New York | Wollman Rink | Wall Street | Brooklyn Heights

It Takes A Village

by Mark Seal


Sounds like you're a serious Central Park fan. There's Wollman Rink, where you can go ice skating. Also, people don't know this: In the summertime, in the area where Wollman Rink is, there is a little kids' carnival that operates all summer long. My children love this. It's a very big deal. You could have a great children's day in the summertime where you go to the children's carnival, the children's zoo, the slide on 67th Street, and then you can take them to Serendipity, which is a famous restaurant where they have frozen hot chocolate, a slushy, milk-shaky kind of chocolate drink that children love. It's famous for its desserts.

What are the sites in New York that mean something to you? Yesterday, my sister and I drove into New York. We took the Third Avenue Bridge, which is at the very top of Manhattan, and then you get on FDR Drive, which you can take all the way down around the lower tip of Manhattan, and then it turns into the West Side Highway. You can just keep going straight up to Westchester. You can see the whole city that way. My sister is not from New York. I would say, "Oh, look, there is the hospital where my daughter was born," and when we passed NYU, I'd say, "Look, that's Sutton Place, and it's a really lovely area with these old-­fashioned houses." We went around Manhattan in a loop and you can sort of see ­everything: Brooklyn, Brooklyn Heights, Wall Street. I love driving all the way around Manhattan because it is so small and you can do it; it takes no time at all. The other thing I always say to people in New York is don't be afraid to ask people for directions. People here are incredibly friendly. They might seem blunt, but usually­ they are just fast. New Yorkers love to give their opinions. They love to tell you where to eat; they love to tell you which is the best way to go. They love to do that.



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