ftoglu

Hi,
me and my 17-old son will have a trip to NYC from Turkey between Jan 27 and Feb 09 2011. I visited NYC two times previously, so this is for my son especially. He wants to visit famous university campuses, jazz clubs,museums and siteseeing. I believe 13 nights are too much to explore NYC especially in winter time, so I thought it is worthy to visit some other city / cities in the proximity of NYC. At first glance, Washington DC and/or Boston seems reasonable. Would you advice me about whether to visit these cities in winter time, where and how?
Thanks

nytraveler

Well you could easily spend months exploring New York - but in 2 weeks it;s also reasonable to see another city. At that time of year all will be full in winter's grip - although DC will probably not be as cold/snowy as Boston. Also, IMHO DC has more to see - including a huge number of museums.

As a start you should get hold of a couple of guide books and research what you and your son want to see.

As for seeing famous University campuses - Columbia in NYC has an actual campus - but most of the schools in the city do not - class buildings and dorms are spread out over entire residential neighborhoods mixed in with all sorts of other people. Is you son looking at colleges to attend - or just want to check out campuses. the latter will be nothing like those you will find in smaller cities, towns or rural areas.

Your some should check out student guidebooks like the Let's Go ones to find student/college info.

For the weather you will need warm winte coats, hats, scarves, gloves and waterproof boots with non-skid soles for the ice that can build up on sidewalks. You may see no snow while here - or a 28" blizzard - there's no way to tell at this point.

To get to DC - or Boston if you prefer - it;s easiest to just hop on the Amtrak train. Buying tickets before the day you leave will save money. there are also buses - some very cheap - but in bad weather the trips can be interminable.

ftoglu

My son want to get an impression of how lives there in US campuses and in US. This will not be a university search for him .
I know winter is very cold in NYC, but we had either winter or summer for that visit and since I know the summer time in NYC, I thought winter can be more bearable. I will take the measures you said and I will not consider Boston, however, any stopover from NYC to DC is worthy, e.g. in Philedelphia or Baltimore ?
(Sorry,but, what is IMHO DC ???)
Thx

abram

DC stands for District of Columbia, where Wshington, the nation's capitol, is located. Philadelphia is also a good choice.

Aduchamp1

We just returned from Turkey and I know my fellow NY'ers will treat you with the same warmth as did the Turks during our visit.

While Columbia has a tradiitonal urban campus, New York University (NYU) uses New York City as it's campus. NYU's academic buildings and dorms spread out over a large area. The center of campus life is Washington Square Park but is owned by the City of New York and it is quite the lively place in nice weather. And you should visit a small charming street called Washington Mews where there are some small academic facilities. It is one block north of Washington Square Park.

For entertainment your son should go Time Out New York and the Village Voice on-line both of which have extensive listing of musical, art, theatre events, and restaurants and bars. You can purchase Time Out NY and find free copies of the Village Voice when you arrive here.

http://newyork.timeout.com/
http://www.villagevoice.com/

And while I enjoy both Boston and Washington, Boston is probably the best college town in the United States. It is both an interesting city and academic center with Harvard and MIT in an adjoining town.

ggreen

In NYC, as nytraveler says the only formal "campus" is Columbia. Our other large university is NYU, which is loosely based around Washington Square Park. Both will give your son a glimpse of US college life - with the understanding that these are private institutions with a high standard for admissions! (Your "typical" US campuses and college experiences occur in surburban locales with a very different feel from urban living.)

Is there a discipline or subject he is interested in? Maybe it would be interesting to get to see a related class in action: by late January, colleges will be back in session after the winter break. (For what it's worth, during my recent experience in grad school here in NYC, I had a number of Turkish classmates!)

Likewise, is there a type of art or history he is interested in seeing in museums? There are so many to choose from!

I hope our weather will be temperate for you. During a "cold snap", winter here sadly isn't more bearable than the heat of summer...

P.S. "IMHO" = in my humble opinion

ggreen

ha, Adu - we both posted about NYU at the same time!

Aduchamp1

GGreen, yes and even though I beat you by one minute, I started composing my answer yesterday.

hawksbill

Here are some of the venues in New York where the most well-known jazz musicians play:

http://www.jazzatlincolncenter.org/
http://www.bluenote.net/newyork/index.shtml
http://www.iridiumjazzclub.com/
http://www.birdlandjazz.com/
http://villagevanguard.com/
http://www.jazzstandard.net/red/index.html

You can look on any of their web sites to see who will be playing during your visit. There are also many smaller neighborhood places where you can see musicians that you have never heard of, usually for a lower cover charge. Note: a "cover charge" is an amount of money that you have to pay just to enter the club, in addition to the cost of any drinks or food that you may order. Some places will require that you buy two drinks in addition to the cover charge.

In the U.S., the minimum age to drink alcohol is 21, and bars will not allow your son to enter, even if he's not planning to drink alcohol. Some smaller neighborhood jazz bars will not let him in. However, all of the places I listed above serve food too, and I think they all allow people under 21 to enter without any problem.

Most of the places above are typical high-end jazz clubs, in that they are in a large, dark room with no windows, they seat guests in fairly crowded tables, and they serve some food that's passable but not very good. Two of them are exceptions:

Jazz Standard is in the basement of a barbecue restaurant, which has pretty decent barbecue, by Northeastern standards. We're not known for our barbecue up here.

Jazz At Lincoln Center is a recently-built complex within the Time Warner Center mall. It has two traditional large auditoriums, the Rose Room and the Allen Room, as well as Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola, which is kind of a large jazz restaurant with a big stage in the front. There are huge windows with a fantastic view of New York behind the stage. The tables are nice and far apart (although you may end up having to share one with strangers if there are less than four of you). The food is surprisingly good. I think that Dizzy's would be a fantastic experience for visitors to New York, especially those from other countries, even if you've never heard of the artist that's performing on the night when you visit. However, Dizzy's is not the typical American jazz club, in that it is a large, airy, modern room, rather than a dark, intimate club, so if you were looking for something more typical, you might want to look elsewhere.

ggreen

And thus the more thorough response, Adu! I meant to mention Harvard and MIT, too... the former being the most famous US university campus (of course...).

doug_stallings

Baltimore doesn't excite me very much, but if you are at all interested in U.S. history, Philadelphia is a good place to stop, either in transit to or from Washington, or as a separate trip from NYC (it's on the Amtrak line, and all trains go there on the way to and from Washington). You can see most of the historical sights on foot or by using the buses.

By the way, there are several universities you can explore right in Washington: Georgetown, George Washington University, and Howard.

If you are willing to rent a car for a day and if there is no snow on the highways, there's also a lot you can see on a day-trip into the countryside from Washington, or you could visit the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, which is not only one of the most beautiful traditional university campuses but was also designed by Thomas Jefferson. At the same time, you could visit Jefferson's home Monticello, which is nearby. Charlottesville is about a 3-hour drive from DC.

Fra_Diavolo

Agree that Baltimore is not a major attraction, but it is the home of Johns Hopkins University which has a beautiful campus.

You might consider making day trips from New York to New Haven CT to see Yale and/or out to Princeton NJ. These two with Harvard are usually ranked as our top three universities.

hawksbill

ftoglu, you mentioned visiting some of America's famous university campuses. NYU is not really one America's most famous universities, but it does seem like a really fun and interesting place to go to school, and I would definitely follow Aduchamp1's suggestion and walk around the NYU area. As Washington Square will be pretty deserted in the winter, make sure you walk around the area between Washington Square and Bleecker Street, which will have a very active night life. I think the trip uptown to visit Columbia University would not really be worth doing as a tourist, although I admit I don't know the area all that well. I think its only real defined campus is that quadrangle around 116th street, right?

Fra_Diavolo mentioned possible day trips from New York to Princeton or Yale, which are two of America's most famous universities along with Harvard, although, as an alumnus of both Princeton and Harvard, I can assure you that Yale is vastly overrated. ;-)

That's an interesting idea, one that wouldn't occur to most tourists visiting New York. Both are easily accessible by train from New York, and you wouldn't need a car. It would take a little under a two hours to get to Yale, and a little over one hour to get to Princeton, if you can time the connection at Princeton Junction just right.

Both Princeton and Yale have beautiful old campuses, replete with splendid examples of collegiate gothic architecture that are far more attractive than Harvard's red bricks, IMHO. Yale is situated in the middle of New Haven, a town that I think even most Yalies would admit is kind of, well, an acquired taste at best. Princeton, on the other hand, has a gorgeous, well-defined bucolic campus that is adjacent to, but separate from the town of Princeton. Princeton is a charming little town, but it's really a suburb, and there's not much to see or do there outside of the University. Honestly, you'd have to be pretty motivated to make the trip out to either place in the winter, when both campuses will be looking relatively drab, and the weather won't be so great for walking.

Note that most American colleges and universities offer free walking tours that are led by current students. They're most popular in the Fall, when potential applicants come to visit, but you should still be able to take the tours in the winter.

ggreen

I'm the first to admit I'm biased, but I love "Harvard's red bricks". And it is the oldest university in the country...

Of course the fact that it will be winter and cold may dissuade you from going up to Boston at all. But IMHO it's a great city to visit - if only to go to Cambridge(!). There are a number of other universities in addition to Harvard, plenty of US colonial history, and nice areas to walk around with shops and restaurants.

You could always stop in New Haven on the way up to Boston; it is roughly the halfway point on the train between NYC and Boston. However, having most recently been there 2 weeks ago on a windy, cold day, I'll add there's really not much to see other than Yale, and hawksbill was being very nice to say the city is "an acquired taste at best"!

Aduchamp1

If you go Harvard they have one of the most extraordinary collection of glass flowers. These are so finely crafted it is almost to see they are glass including the hairs of the roots.
http://www.hmnh.harvard.edu/on_exhib...ollection.html

This is worth the trip by itself.

bachslunch

To continue with Aduchamp1's excellent suggestion, a few major universities have worthwhile museums as well. The glass flowers are the highlight of the excellent Harvard Museum of Natural History, which also includes plenty of fossils as well as mounted and stuffed animals. Attached to this is a Mineralogical and Geological Collection and the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, the latter being very good as well. Plus Harvard has worthwhile art spread among three collections; because of renovation, the Sackler Museum is the only one currently open, and it presently contains highlights from its own collection plus that of the Harvard Art Museum and Busch-Reisinger Museum.

Yale has two excellent art museums, the Yale University Art Gallery and the Yale Collection of British Art, as well as the very good Peabody Museum of Natural History.

In Philadelphia, the University of Pennsylvania has a fine Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.

No one has touched on NYC museums yet, but the city is loaded with world-class institutions covering a wide array of interests. Searching a guidebook or travel website for lists of attractions (Fodor's and Frommer's both have plenty of good listings) is a wise idea.

Aduchamp1

In terms of personal favorites, I think Princeton has one the most beautiful campuses in the country.

ftoglu

Thx all for such a valuable information about the jazz clubs and universities. When we are in NYC, we will follow the weather forecasts and when there is no snow we will rent a car and spend 3 nights in Washington and visit Philadelphia while passing through it 2 times. Also, a daily trip to New Haven seems a choice. Definetely museums are in our interest.
(Aduchamp, good to hear your happiness in Turkey

Aduchamp1

(Aduchamp, good to hear your happiness in Turkey

Well, I was also pickpocketed in Istanbul, but that was the exception to the Turkish hospitality.

50plus

Try to walk through Penn's campus if you go to the archeology museum. It's a great city campus with Locust Walk and some beautiful buildings.