Although New York is an expensive city, there are plenty of things you can do for free or cheap. The city is best seen on foot. In addition to the most current cheap options listed below, check out the web sites Cheapo New York and FreeNYC.
The 8 p.m. concert will feature Schubert's Symphony in B minor, "Unfinished" and Mendelssohn,'s Symphony No. 4, "Italian."
The cathedral, located at Amsterdam Avenue at 112th Street, will begin at 8 p.m. though doors will open an hour earlier. All seating will be first-come, first-served, with overflow seating (weather permitting) on the Pulpit Green and from the Synod Hall.
But note, the cathedral's website warns there will be limited seating due to restoration work.
Pooh, Eeyore, Tigger, Piglet and Kanga recently left the children's room in the Donnell Library Center, which will be torn down to make way for a luxury hotel/library.
The stuffed animals, loved up into a shabby, patched-up state, now reside in an elegant glass case in the Edna Barnes Salomon Room of the Humanities & Social Sciences Library.
They're actually easy to find -- head up the main stairs to the third floor as if you were headed to the main reading room. But at the top of the landing, instead of heading west into the reading room, head east toward Pooh.
The animals were given to Robin Milne (the inspiration for Christopher Robin) between 1920 and 1922. Pooh was originally acquired from Harrod's. They were brought to the United States in 1947 and found a home at Milne's U.S. publisher, who then gave them to the library in 1987.
Library entrance is of course free.
Picture credit: Pooh and Friends, taken by Don Hamerman. Image provided to NewYorkology by the NYPL.
The exhibition features paintings, videos, sculpture, photographs and installations -- including one made up of giant boobie bean bags -- from 20 Icelandic artists.
Eliasson's work here is made up of a series of photographs, the Green River series, (pictured, above) and a light installation called "Limbo Lamp for Petur," (video, top.)
The Icelandic Love Corporation take part as well, with "Nest," a mixed-media sculpture that includes black-licorice type tubing, a tire and shiny baubles all weaved into a home for a family of birds.
The exhibition, which runs until August 15, is free. It's open Tuesdays through Saturdays from noon to 6 p.m. The Scandinavia House is located at 58 Park Ave., map.
The four waterfalls, which could start flowing as early as late June are positioned at the base of the Brooklyn Bridge (on the Brooklyn side,) at Manhattan's Pier 35, between Brooklyn's piers 4 and 5 (where the floating pool was docked last summer,) and at Governor's Island, facing Manhattan's Staten Island Ferry terminal.
The 90- to 120-foot waterfalls will flow from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day -- and will be lit after sunset. They'll come down mid-October.
Can't wait for fall to set foot up on the High Line when it will start opening to the public as a park? Then sign up for a High Line sketching class in May.
A section of the HIgh Line opened for (legal) tours during last year's Open House New York, but the sign-ups maxed out super fast. Currently, there are 34 spots available for the sketching spots.
The sketching classes will be taught by artist Ann DeVere. The price is $25 for High Line supporters or $50 otherwise -- and art supplies will be provided. Participants must be at least 18 years old. And apparently there's no prerequesite that your art skills have to be any good before you arrive.
The High Line -- an abandoned, elevated freight train tracks built in the 1920s and '30s -- is on schedule to open its first park section in fall from Gansevoort Street up to 20th Street. See construction pictures on the High Line's website.
Other upcoming (off-site) High Line events include a May 6 lecture with artist Spencer Finch who will discuss plans for the public art work he's creating for the High Line.
Picture credits: High Line above the Hudson Yards during the OHNY tours in October 2007. Amy Langfield/NewYorkology.
Shakespeare in the Park to give tickets away online
People with day jobs all across New York City, rejoice! Standing in line for hours and hours to maybe get free tickets to Shakespeare in the Park may be a thing of yesterday.
With the new virtual line, the Public allows individuals who are registered at the Public Theater website to log on and submit a day-of request for tickets beginning at 12 AM ET. Each individual entry is able to request up to two tickets for that day's performance. At 1 PM registered users can log on to the Public website to see if their names have been randomly selected. The day-of tickets will be held at the Delacorte box office.
However, most tickets will still be alotted to the legions who line up in Central Park the day of each show; only "a limited number" will go the online route.
Of course you can also "buy" the free tickets by donating $160 or $165 to the Public Theater.
This summer's first production is "Hamlet" -- set for May 27 through June 29 -- with Michael Stuhlbarg, Sam Waterston, Lauren Ambrose, Andre Braugher and Margaret Colin.
The second Shakespeare in the Park production for 2008 will be "Hair" -- from July 22 through August 17 -- with Jonathan Groff, Will Swenson, Patina Renea Miller and Allison Case directed by Dianne Paulus.
Bank of America offers free museum access for a year
Starting in May, Bank of America cardholders will get free admission during the first Saturday and Sunday of each month for the next year at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, International Center of Photography, New York Hall of Science, Jewish Museum, the Bronx Zoo and New York Aquarium.
The bank's Museums on Us also offers free entrance to New Jersey's Liberty Science Center, Montclair Art Museum and the Newark Museum.
In past years, the bank's offerings were limited to May, but the Museums on Us website currently lists free weekend offerings through April 2009.
But if you don't have a Bank of America account, plenty of New York City's museums have free hours each week, and many are pay-what-you-wish, such as the Met Museum (which actually only costs a penny.)
Picture credit: Met Museum, Amy Langfield/NewYorkology.
Met Opera plans free June 20 concert in Prospect Park
The Met Opera will move to Brooklyn's Prospect Park for one night this summer -- June 20 -- for a free concert that could draw as many as 150,000 people, the Met Opera announced today.
The one night concert will replace the free series of park performances the Met Opera has offered in past summers.
"Met Summer Concert: Live in Prospect Park" will feature soprano Angela Gheorghiu and tenor Roberto Alagna, (who are married to each other,) singing selections from Verdi, Puccini, Donizetti, Massenet. Ion Marin will conduct the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus.
The concert will take place in Prospect Park’s nearly mile-long Long Meadow, with an over-sized stage set up at the baseball fields. Six jumbo video screens will offer extra views of the stage.
To encourage spectators from all five boroughs, Bank of America will give away 25,000 MTA MetroCards in a commemorative holder along with another card that will make them eligible for cash, a vacation package or Met Opera tickets. The cards will be available as of June 16.
The June 20 performance will also be will be broadcast live on WQXR-FM (96.3 FM), and streamed live on the Met’s website.
Pope arrives in NYC to visit U.N., Yankee Stadium, WTC
Pope Benedict XVI today starts a three-day trip to New York City with plans to address the United Nations, visit the World Trade Center site and a Jewish synagogue and celebrate mass at several locations including Yankee Stadium and Saint Patrick's Cathedral.
Friday
9:45 a.m. - The pope arrives at JFK Airport and is welcomed by Cardinal Edward M. Egan, archbishop of New York and Bishop Nicholas A. DiMarzio, bishop of Brooklyn and others.
10 a.m. - The pope will address the United Nations and meet with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Saturday
9 a.m. - The pope celebrates mass at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral with 3,000 deacons, priests and religious men and women from throughout the United States.
1:15 p.m. The pope departs Saint Patrick's and will travel by popemobile up 5th Avenue to 72nd Street. (This is your best chance to see the pope as its one of the only unticketed events.)
4:30 p.m. - The pope travels to Saint Joseph Seminary in Yonkers to bless youth with disabilities and rally with seminarians and young people.
Sunday
9:30 a.m. - The pope visits Ground Zero, blesses the ground with holy water and greets representatives of the Port Authority, fire and police workers, survivors and family members of those killed in the the Sept. 11 attacks.
2:30 p.m. - The pope celebrates mass at Yankee Stadium
8:30 p.m. - The pope departs JFK's Hangar 19 on Alitalia's "Shepherd One"
Canadians open Rock Center roof garden for two nights
The Canadian Tourism Commission is one-upping Open House New York by opening up access to one of the Rockefeller Center roof gardens for free and providing a wine garden, food, music -- and Canadian sophistication.
The two-night event, called The Ultimate Canadian Room-With-A-View, will be held May 14 and 15 (a Wednesday and Thursday) in the 620 Fifth Ave. loft and garden on the 7th floor, which is normally closed to the public.
The roof garden was been open for a quick walk-through during the past two Open House New York weekends, offering eye-level views with the spires of Saint Patrick's Cathedral just across the avenue.
(This year's OHNY is scheduled for the weekend of October 4 though participating locations haven't been announced.)
Image credit: Rockefeller Center roof garden during OHNY 2006. Amy Langfield/NewYorkology.
