Posts in ‘Things to do in New York’

On October 31st, the people of Greenwich Village in Manhattan are preparing to put on the best Halloween parade in the event’’s 35-year history.

The pagan festival is celebrated the world over in one shape or another, but many think of the US as the birthplace of its modern incarnation.

Each year’’s Village Halloween Parade in New York City is one of the liveliest and most colourful parties around. More than two million spectators flock to the streets to see over 50,000 participants creep, crawl and stilt-walk their way along 6th Avenue in Greenwich Village.

The theme for this year’’s festival is ghosts, which will no doubt be interpreted as simple as a white sheet with cut-out eyeholes or as something far more elaborate by the thousands of revellers.

Music is also a huge part of the festival, with over 50 bands playing many different types of music along the route.

New York – From the dizzy heights of the Empire State Building to the serene Central Park New York has it all!

This year’’s Chile Pepper Fiesta will take place in Brooklyn Botanic Gardens in New York on September 27th 2008.

An afternoon of music and dance performances and workshops accompany a selection of spicy food celebrating the many uses for the much-loved food stuff.

Tourists will be able to attend this hot one-day event from noon until 18:00 local time.

For those that have already paid to get into the gardens themselves entry is free for this festival which, unsurprisingly, is a heated affair in everything from entertainment to cuisine.

Highlights include a special concert featuring guitarists Pete Seeger and Tao Rodriguez-Seeger, as well as fire eating and juggling.

Meanwhile, Mexican, Indian, African and Thai dishes are among just some of the many foods that will be available for guests to sample at this spicy event.

Officials at the Botanic Gardens recently underlined its commitment to preserving rare wildlife by signing an agreement to concentrate on the conservation of plants heralding from outside of New York City.

New York – From the dizzy heights of the Empire State Building to the serene Central Park New York has it all!

There will be a special performance at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York on September 22nd to celebrate the company’’s 125th anniversary.

However, it will not only be audience members in the prestigious Big Apple venue that will be able to watch Act II of Verdi’’s La Traviata unfold on the opening gala night.

Some 600 movie theatre audiences around the country will also be able to watch the performance in high-definition as part of The Met: Live in HD season.

Nearly one million people tuned in to watch last year’’s 225 performances that were broadcast to theatres throughout the US, which will be shown in digital 3D this year.

The Metropolitan Opera House will also be hosting a tribute to Luciano Pavarotti on September 18th, which has free tickets available for those quick enough to apply.

Pavarotti, who died on September 6th last year, made his debut at the New York venue in 1968 with a performance as Rodolfo in La Boheme.

New York – From the dizzy heights of the Empire State Building to the serene Central Park New York has it all!

The Independent Feature Film Market will be taking place at New York’’s Angelika Film Centre from 14th to 19th September.

Celebrating American film production, the annual event focuses on films and filmmakers operating outside the mainstream Hollywood studio system.

The market also looks at projects in progress, in addition to presenting workshops, talks and screenings of more than 200 different films.

It was originally established in the late 1970s as a way of countering the increasing number of blockbusters seen to be dominating the American film industry.

Notable filmmakers who have used the market as a career springboard include Joel and Ethan Coen with Blood Simple, Kevin Smith with Clerks and Quentin Tarantino with the controversial Reservoir Dogs.

New York has become a centre of film culture in recent years - a development spurred by the establishment of the Tribeca Film Festival by superstar actor Robert De Niro and producer Jane Rosenthal.

The city is now regarded as one of the film culture hotspots of the United States, removed from the vacuous glamour of Los Angeles.

From the dizzy heights of the Empire State Building to the serene Central Park New York has it all!

What stands 92.99 metres high and has an index finger measuring eight feet in length?

Just over 38 years after it was dedicated on October 28th 1886, this landmark was declared a national monument in 1924.

The structure contains 125 tonnes of steel and 31 tonnes of copper and yet it sways six inches from side to side when the wind blows in excess of 50 miles per hour.

It has been covered entirely in snow, a tidal wave, buried up to its torch in sand and destroyed by aliens, in the movies at least.

This universal symbol of democracy was given by the people of France to the people of the United States and has a twin in Paris.

It is hard to imagine a visit to New York without following in the footsteps of the millions of people who have made the trip from the southern tip of Manhattan Island to one of the most iconic landmarks in America.

Indeed it could be classed as pointless as giving the Mona Lisa a miss on a visit to the Louvre but if you remain unsure as to what this tourist magnet could be, perhaps you should take a trip to the New York Public Library to find out.

New York – From the dizzy heights of the Empire State Building to the serene Central Park New York has it all!

August 17th is the last date of the Medieval and Renaissance exhibition on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York.

On loan from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the 35 treasures of the collection have not been seen previously in the Big Apple.

Included in the exhibition are the Carolingian ivory cover of the Lorsch Gospels, an ivory statuette of the crucified Christ by Giovanni Pisano, Donatello’’s bronze Winged Putto with Fantastic Fish, a pair of gilt-bronze statuettes of prophets by Hubert Gerhard, and the Codex Forster 1, one of Leonardo da Vinci’’s treasured notebooks.

Around the same time, the Geo/Metric: Prints and Drawings exhbition also ends at the MoMA.

August 18th is the last chance to see this collection of works done in the styles of the Cubist, Futurist, Russian avant-garde artists of the 1910s and 1920s and Minimalists.

New York – From the dizzy heights of the Empire State Building to the serene Central Park New York has it all!

Our ‘Perfect Holiday’ Contest entries have been rolling in! A few of you got very creative with your responses, crafting globe trotting itineraries with inventive themes. Here are some of our favourites thus far:

1. ‘Southern Music Odyssey’, by Greg Davies

A road trip with a difference—i.e. not your usual ‘Route 66’ or ‘Coast to Coast’ American Dream. Due to my late grandfather’s musical obsession that he passed onto me, my dream holiday would be to drive the southern United States, visiting and enjoying some of the famous sights and sounds of Country music—the Grand Ol’ Opry, Memphis, Tupelo, Austin, Nashville—all in an old convertible…staying at old-style motels along the way and enjoying southern hospitality and good ol’ time music, the way it’s meant to be enjoyed!

2. ‘A Taste for Travel’, by Lydia Houghton

I’d have lobster in Cancun, cocktails in New York, A balti in Bombay, A Guinness in County Cork, coq au vin in Paris, a pizza in fair Rome, a chop suey in Beijing, and Swedish meatballs in Stockholm.

It would be such a treat to take a break from all the cooking, but the only problem is… my tummy might need tucking!

3. ‘Natural World Wonders’, by Chris Woodroofe

My Perfect Holiday would be a tour around all of the natural world wonders: Serengeti Migration, Galápagos Islands, Grand Canyon, Iguazu Falls, Amazon Rainforest, Ngorongoro Crater, Great Barrier Reef, Bora Bora Cappadocia and Victoria Falls. All I would need would be a backpack, a diary, and a camera…this would be my perfect holiday—very simple, but very rewarding, as the natural world wonders are being destroyed…

That’s all for now!

The official shortlist will be posted on the isango! website very soon. Be sure to vote!

New York City overtook Orlando and Las Vegas to capture the top spot in total tourism spending in the US last year, according to new research.

Figures from Global Insight, the financial analysis and forecasting firm, revealed that the influx of international visitors is driving growth in the Big Apple.

New York gained about 1.5 million overseas visitors last year and increased its share of total international visitors by 3.3 per cent in 2007.

Foreign visitors also pushed up Washington DC, Miami, Seattle and Santa Ana/Anaheim in the rankings.

"Exchange rate advantages, economic growth at home, and redoubled promotional efforts are behind this success," explained Christopher Pike, Tourism Principal at Global Insight.

Meanwhile, an expert has said that despite the credit crunch, Britons are sill taking holidays.

Bob Atkinson of travelsupermarket.com said: "Those [people] with budgets or those who have to be a bit more careful are still taking their main break."

New York – From the dizzy heights of the Empire State Building to the serene Central Park New York has it all!

A musical based on the 1980 film Nine to Five is set to open on Broadway on April 23rd next year, following a short run in Los Angeles this September.

Country star Dolly Parton - who received an Oscar for the title song - starred in the original film with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin.

The musical, about three colleagues who plot to turn the tables on their sexist, lying boss, includes Parton’’s original score as well as 20 new songs.

Nine to Five will star The West Wing’’s Allison Janney in Tomlin’’s role, Stephanie J Block in Fonda’’s part and Megan Hilty as Parton’’s sexy executive secretary. Marc Kudisch plays their bigoted boss.

Also moving to Broadway next year is Mary Stuart, Friedrich Schiller’’s history play that was a recent hit in London.

Variety magazine reported that the show, directed by Phyllida Lloyd, will arrive next spring at a yet to be named theatre with its stars, Janet McTeer and Harriet Walter.

New York – From the dizzy heights of the Empire State Building to the serene Central Park New York has it all!