As an
Au Pair in New York, you get to experience the Big Apple with all its quirks. If you don’t like to spend a lot of money, good news: You don’t have to. There are a lot of cheap or even
free activities waiting for you. In this article I have gathered some of my favorite things to do in New York.
Museums
There are tons of great museums in New York. No matter what you are interested in, there’s probably a museum for that. On some days of the week they offer pay-what-you-wish tickets, so if you can’t afford 25 $ to visit a museum, check out their website and see when you can get in on the cheap.
My personal favorite is the American Museum of Natural History. Here you can admire giant skeletons of dinosaurs or a life-sized model of a blue whale. The exhibits are fantastic and a day spent here is a day you will never forget.
Another fun museum, especially if you take your Host Kids, is the Museum of Math. I know, it might not sound like fun at first, but the museum shows what math is used for in a very playful way. It’s very interactive and I don’t remember seeing any numbers there, so don’t worry: You won’t have to solve any complicated equations.
Outdoor activities
As I mentioned before, there are a lot of fantastic museums to explore in New York. But, even though they’re usually air-conditioned, in the summer you might rather spend your day outdoors. There are many great parks like Washington Square Park and, of course, Central Park.
In the summer, I loved going to Bryant Park. Often, there would be free open-air concerts or movie nights. If you’re lucky you can also take a free Yoga class at Bryant Park.
Something very fun on a very hot day:
Kayaking! Yes, you read that correctly. You can go kayaking on the Hudson River.
Take a friend to Pier 26 and have fun in the water. The best part:
It’s completely free.
Food
New York is famous for its hot dogs, pizza and bagels. Some shops have taken their food to the next level.
The Bagel Store, for example, invented the Instagram famous rainbow bagel. If you want to get one of them you have to be there very early and wait in line for a while. They also have a variety of crazy spreads, like sprinkled cream cheese, to put on your bagel.
Pro tip: If you don’t want a specific type of bagel, but want to try their spreads visit The Bagel Store close to their closing time. They are likely to let you take home a lot of bagels with spreads for nothing more than a little tip. They can’t sell leftover bagels the next day anyway.
Yet another food store you will have to stand in line for is Cookie DŌ. They sell, as you might have guessed by the name, edible cookie dough! They have a lot of different flavors, some permanent, some seasonal. You can get your DŌ in a cone or a cup. No matter how you choose to get it served, it’s sure to be dōlicious.
I hope I was able to give you some insight on my favorite things to do in
New York.
Until next time,
Sammy-Jo