a painted ceiling. The façade of white brick | | | | based on a plan by Wright - was built and opened too |
| is decorated with designs taken from automobile | | | | much fanfare. The Guggenheim also has a downtown |
| hubcaps. Another romantic New York hotspot: | | | | branch in SoHo that is well worth visiting and stays |
| particularly at sunset. | | | | open late. |
| United Nations Headquarters | | | | Grand Central Station |
| First Avenue, at East 46th Street | | | | If you're looking for old-world romance, the most |
| The Modernist headquarters of the United Nations is | | | | legendary of New York's romantic havens has to be |
| also an excellent example of '50s architecture. Built by | | | | Grand Central Station. Its faded elegance only adds to |
| a committee of international architects that included Le | | | | the ambience its magnificent origins provide. Once a |
| Corbusier (who eventually renounced any association | | | | hubbub of city life - before the airlines took business |
| with the final design) there are three main buildings on | | | | from the railroads - this Beax-Arts building, which dates |
| the 17-acre/7 hectare site by the East River, plus a | | | | from 1903, was once the heart of New York. Inside is |
| library added in the '60s. You can visit the foyer and | | | | still marvelous: the enormous vaulted ceiling is |
| basement of the General Assembly building alone, but | | | | decorated with the constellations of the Zodiac. For |
| to see any of the council rooms and the General | | | | great dining views; check out Michael Jordan's Steak |
| Assembly itself, you must take a tour. | | | | House on the west side of the concourse and |
| Brooklyn Bridge | | | | Metrazur on the east. The Vanderbilt Hall often hosts |
| Probably the most famous and breathtaking bridge in | | | | visiting art exhibits and other events. Take a moment |
| the world; the Brooklyn Bridge was a massive | | | | to stand on the platform and envisage elegant days |
| undertaking. It took over 600 men, some 16 years to | | | | gone by. How great it is to be in New York! |
| build and when completed in 1883 was the world's | | | | |