Second Time in New York

Returning to New York City is a bit like rewatching your favourite film, the second time through, you start noticing the odd details (what exactly was Trump doing in Home Alone 2?!).

The way the subway doors close with a noise suspiciously similar to passive-aggressive sighing. The baffling number of dogs wearing raincoats that cost more than your shoes. The realisation that the city has layers, like a cultural onion, that stretch way beyond the lower Manhattan of an inevitable first visit.

Most first-time visitors sprint between the classics, Times Square! Empire State Building! Central Park! (to be fair, Central Park is worth visiting every trip for a moment of calm).

This leaves the far more interesting “what on earth is that?” moments for return visits. And that’s where the real New York hides. Not in the skyscrapers, but in the most diverse food scene on Earth (sorry London), quirky museums and bars that demand either every beer be served in two glasses or absolute silence from the patrons…no, really!

So here’s a two-day itinerary engineered for curious returnees.  As with any trip to the Big Apple, pack comfortable shoes and an unnecessarily large appetite.

Note - I was in town for a Panthers game but let's not pretend that the schlep out to Meadowlands is ever going to be a highlight of an NYC trip (although we did win...!)

You've already done: Times Square, Statue of Liberty (either a tour or the Staten Island Ferry) & Ellis Island, walked through Central Park, One World Trade and the 9/11 Memorial, cycled across the Brooklyn Crige, been up the Empire State and/or Rockefeller Center

Second Time In New York: Day 1

Every good New York day begins with breakfast, ideally in a place where the smell alone could revive the exhausted. Chelsea Market obliges with enthusiasm.

Think pastries the size of compact cars, artisanal doughnuts, silky coffee, and approximately 17 types of avocado toast (because Brooklyn’s influence is creeping west like an unstoppable culinary fog).  Personally, I like Bar Suzette for the people watching and freshly made crepes (given what’s to come later, you’ll do well not to stuff yourself unduly!)

Once suitably fuelled, stroll straight onto the High Line (open to 10pm April - November, 8pm December - March, free), New York’s most successful attempt at repurposing infrastructure (an abanoned freight rail line) and one a surprising number of visitors miss.  It’s connected to Chelsea Market on W 16^thStreet.

Suspended above the streets, the path lets you glide past murals, wildflowers, and spectacular architecture at a height of 30ft – sufficient for some altogether different views from street level.  It’s peaceful in a uniquely New York way: tranquil, with occasional interruptions from a joggers and strollers and the occasional swerve around an unaware self-taking tourist.

You’ll now be around midday and getting hungry again. 

I hear you - hop the subway to Elmhurst, Queens (a 40 minute subway journey via F & M lines), for an afternoon that will make your stomach sing multilingual opera. This is where you join Rich from Ethnojunket, who has eaten his way through more world cuisines than most people can name (if Asian isn’t your thing, he runs Eastern European and Middle Eastern tours too!)

The food crawl is part anthropology class, part culinary therapy, and part competitive eating (depending on your self-control).  You’re promised a culinary tour of Asia and gosh, he isn’t kidding – over the course of an afternoon, you’ll go through Japanese, Thai, Filipino, Indonesian, Malaysian, Nepali…

Elmhurst is where flavours from half the planet coexist within three square blocks, and Rich has the keys to all of them. Expect dumplings, skewers, noodles, soups, and at least one dish you’ve never seen before but will think about for months (mine was onigiri - warm Japanese rish 'sandwiches' wrapped in seaweed). This isn't a touristy area, there are no blockbuster sites and so the focus is squarely on the food - and my goodness, you'll be waddling back to the subway.

Resist the urge to slump into a food coma and retrace your steps back to Manhattan - the R line goes direct to within a 10 minute walk of your next spot, get off at 8^th St, NYU.

Back in Manhattan, you’re about to enjoy an evening of Old New York drinking culture, the good kind: wood-panelled and slightly time-warped. Start at McSorley’s Ale House (175 E 7th Street), one of the oldest pubs in America, where you order beer simply as “light” or “dark” and receive two glasses regardless (cash only).  Enjoy what the Americans insist on calling ‘double fisting’ – don’t explain what you think it means – and watch the constantly evolving cast of characters who swing by.   

Just down the road is a polar opposite experience, which absolutely needs to be your next stop.  Step into the monastic hush of Burp Castle, the city’s “quiet bar,” where librarians would feel right at home and the soundtrack is Gregorian chanting (I shit you not).  Conversations here are conducted at the volume of a gentle confession – signs on the bar make this very clear.  Don’t join in the shushing of others, that gets you a ticking off from the bar staff for taking their job!

If you can manage more than one drink here without bursting out laughing, congratulations you’re doing better than we did.  Finish up at KGB Bar, located in the old Kraine Theatre, a literary haunt where walls are red, half the seating is old school movie theatre, and the cocktails are unapologetically strong. Time your visit right on a weekend and you’ll be serenaded by top-tier live jazz.

And for the perfect nightcap now you’ve got the midnight munchies? A $1.50 slice of pizza, consumed on the sidewalk like a true New Yorker (literally twenty such places exist in this neighbourhood), half folded, half dripping, wholly satisfying.

Day 2

Begin your second day by levelling up - literally - with a visit to One Vanderbilt’s SUMMIT, the observatory that turns Manhattan into a floating silver mosaic.

One of Manhattan’s newest viewpoints, there are mirrors everywhere and the anticipated views for days.  It’s not cheap (from $44) but the originality of the experience makes it stand out from One World Trade, Empire State or Rockefeller (at least one of which you’ll have done first time around).  Booking in advance is sensible, particularly at weekends or around holidays. Going shortly after it opens at 10am will allow you to get the best pics of the balloon room (no, really) without having to spend weeks editing other tourists out.

Once your feet touch solid ground again, jump on the subway (literally any line going between 42^nd and 4^thStreet) to John’s of Bleecker Street for lunch.  You’d be well advised to get there early (before 12pm on a weekday, 11.30 on weekends) to avoid queuing outside but once inside…you’re getting coal-fired, blistered-edge, thin-crust perfection, New York pizza at its platonic ideal. No slices. No nonsense.

Share one… or don’t. You’re on holiday.

Afterwards, stop for a quick pint at The Stonewall Inn (opens 2pm M-F, 1pm weekends), a five-minute stroll from John’s.  Often called the home of the modern gay rights’ movement, thanks to a riot against repeated police harassment in June 1969.  While I think this overstates its importance considerably (that’s a very different blog post), but it’s status as an iconic New York bar remains indisputable.  Return later for drag shows, stand-up and a guaranteed good time.

Feeling fed and watered, head east to Flushing Meadows–Corona Park (line 1 to Times Square and transfer to the 7 to Mets-Willets Point) and the Queens Museum (pay what you wish, suggested $8, home of the gloriously bizarre Panorama of the City of New York. You probably don't need to book ahead but it's not a bad idea to reserve a ticket given it's not the shortest of journeys

Imagine a 9,300-square-foot scale model of the entire city, every block, every building, every awkward cul-de-sac, originally created for the 1964 World’s Fair. Standing above it puts you squarely in superhero mode, surveying your miniaturised cardboard kingdom.  It’s a sure-fire way to check off everywhere you’ve visited across both your trips to New York, followed by fifteen minutes pondering which tiny building you would hypothetically live in (we’ll skip the affordability bit).

As afternoon becomes evening, make your way back toward Midtown for the city’s most quietly magical experience: a sunset 1920s yacht tour around New York Harbour. There’s something hypnotic about gliding down the Hudson with Manhattan glowing in the images you’ve seen in a thousand movies. You drift past the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and Battery Park. The skyline reflects on the water, tourists speak in hushed tones, and at some point you’ll get sentimental and channel your inner Alicia Keys – big lights may well inspire you.

After docking, the night is still young, because this is New York (etc etc…), where time is a a mere suggestion.  For something very different to last night, slip into one of Midtown’s superb Japanese cocktail bars, where bartenders craft drinks with the calm precision of zen gardeners. Whether you pick Bar Goto Niban (Bergen St in Brooklyn) or the revived Angel’s Share (Christopher St, a short walk from Stonewall Inn…so do both!). 

Whichever you pick, expect elegant glassware, comforting lighting, and cocktails so balanced they should teach diplomacy. Rest your exhausted feet and savour everything new that you've uncovered on your return visit.

A Second Visit to New York – Opportunity Knocks

Second-time trips are the sweet spot, you’ve checked off the icons, but you still have the wide-eyed curiosity of someone discovering the city’s eccentricities.

And New York rewards that curiosity generously. More than anything, this itinerary proves that New York isn’t a city you “finish” - it's not going to happen so don't try! Perhaps more than anywhere on Earth, this city is a living, shifting puzzle of neighbourhoods, personalities, and snacks, always ready to offer up something unexpected so long as you’re willing to wander…and wander you most definitely should.

Whether it’s your second visit or your twelfth, you’ll keep finding stories between the skyscrapers. And let's face it, if else fails, there’s always another slice waiting around the corner.