Seeing the New York Sights when You Are Young and Penniless

New York is paradoxically one of the cheapest and most expensive cities in America. Living here is notoriously expensive, but day trippers can make out like bandits. Here are some tips for visiting New York when you have more lint in your pockets than money.

Many of New York's greatest cultural institutions sponsor free or by donation entrance policies. If you are interested in visiting one, always consult their website in advance to see when these reduced price policies are in effect.

For example, in spite of the posted "suggested admission" prices that can be onerous for the truly broke, both The Metropolitan Museum of Art www.metmuseum.org/ and the American Museum of Natural History www.amnh.org/ will let you in for as little as a dollar. Be sure to use the side entrance for your visit to the American Museum of Natural History or you will wind up paying full price to one of the automated ticket vending machines merely to exit the interminable lines.

Both The Bronx Zoo www.bronxzoo.com/ and nearby New York Botanical Gardens www.nybg.org/ are both essentially free on Wednesdays. The Bronx Zoo will accept as little as a dollar for admission to the grounds, while the Botanical Garden offers free grounds admission, although there are additional charges to see the renowned Enid Haupt Conservatory.

The New York Botanical Gardens also offers free grounds admission before 12:00 noon Saturdays, so plan to visit early and then drop by nearby Arthur Avenue, www.arthuravenue.com/index.jsp New York's little Italy, for a late lunch or dinner or just pastry and espresso. Or if you are in the mood for seafood, grab the Pelham Bay bus for a short trip to City Island, http://www.cityisland.com/ New York's seaside village.

Tuesdays are for visiting beautiful Wave Hill, www.wavehill.org/visit/ also in the Bronx or the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens in Downtown Brooklyn. If you decide to visit the Brooklyn Botanic Garden on Tuesday, you can pony up a small admission fee and see the Brooklyn Museum of Art www.brooklynmuseum.org/ exhibitions/ located right next door. The Brooklyn Museum of Art differs from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in offering a more New World flavored experience and is one of New York's best museums even though less well-known than the Met.

But if you want to see both Garden and Museum for free, come during the first Saturday of the month.
By visiting the Brooklyn Botanic Garden before noon and then dropping into the museum next door after 5:00pm, you can do both for free.

But be warned, there will be no First Saturday event for September because of an even more famous free event: The West Indian Parade www.wiadca.com/index.php. The pageantry of the West Indian Parade is legendary in New York. Like Carnival in Rio or Mardi Gras in New Orleans, the parade celebrates the last feast before Lenten abstinence, but for some strange reason it takes place in the Fall instead of traditional Shrove Tuesday. If you know why, drop me a line in the comments box for this article. Be sure to come, the parade is a blast and a great tribute to the creativity, pride and devotion to home and family of these warm people.

Enjoy all the wonderful things the city has to offer, and when you have a little more scratch, buy a membership to one or two of your favorites, then you can come whenever you like.

If you liked this article, you may want to try:

The General Buried Under New York's Fifth Avenue
www.associatedcontent.com/article/2063429/the_general_buried_under_new_yorks.html

New York City's First Transvestite Governor
www.associatedcontent.com/article/2067387/new_york_citys_first_transvestite_governor.html

or one of my numerous articles on gardening, day-trips near New York City or New York History.

Here is the master-link to all of my articles:

www.associatedcontent.com/user/583548/mary_finn.html