Queens Zoo

This 11 acre lake is one of Central Park's finest spots; surrounded by flowering trees and inhabited by several fish and turtle species.

Dates back to 1680, and held an abortive peace conference during the Revolutionary War.

This beach is a pleasant place to relax. The water is safe enough to swim in, but it's not the best you can get (you'd get a better deal down the Jersey Shore or on Long Island). The boardwalk, one of the longest in the United States, is great for running or biking.

One of Brooklyn's most prized brownstone neighborhoods. It is predominantly residential, characterized by late 19th- and early 20th-century rowhouses with architectural significance. Street signs in the Historic District are brown rather than green.

Dedicated to preserving and collecting television programs as a service to the public, the museum consists of two museum branches in Los Angeles and New York City; combined they hold over 100,000 television programs that are available to the public, providing a historical, artistic and cultural perspective to television and radio. You may use their library here for the price of admission. They have lots of old shows and a database so you can see if they have what you want.

Built in 1802 (and physically shifted from its original location), this was the home of Alexander Hamilton, one of the founding fathers and the first Secretary of Treasury.

A spacious green lawn that was originally home to a herd of sheep, which grazed in the meadow and tended to in their nearby pen - a Victorian style building which today is the Tavern on the Green restaurant (see Eat below).

Street built by architect Samuel Burrage Reed. A major mansion owned by circus entrepreneur Anthony Bailey - joined with showman Phineas T. Barnum in 1881 to form the Barnum & Bailey circus. Now Known to the children of Harlem as the Beauty and the Beast house.

One of the Seven Sisters colleges, and is affiliated with Columbia University.

American woman Jacques Marchais had a dream of traveling to Tibet. While she never made it, her extensive collection of Tibetan artifacts was made into a museum in 1947. The museum now holds over 120 pieces of beautiful Tibetan art. The museum's authenticity was praised by the Dalai Lama.

With New York City growing and not enough space in the City Hall building, this 40-story structure was built to meet the space demands of the city government. Completed in 1915, it is a massive and very grand building with the gilded statue of a woman standing atop the building's spire.

The lesser-known historic district on the other side of the Park. It was developed at the turn of the 20th century by Dean Alvord as one of the first suburbs.

The original subway station, and quite a marvel to witness--the chandeliers and ornate tiling are a sharp contrast to the nearby Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall station. There's one catch, though: it's been closed since 1945. However, you can see it by staying on the downtown 6 train after its last stop Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall; it will turn around in the old station. This is the one place in the system where this is allowed, and the announcements reflect that. The Transit Museum (in Downtown Brooklyn) offers occasional tours as well, which allow you to actually walk around the station, but you must be a museum member and a US citizen, making this an impractical choice for most visitors.

This massive apartment building has been (and is!) home to many celebrities. Probably best known was the former Beatle John Lennon, who was gunned down outside the building on December 8, 1980, by a crazed fan. Lennon had been living at the Dakota with his second wife, Yoko Ono, who still resides in the building. A memorial to the former Beatle exists nearby in Central Park. The building has become a popular place of pilgrimage for many who admire Lennon.

Kingsland Homestead is a historic home, built by Charles Doughty around 1774. It is now a museum with exhibits about the Victorian era, the slavery in Queens, and how Queens was affected by World War II.

Small and gem-like, New York's "oldest, newest zoo" opened in its current guise in 1988, although animals in various zoo incarnations have resided here since the 1860s. This zoo is fairly small and doesn't have as many large animals as you might expect, but this zoo does include sea lions, snow leopards, penguins, polar bears, monkeys, red pandas and exotic birds in pleasant exhibits. Next door is a children's zoo, covered in the cost of admission, which has a barnyard animals you can pet, a duck pond, and lots of play areas for kids.