52 Must-Sees (at least!) through City Sightseeing New York tours

      A month before my birthday, I finally checked out another adventure from my bucket list- New York. It took me almost 3 decades to visit this dream city but I cannot complain and just be grateful to the Universe. How about visiting Ms. Universe Catriona Gray in her condo?

       It is only a layover of 3 days coming from London. To maximise my stay, make sure I won’t get lost, I booked the 48-Hour Pass of City Sightseeing New York Tours. It would let you hop off at one of the 40+ stops through Downtown and Uptown Manhattan and Brooklyn! It also has free bonus inclusions like The Night Tour, CitySightseeing New York Hop-on, Hop-off Ferry Tour, Entrance of the City of New York or New York Historical Society and some discounted vouchers.

1.) Food Carts 

         You can see a lot of food carts telling how diverse New York is. One corner sells Jamaican food, another selling Middle Eastern, another selling Indian, another selling Mexican, etc. I wonder where is the stall selling Filipino foods!

           The Hop-on Hop off Citysight Seeing New York tours normally start around 8am in Times Square. Make sure you grab a bite first in any of the stalls around. Average cost per meal is around 10 US dollars.

 

2.) Grand Central Terminal

     It is one of the popular film set locations. If you love Hollywood movies, you can definitely re-enact the dialogues of your famous stars here. Some of the movies shot here are Superman (1978), Carlito’s Way (1993), Falling in Love (1984), Friends with Benefits (2011), Hackers (1995), North by Northwest (1959), Arthur (2011), The House on Carroll Street (1988), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), The Thin Man Goes Home (1945), Unfaithful (2002), The Cotton Club (1984), Bad Company (2002), Just My Luck (2006), The Prince of Tides (1991), Revolutionary Road (2008), A Shock to the System (1990), Loosies (2012), Sweet Charity (1969), The Fisher King (1991), Midnight Run (1988), Tadpole (2000), Step Up 3D (2010), The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009), Duplicity (2009), Taxi (2004), The Code (2009), Kinsey (2004), Amateur (1994), Greetings from Tim Buckley (2012), Broken City (2013), Whirlygirl (2006), The Switch (2010), State of Grace (1990), The Freshman (1990), Old Dogs (2009), Extreme Measures (2006), Reign Over Me (2007), Men in Black (2002), The Out of Towners (1979). Have we missed any movies?

 

3.) The Helmsley Building

      The building was designated as a New York City landmark in 1987. Traffic exits and enters the building through two portals, one for uptown and one for downtown. One of the boardrooms was the film location of The Godfather in an important meeting between New York’s Five Families, to show their influence in society.

 

4.) Consulate General of Algeria

        I passed by the Consulate General of Algeria in one of the New York CitySightseeing’s stops. It is very significant for me because one of my best friends is Algerian whom I met in the 28th International Youth Forum in South Korea. I cannot visit though his country yet as there is no consulate of Algeria yet in the Philippines.

 

5.) Little Brazil corner 5th Avenue 

It is fun here.

 

 

6.) Consulate General of the Philippines

          Although Little Brazil corner 5th Avenue is fun. Few walks away is more fun– The Consulate General of the Philippines! I would love to be an Ambassador some day!

 

 

 

7.) Times Square, New York

      It is one of the famous sites I see on Instagram. It is sometimes referred as “The Crossroads of the World”. Why was it called Times Square? Formerly known as Longacre Square, Times Square was renamed in 1904 after The New York Times (a famous American Newspaper with worldwide influence and readership) moved its headquarters in this area.

 

8.) Good Morning America

      Just walking distance from Times Square is the Good Morning America studio. You can see how the anchors get their make up and filmed through the see-through window in the first floor. I once watched their show in their cable channel in the Philippines.

 

9.) Paramount Building

      What you will observe first is the glitzy lights of the Hard Rock Cafe. But above, you should notice the inscription Paramount. It is previously the headquarters of Paramount Pictures. The Beatles also announced their retirement in this Paramount Theatre.

 

10.) New York Fashion District

       The signifier that you already entered the New York Fashion District is this sewer monument on the left and a big button structure on the right. Below the button structure will be a fashion district information kiosk.

 

11.) Hotel Pennsylvania

Hotel Pennsylvania is mentioned in the 1940’s hit song “Pennsylvania 6-5000” by jazz performer Glenn Miller. I attached the song here just in case you want to hear it.

 

12.) Madison Square Garden 

It is the ‘World’s Most Famous Arena’ because of many famous performers who had staged concerts in this Arena.

 

13.) Penn Station

      Penn station is the busiest rail hub in North America and a gateway to the nation’s largest city. Just a nice mention, from here, you can get a train to Washington D.C.

 

14.) Taxis

      Look to your right. There are already around 14000 yellow taxis in New York City and no one knows how to drive.

 

15.) Macy’s

        You cannot find Walmart in New York City. Politicians think that putting a Walmart will kill the microbusinesses around. But, they let Macy’s stay here (the largest Macy’s actually) as Macy’s was born and founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy here in New York City.

These sculptures are actually honorary angel figures set up after the Macy’s owners died in the tragic Titanic accident.

 

16.) Herald Square 

      Beside Macy’s is Herald Square. It is called Herald Square as the now-defunct New York Herald was headquartered here. Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade is also held here annually, broadcasted by NBC-TV.

 

 

17.) Empire State Building 

      Once called as the Tallest Building in the World (1931-1971), it now holds the title (as of 2019) as the 45th tallest building in the world, 2nd tallest building in New York, and 6th tallest building in the United States of America.

 

18.) Marble Collegiate Church 

      President Donal Trump and his first lady Ivana married here in 1977. Liza Minela also married here from the first until husband number… wait.. still counting..

 

19.) The Flatiron building 

It one of the world’s most iconic skyscrapers and a quintessential symbol of New York City.

 

20.) Madison Square Gardens

 

 

21.) HSBC building

 

22.) New York University

 

23.) A lot of Historic Buildings

 

24.) Cast Iron Structures

 

25.) See International Supermodels Doing Their Shoots Within the City

 

26.) Starbucks

    Can I say the national coffee shop of the United States of America? You can see Starbucks almost on every corner of a US city. Focus on the letter signage which was posted by the New York City council in every restaurant.

A means clean but not necessarily means delicious

B for Beware

C for See you later

D for Diarrhea or Death

 

27.) The David N. Dinkins Manhattan Municipal Building

 

28.) Woolworth Building 

 

29.) St. Paul’s Chapel of Trinity Church Wall Street

 

30.) Zuccotti Park 

 

31.) Trinity Church Cemetery 

 

32.) Raging Bull 

 

33.) Help please. This Church is very significant, Pres Washington being here. I forgot the name. 

 

34.) South Street Seaport Historic District 

 

35.) Frances Tavern

 

36.) Chinatown

 

37.) Bellevue Hospital

    The world’s first ligation of the femoral artery for an aneurysm was performed here in 1808.

 

38.) NYU Langone Health

    Apart from the cute Dalmatian with yellow cab on its nose structure, the establishment is significant in determining the identities of the cadavers during the 9/11 attack.

 

39.) United Nations Headquarters

 

40.) Brooklyn Bridge

 

41.) St. Paul’s Chapel of Trinity Church Wall Street

 

42.) Artistic Murals

 

 

43.) New York Presbyterian

 

44.) Rockefeller Building

 

45.) Today show

 

46.) MTV Studios

 

47.) First Elevator of the World

 

48.) The Occulus NYC

 

49.) One World Observatory

 

50.) September 11 Memorial and Museum

 

51.) New York Skyline

 

 

 

52.) Statue of Liberty

Sightseeing Tours Boat Boarding Schedule- 10:20AM, 12:20PM, 2:20PM, 4:20PM