Mecca for NY singles...

Afternoon tea, or coffee anytime, a terrific place for being on your own or with girlfriends is Drip, located on Amsterdam between 85th and 87th or so. This is a funky dating service well disguised as a coffee bar. You come in, buy some coffee (regular or spiked), and browse the loose-leaf notebooks of prospective Mr. or Ms. rights. Profiles have no personal info, so all first dates are arranged by Drip and you must have them there where you can be chaperoned. This very chatty place is also a very safe place to be. My best friend and I often stop by even though we are both married, either to giggle over the notebooks, gaze sneakily at the couples being introduced to each other by the Drip staff, or just to have an intimate conversation on their big couches. It's mostly an under 40 crowd, but I did, on one occasion notice two 60+ ladies having coffee and chatting away.
Cynthia, New York City, USA

City Bakery has moved...

City Bakery, a favorite of New Yorkers, has moved to West 18th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues (Avenue of the Americas) and is bigger and better. They now serve some egg dishes at a counter with a fabulous counterman to chat with. There is also a great and very extensive salad bar with seating upstairs after you've picked up your salad. There are lots of new pastries, all quite yummy and really not terribly expensive by Manhattan standards. I even met a TV star in the ladies room recently.
Ellen, New York City, USA

Welcome to my neighbourhood...

If you are a Beatles fan, you might want to make your way to 1 West 72nd Street. The towering castle-like structure that stands on this corner overlooking Central Park is the famous Dakota Apartment Building where John Lennon lived when he was fatally shot. His widow Yoko Ono still lives there and when I'm out walking I occasionally see her getting into her limousine.
Cynthia, New York, USA

Travel Book Store...

Idlewild Books is a beautiful new independent store near Union Square, specializing in travel and international literature. A bookstore organized by country, Idlewild carries fiction and non-fiction from all parts of the world, including new and classic works in translation, travel guides, books about politics and culture, graphic lit, language-learning books, maps and more. Address: 12 W. 19th Street near Fifth Avenue.
Evelyn, Toronto, Canada

NY's safety report card...

New York City is the safest big city in the country, according to a report from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The FBI's 2002 'Crime in the United States' indicates that while crime increased nationwide, New York City's crime rate actually decreased 5% to the lowest level since the 1960s. The FBI's ranking of New York City as the safest large city in the United States means that, of all American cities with populations of 1 million or more, New York City has the lowest rate of total crime committed.
(Source: NYC & Company)

Did You Know...

New York has a very extensive public transportation system to help you get around: 722 miles of subway track, 3,500 buses and 14,000 bus stops. The only problem is that you have to share the subway with 3.5 million weekly subway riders.
(Source: The Complete Idiot's Travel Guide to New York)