New York City Essentials

Take a walking tour through the humming streets of New York’s Midtown which is the home of famous sights such as Times Square, Rockefeller Center, Madison Square Garden and some of the city’s most revered museums and institutions.

The third-tallest building in the world (only the Sears Tower in Chicago and the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur are taller), the Empire State Building rises over the Manhattan skyline like a throne. Admire its Art Deco curves up close as you ascend a quarter of a mile skyward to get New York's best aerial view. From the top, you'll see the Monopoly-board patchwork of skyscrapers, hotels, apartments, and parks that make up the city. Note that the tallest buildings cluster in Midtown -- this section of the island has the strongest foundations, making it the only area where skyscrapers won't sink into the harbor.

The statue, a joint venture between the U.S. and France, was commissioned to honor the 100th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and the friendly Franco-American relations established at that time. Once a gallows field for convicted pirates, Ellis Island became a federal immigration station in 1892. In the years that followed, Ellis Island saw roughly 12 million immigrants pass through its halls to enter the United States of America. In 1965 Lyndon B. Johnson declared the island part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument, and in 1990 it was reopened as the Ellis Island Immigration Museum, which today attracts over 2 million visitors per year. Afterwards, take a ferry from the islands to Battery Park, a short walk to the 9/11 Memorial. (Note: The 9/11 Memorial is pending availability).

Tour Lower Manhattan, where industry, immigration, and colonial history converge. As the symbol of Western capitalism, Wall Street's modern traders bristle with cell phones, PDAs, and other modern tech accessories. This area's original traders, however, were Dutch colonialists, who gave the street its name by building a wall here to protect themselves from British settlers. Nearby Trinity Church, once the tallest building in the city, holds the grave of Alexander Hamilton and other Revolutionary luminaries who helped shape the emerging United States, and thousands of immigrants, who shaped the modern country, came in through Battery Park, the immigration entry point for the city until the operation moved to Ellis Island.

As Daniel Libeskind's design for the World Trade Center site slowly materializes, new hope and peace are infusing lower Manhattan. See the site where the original towers stood and where countless family members, friends, and sympathetic strangers paid their respects to those killed in the September 11th attacks, and witness the new plans for the future businesses, public space, and memorials that will soon stand here.

See the essentials of New York City on a tour with an experienced local guide. Stroll past the chic shops and art galleries of Greenwich Village and SoHo, and soak up the Bohemian style of the East Village. Then score authentic New York City pizza and knock-off designer sunglasses in Little Italy and Chinatown, respectively. The combination of each neighborhood’s ethnic enclaves creates the complex culture so characteristic of New York City.

The Metropolitan Museum, known to New Yorkers as the MET, houses a vast permanent collection of over two-million works of art, as well as cutting-edge feature exhibitions from the world’s most prominent artists. Tour the museum’s grand halls, drawing inspiration from the masters. Highlights include European Paintings, Modern Art & Photography, and The Costume Institute, as well as the stunning traditional works of Egypt, Ancient Greece and Rome, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas.