Dental News - Coming to Greater New York? Get out and explore New York City!

Fred Michmershuizen / DTA

Tue. 21 November 2017

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NEW YORK, N.Y., USA: If you are in town for the Greater New York Dental Meeting, be sure to get out and explore New York City! There is plenty to see and do. From the skyline, which seems to get more interesting each year, to the world’s best visual arts and the latest Broadway and Off-Broadway shows, there is always something new and exciting to take in.

Whether this is your first time in the Big Apple or your umpteenth, here are some things you might want to do during your stay.

Art

Scores of rare drawings and other works by Michelangelo are on display in a special exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, located at 1000 Fifth Avenue (The Met Fifth Avenue, www.metmuseum.org). This is being described as a “once-in-a-lifetime exhibition.” In fact, these works are so sensitive to light that they are rarely exhibited in public. Once this three-month exhibition closes, The New York Times writes, “the likelihood of there being another on its scale within the lifetime of anyone reading these words is slim.” The museum is open Sunday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and Fridays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Suggested admission is $25 for adults, $17 for seniors and $12 for students.

If sculpture is more your style, you can check out “The Body in Bronze” at the Brooklyn Museum, www.brooklynmuseum.org. This exhibition features 58 bronze works of Rodin, who died 100 years ago. The Brooklyn Museum is located at 200 Eastern Parkway, at the northern end of Prospect Park. By Subway, take the 2 or 3 to Eastern Parkway/Brooklyn Museum. It’s open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday (open until 11 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 2), closed Mondays and Tuesdays. Admission is $16 for adults and $10 for seniors and students, free for those 19 and under.

All around town, and for free, you can view “Good Fences Make Good Neighbors,” a multi-media exhibition of public works by renowned Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei. The installations, on display for a short time, include “Gilded Cage,” at the Doris C. Freedman Plaza in Central Park; “Arch,” at Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village; and “Circle Fence,” at the Unisphere in Flushing Meadows Park, Queens. There are more than 300 sites in all. For more information, visit www.publicartfund.org.

Rockefeller Plaza Christmas tree

New York City’s most famous Christmas tree is at Rockefeller Plaza, between West 48th and West 51st streets and Fifth and Sixth avenues. It will be lit for the first time on Wednesday, Nov. 29. There will be live performances — and large crowds — from 7 to 9 p.m., so venture there with caution.

Even better, try to pick another day and time to visit, preferably an evening after the theater gets out. Or have lunch at The Sea Grill — theseagrillnyc.com, (212) 332-7610 — and watch from your comfortable seat behind the glass (provided, of course that you can get a table).

The High Line

The High Line is one of New York City’s most popular attractions. It’s a public park built on a renovated train line, elevated above the streets of the West Side of Manhattan. It first opened in 2009, with a second section added in 2011. The third and final section has been open for just over a year now, and — good news to GNYDM attendees — there is an entry point on West 34th Street, directly across from the south end of the Javits center.

If the weather is nice, you will definitely want to take a stroll. You can walk all the way down Gansevoort Street in the historic Meatpacking District. Along the way, you’ll see all manner of urban life, including the most modern architecture, interesting people, artwork, gritty buildings that will make you wonder how they are still standing and everything in between.

Get more information at www.thehighline.org.

One World Observatory

You go to the top of One World Trade Center. At 1,776 feet, it’s the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. You’ll start by entering one of the most high-tech elevators you’ve ever been in. As you ascend, you’ll see a time-lapse LED representation of the city’s development over several hundred years, from the 1500s right up to the present day. Be sure to pay attention, though, as the trip to the top takes less than one minute.

Once you’re at the top, you’ll have the best view money can buy. Also at the top is the Sky Portal, described as “a 14-foot wide circular disc that delivers an unforgettable view, using real-time, high-definition footage of the streets below.”

One World Trade Center is downtown, at 285 Fulton St. The entrance to the public is at the corner of West and Vesey streets. If you intend to go up, it’s best to purchase tickets in advance, at oneworldobservatory.com. You can also call (844) 696-1776. It’s open every day from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m.

9/11 Memorial and Museum

Also at the World Trade Center site is the National September 11 Memorial Museum. It documents the events of 9/11, the impact of those events and their continuing significance. Artifacts associated with the terrorist attack are displayed, and stories of loss and recovery are presented.

The museum is open daily from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. (last entry at 6 p.m.), and the memorial is accessible daily from 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. To plan a visit and get information on tickets to the museum, visit www.911memorial.org.

Nearby is the 9/11 Memorial, consisting of two large pools marking the spots where the twin towers of the World Trade Center stood. The names of every person killed on Feb. 26, 1993, and Sept. 11, 2001, are inscribed in bronze around the twin memorial pools. If you visited the memorial in the past and had to pass through airport-style security, take note: The memorial is now open access.

Citi Bike

New York now has a bike share program, called Citi Bike. It’s hugely popular with the locals, and it’s also available to visitors. You’ll no doubt see these blue bikes being ridden all over the place, as well as docked at various street corners scattered throughout Manhattan below 60th Street and in parts of Brooklyn.

The system consists of a fleet of sturdy, adjustable bikes that are locked into a network of docking stations. The bikes can be checked out from and then returned to any station in the system. You get 30 minutes to complete your trip from Point A to Point B.

Don’t be shy. Buy a 24-hour or a seven-day access pass with a credit card at any station. You can get more information at each station’s touchscreen kiosk (there’s one just outside the Javits), along with a map of the service area and surrounding neighborhood, or visit www.citibikenyc.com. There’s also a smartphone app, called BikeShare, updated constantly, which shows the nearest stations to you, along with the number of bikes and slots available.

New Subway stop

For those who like to commute via mass transit, there’s now a Subway station right across the street from the Javits. That means no more waiting forever to get a cab. The station is on 34th Street and 11th Avenue.

You can catch the 7 train, which will whisk you into Midtown in minutes (or all the way into Queens if you’re headed out that way). For more information, including maps and schedules, visit www.mta.info/nyct.