A Virtual Visit to New York City: Part 2 – Beyond the Arts

A few weeks ago, I excitedly discovered that although New York City is closed for tourism as we know it – it certainly is not closed for 2020’s most popular way to experience sought after destinations – virtually! In fact, after searching through emails and websites and googling my heart out - I found that the arts are alive and well in cyberland and proceeded to take you on a virtual tour of the them (think museums, opera, ballet and of course – Broadway). Since then I have discovered so much more going on that I could quite possibly add Parts 3, 4, 5, etc. to this particular blog topic – much of it thanks to our fabulous friends at NYC and Company.

However today I have decided to concentrate solely on part two and have whittled it down to six more topics that are available to everyone, everywhere via desktop, laptop, phone or tablet. Once again I invite you – our valued travel advisors - to use the information to keep up on your own New York City knowledge, to share with your clients who may have had to postpone their visit (or have one planned post-pandemic) or simply for your own enjoyment.

Now sit back, fasten your virtual seat belt and enjoy this journey intended to highlight just a few more areas of interest still happening – albeit virtually –  in New York City Vacation Packages (NYCVP) favorite city!

Animals and Aquariums

The Bronx Zoo now has an entire page on its website devoted to their virtual viewing offerings. Among the virtual exhibits you will find three live cams – one at the Sea Lion Pool, one at the Aquatic Bird House and the other in the Madagascar! Exhibit (where you can watch the delightful lemurs climbing trees and swinging from ropes). Bonus - you can also tune in to see two daily feedings at the Sea Lion Pool (11:00am and 3:00pm EST) as well as at the Aquatic Bird House (12:30pm and 3:30pm EST). That’s not all – this page also features a virtual visit video series that updates frequently allowing you to get an up close and personal look at what goes into the care of the animals behind the scenes of the zoo.

Creatures of the aquatic nature more your speed? The New York Aquarium’s website is also offering live cams – two to be exact – operating daily from 10:00am to 4:00pm EST and guaranteed to keep you captivated. The first - Ocean Wonders - features sharks, sturgeons and rays. The second - Spineless - showcases its giant Pacific octopus among other invertebrates. You’ll also want to check out their social media accounts (think Facebook, Instagram and Twitter) for frequent pop-up live feeds and videos.

And for plenty of interesting stories and updates on life at the Wildlife Conservation Society’s zoos (which include those above as well as Prospect Park Zoo and Queens Zoo - and the aquarium) – check out their blog Wild View – An Eye on Wildlife. But it’s not just the zoos and the aquarium that are featured – there are plenty of tales of wildlife in their natural habitats as well. Here you will also find an interactive section called Assignments that gives you an excuse to get outside, take some pictures and show off your photography skills all while social distancing.

Parks and Plants

If you are longing for the days of strolling through the city’s many green spaces the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation website is home to virtual tours of many of the 30,000 acres it oversees – including Riverside Park, The Greenbelt (located on Staten Island), Fort Washington Park and more. To experience the City’s most recognizable park - the Central Park Conservancy has divided Central Park into six sections to tour virtually – as well as monthly mile-long walks, tree walks and even guided tours. And the historic elevated railway turned park – the Highline - has an app (available for Android and iOS) that you can download to experience its uniqueness from the comfort of your home.

And speaking of parks – don’t forget the amusement type! Back in 2004 Coney Island put together the Coney Island History Project (whose website I came across while researching content for this blog). One fabulous inclusion is an online collection of stories told by those who lived them – all housed in the section titled Oral History Archive.  The recorded interviews (last tally was 360!) recount memories from as far back as 1870 to as recent as last year and include such participants as shopkeepers, sideshow proprietors, ride operators and “polar bears” - all guaranteed to give you hours of listening pleasure.

Even though it often feels as though the world has come to a standstill these days - the seasons have still come and gone as usual. Thankfully, we do not have to miss out on the beauty of nature shedding its winter coat in New York City this year simply because we are homebound.  First, there is the New York Botanical Garden. Although they are closed during the pandemic – they are inviting everyone to see spring come to life right before their eyes with a series of both video and picture highlights of the seasons most beautiful blossoms. In addition, they also have online classes to participate in, children’s activities that are fun and educational and Facebook Watch Parties too.

If you are missing cherry blossom season the Brooklyn Botanical Garden has you covered with their virtual tour of the Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden and the Cherry Esplanade and Cherry Walk. Wave Hill in the Bronx (a public garden and cultural center) is also keeping you close to nature with their Neighborhood Naturalist series narrated by Gabriel Willow.  And finally, Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden also has a section devoted to our “new normal” called Snug Harbor at Home. Here you can find videos, live events, virtual tours and explorations as well as hands-on educational activities – in fact, there is pretty much something here for every age group!

Books and Booze

For all of you bookworms out there (myself included!) you will be happy to hear that the New York Public Library has a page on their website devoted to all of the remote content they have available – including a free e-reader app on which to enjoy any of the more than 300,000 e-books and e-audiobooks they have on hand for you to borrow. Over at the Brooklyn Public Library you can find virtual programming taking the place of face-to-face events. These presentations range in topics from financial guidance to social issues and from yoga to knitting groups - and are offered via a variety of mediums including Facebook Live and Zoom. The indie bookstore Books Are Magic out of Cobble Hill in Brooklyn is keeping previously scheduled in-store events going via Zoom as well. And I haven’t forgotten the little ones! Bravo’s Book Nook (at the Players Theater out of Greenwich Village) is hosting weekly story times with Bravo (an adorable pup!) on Facebook Live for the kids – or those of us who are simply kids at heart.

Just because New York’s wineries and breweries are closed to the public does not mean you still cannot imbibe! Over at the Brooklyn Winery they are holding virtual wine tastings. How does that work? Well I’m glad you asked! You can participate with or without wine (which is sold in 4-packs and vary in cost) although why would you forgo tasting delicious new wines? Each wine tasting will be held on Facebook Live, will feature two of the four wines purchased and is a totally interactive experience where you are free to ask questions and get responses live. Afterwards, a recording of each session will be housed on their Facebook page and available for you to reference any time you would like. If your taste buds are more fans of hops rather than of grapes, then you too have a virtual option. City Brew Tours is holding beer events at home including topics such as home brewing and cheese and beer pairings. Bonus – you can book these events for private or group participation and 5% of all event proceeds will go to Feeding America to help fight hunger during the pandemic. Both events are held via Zoom with an option to get the supplies shipped right to each participant’s home.

And so, my friends that concludes today’s trek to virtual New York City. Stay tuned for Part 3 to see what else the City That Never Sleeps has come up with to help pass the time until we can once again take a real bite out of the Big Apple! Until then – stay safe and #tourismstrong.

A Virtual Visit to New York City: Part 1 - The Arts

The city I love is suffering once again – although unfortunately this time not alone – but rather with the rest of the world. Coronavirus has stolen what many of us have taken for granted and slowly shut it all down for the foreseeable future. However - as we all practice social distancing in the wake of the pandemic - I am encouraged to see so much positivity emerging. Perusing social media, watching television and even talking with friends, relatives and coworkers I’m consistently amazed and humbled by how creative some of you are at helping to pass the time, lighten some of the sadness of the situation and plain and simple make the best of a tragic worldwide event.

One of my favorite ways to spread a little positivity out into the world is through my writing. However - as I type this blog from the safety of my sunroom in the suburbs, I count back and realize that I have been homebound for 26 days and have not written more than a few Facebook posts here and there. Furthermore - every day of those 26 I have been getting a pop-up calendar reminder that says Monthly Blog Due. And every day when it appeared, I immediately clicked Snooze for One Day - even though I love to write – especially about New York City.

For some reason - when it came time for this month’s blog entry - I kept putting off writing it. And don’t let me fool you – I know what that “some reason” was. It was because I honestly felt that I would be hard pressed to find a relevant topic to discuss - with everything being shut down in the Big Apple. And that was quite depressing to me.

Alas – since here you are reading April 2020’s blog now - you can probably guess – that I am extremely happy to report that I was oh so wrong about that! Going through numerous emails from our fabulous vendors I realized that there is a heck of a lot happening. It quickly became apparent that once again the city that doesn’t sleep has found a way to keep us entertained 24/7.

And so my dear travel advisor friends – I have finally stopped hitting Snooze to that annoying little pop up and have taken it upon myself to create a list that you can use for your own personal entertainment, to brush up on your New York City expertise or to share with your clients who may have had to postpone their visits.

I invite you to join me in getting everyone excited about re-discovering New York City once we have overcome COVID-19 (and nursed our country back to health) by reading and sharing what I have uncovered. Now sit back, relax and enjoy your virtual visit to New York City!

Broadway

Broadway has kept the lights burning brightly virtually since they were forced to go dark over a month ago. From Andrew Lloyd Weber streaming all of his musicals on YouTube via his The Show Must Go On! Series to daily Living Room Concerts by BroadwayWorld featuring Broadway performers from - you guessed it – their living rooms. But that’s not all – there’s also Stars in the House hosted by SiriusXM's Seth Rudetsky and James Wesley which can be viewed on YouTube daily at 2:00pm and 8:00pm EST (in honor of typical Broadway show times) and supports The Actors Fund and it’s services.  Bonus - you can also listen to it on Sirius XM daily at 9:00am EST should you miss it online. Finally, if you act fast you can get a free seven-day trial of BroadwayHD which can be streamed on any and all of your favorite devices. With on-demand digital streaming you can watch, sing along and heck - even dance - to all your favorite musicals for free - and without ads!

Opera

If opera is more your style New York City has not forgotten you! The Metropolitan Opera is live streaming encore performances from its Live in HD series for free during the pandemic. These productions are available on their website as well as through various other platforms. In addition - they also just announced a Starry “At Home” Concert to be broadcast on Saturday, April 25^th as a part of their fundraising campaign to support the company. The concert - featuring over 40 artists performing from their homes - is set to start at 1:00pm EST and last approximately three hours. It will be available to live stream on their website until Sunday evening - and although they are not billing it as a fundraising telethon – any donations will protect the company’s future.

Ballet

Are you a ballet fan with children at home? The American Ballet Theater has you covered as well! Join them online for their new project - ABTKids Daily. Content is updated every Monday and is designed to give you a weeks’ worth of lessons to share with them with daily themes such as Meet a Dancer Monday and Teaching Artist Tuesday. Over at the New York City Ballet make sure you check out its new inspired virtual collaboration. It is a separate-but-together performance of a short excerpt from Justin Peck’s The Times Are Racing and is guaranteed to make you smile! You can find it on Facebook Watch. And speaking of the New York City Ballet – one of its principal dancers - Tiler Peck - has chosen Instagram as her platform to teach online ballet classes. You can find her there daily at 1:00pm EST.

Museums

One thing New York City has plenty of are museums. And thanks to a partnership with Google Arts and Culture they also have plenty of ways to visit those museums virtually. From the Guggenheim to The Cloisters at the Met – to the American Museum of Natural History to MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) – they are all just a mouse click away.  And that is just a handful of the more popular ones you can stroll through from the comfort of your couch (and ultimately decide which you would like to visit in person once we are able to travel again). Over at the New York Transit Museum there are online discussions throughout the week to take part in. Topics are hosted by different museum employees and range from sustainability to navigation and everything in between. (Note: You must register as limited spots are available for each discussion. Admission is free but there is an option to donate.) And for the little ones both the Children's Museum of the Arts  and the Children’s Museum of Manhattan are going virtual. The former with live classes and activities via Zoom and the latter with downloadable activity sheets for each day of the week.

Well that wraps up today’s trip – but only because of space limitations for this blog entry. I am delighted to inform you that this is just the first leg of our cyber tour - so be sure not to miss the next departure - because more virtual New York City content is coming your way!