New York CityPASS® - Visit 6 New York attractions for just $79.00

New York CityPASS is a dollar-bill-size ticket booklet containing six real admission tickets (not mere discount coupons or other reason to dip into your wallet again) to the most famous New York attractions and museums. Highly selective and deeply discounted, New York CityPASS includes tickets for one admission to the following must-see attractions: Empire State Building - 86th floor observatory (and audio tour); Metropolitan Museum of Art (includes all special exhibitions, $1 audio tour discount, and same-day admission to The Cloisters museum and gardens); American Museum of Natural History and Rose Center for Earth and Space (includes one Hayden Planetarium show); and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).

Two option tickets allow visitors to customize their New York vacation. Each option ticket offers admission to one of two attractions: Top of the Rock™ Observation Deck or Guggenheim Museum. The second option ticket offers a choice of a Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises experience (2-hour Semi-Circle Cruise, 2-hour Harbor Lights Cruise, 75-minute Liberty Cruise, or The Beast Speedboat Ride) or Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island (a ferry ride to Ellis or Liberty islands, transfer between islands, and return trip; on-own tour of grounds and facilities on both islands).

Booklet coupons offer additional savings: a $5 discount on CitySights NY Hop-on Hop-off tour, and Bloomingdale's Visitor Shopping Package (15% off one-day all-day shopping, gift with $200 purchase, and free dessert or cappuccino with entrée purchase in Le Train Bleu).

http://www.citypass.com/new-york

Sony Wonder Technology Lab

So, our poll is now closed and readers want to know more about free stuff. Here it goes then!

Sony Wonder Technology Lab is a free technology & entertainment museum for all ages.

Everybody loves this four-story interactive science/technology entertainment center filled with gizmos, gadgets and cool information. You can produce a TV show, remix a song, analyze weather data, jam with musicians, produce a video game, or just chill out and watch high-definition TV in the state-of-the-art theater. There are also free movie screenings.

Open Tuesday-Saturday 10 am-5 pm, Sunday noon-5 pm. Last entrance 30 minutes before closing. Free, but you need to make reservations one week to three months in advance (it's hardest to get tickets in July and August).
Some same-day tickets are available, but they go quickly. Movie tickets are handed out 15 minutes before the screening.

550 Madison Ave., at 56th Street
(subway line E, F or V to Fifth Avenue; 4, 5 or 6 to 59th Street)
(212) 833-8100 for information and reservations.
(212) 833-7858 for schedules.
Sony Wonder Technology Lab

Columbus Circle

Columbus Circle, named for Christopher Columbus, is a major landmark and point of attraction in Manhattan. It is located at the intersection of Broadway, Central Park West, Central Park South (59th Street), and Eighth Avenue, at the southwest corner of Central Park.

The traffic circle was designed by William P. Eno, a businessman who pioneered many early innovations in road safety and traffic control, as part of Frederick Law Olmsted's vision for the park, which included a "Grand Circle" at Merchants' Gate, its most important Eighth Avenue entrance.

There you will find the famous Time Warner Center, the two glass towers that hosts CNN and Time Warner offices.

At inside CNN, on the 3rh floor, it is possible to take a 50 minutes tour through CNN's studios. These tours start every 20 minutes.

At the intersection of Broadway, Central Park West, Central Park South (59th Street), and Eighth Avenue

From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m, everyday.

The CNN tour costs 15$

(866) 426-6692

NYC's Yearly Calendar

Here you can find some of the gratest events on NYC's calendar.

Now, no matter which time of the year you decide to hit the Big Apple, you already know what awaits you. ;-)

If you, reader, know some event not posted in here, please leave a comment so I can edit this post. Let's all work together to compelate the best of NYC.

January - New Year @ Times Square; Martin Luther King Jr. Day Parade; New York City Restaurant Week; Chinese Lunar New Year; Ice Skating in New York City.

February - New York Restaurant Week; Ground Hog Day; Fashion Week; Chinese Lunar New Year; Valentine's Day in New York City; Ice Skating in New York City.

March - St. Patrick's Day Resources; St. Patrick's Day Parade; St. Patrick's Day Pictures; Ice Skating in New York City; Easter Directory; Easter Day Parade.

April - Easter Day Parade; Tribeca Film Festival; Cherry Blossom Festival at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden; Opening Day at Yankee Stadium; Opening Day at Shea Stadium; Earth Day.

May - Cinco De Mayo; Tribeca Film Festival;, Bike NY: Great 5 Borough Bike Tour (1st Weekend); Mother's Day; Dance Parade; AIDS Walk NY (3rd Sunday); Ninth Avenue International Food Festival; "Toast of the Town" Wine Tasting; Fleet Week; Baseball Season; Women's Liberty Season (WNBA); Memorial Day.

June - Museum Mile Festival; Belmont Stakes; Puerto Rican Day Parade; Met Opera in the Parks; Bryant Park Film Festival; Shakespeare in the Park; Mermaid Parade; Lesbian and Gay Pride Week; Gay Parade; Father's Day; New York Restaurant Week; Midsummer Night Swing; Baseball Season; Women's Liberty Season (WNBA); JVC Jazz Festival; Central Park SummerStage.

July - Macy's Fourth of July Fireworks; New York Restaurant Week; Met Opera in the Parks; HBO/Bryant Park Film Festival; Shakespeare in the Park; New York Philharmonic Concerts in the Park; Midsummer Night Swing; Baseball Season; Women's Liberty Season (WNBA); Central Park SummerStage.

August - Harlem Week; HBO/Bryant Park Film Festival; Baseball Season; Women's Liberty Season (WNBA); Central Park SummerStage; Shakespeare in the Park.

September - Labor Day; Shakespeare in the Park; San Gennaro Festival; Baseball Season; U.S. Open.

October - Columbus Day Parade; Halloween; Fall Foliage in New York City.

November - New York City Marathon; New York Comedy Festival; Chocolate Show; New York Culinary Festival; Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade; Veterans Day Parade; Holiday Windows on Fifth Avenue; Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting.

December - Ice Skating in New York City; Holiday Windows on Fifth Avenue; Christmas Shopping; Christmas and Holiday Concerts and Shows; Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree; New Year's Eve.

Shopping 101

Whether it's shopping in upscale Madison Avenue or the bargain-friendly Lower East Side, the Big Apple offers everything for everybody. However, before going shopping in NYC, there are a few things you should have in mind that most outsiders don't know.

In my opinion, the most important information is regarding taxes. New York is a shopper's paradise; you can find anything and everything in the many stores throughout the city and now you can shop TAX FREE in NYC on clothing and shoes priced under $110.

For anything else, or prices over $110, the tax rate is 8,25%. That means that if you are buying a 100$ mobile phone, total final price would be 108,25$.

Get early to the stores! As early as possible. That will guarantee you good options, sizes and colors.

Most stores are open from Monday to Saturday, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Department stores and outlets stay open until 9 p.m., as well as on Sundays.

Chinatown is always nice to visit, but not to shop, as you never know the true (or even legal) origin of the products.

If you are not comfortable with shopping by yourself at NYC, you can always join one of NY's shopping tours.

Another very good tip is to register at the store's website, this way you will get discount coupons by e-mail.

Although NY is the most expensive place to live in the world, shopping is the complete opposite. And there are ways to always pay less than the price tag says. ;-)