Things to Do in New York City

Set in a converted brick warehouse in Brooklyn's DUMBO neighborhood, this chocolate wonderland is the flagship of Jacques Torres' mini-empire of treats. An Algerian-born French pâtissier whose resume includes New York's famed Le Cirque, Torres not only makes his own dark- and milk-chocolates, he bakes his own croissants "“ which you can enjoy here at one of two highly coveted cafe tables.

Often referred to as "Mr. Chocolate," Torres was of the first chocolatiers to use graphic prints on his confections, as well as unique flavors and ingredients like ancho chile and passion fruit. He creates Champagne-filled chocolate corks, menageries of chocolate animals, and his own signature chocolate lollipops, in addition to ice cream, cookies, and an enormous chocolate bar called the Big Daddy. His popularity has allowed him to open five other locations in Manhattan, including an outpost in Chelsea Market.

SoHo, or "South of Houston," is located in lower Manhattan and is renowned for its stylish boutiques, art galleries and trendy restaurants. The neighborhood is more relaxed than Times Square but can still get crowded due to its popularity with shoppers. Stroll down the cobbelstone streets browsing stores like AvaMaria for shoes and accessories, Onassis for American menswear with a Japanese flare and Legacy for vintage pieces and antique jewelry. Additionally, you can admire the work of talented artists in galleries like Agora Gallery, American Primitive Gallery and the Brooke Alexander Gallery. Make sure to also walk down Broadway to take in the cast-iron buildings, as SoHo showcases the largest collection of this type of architecture in the world. For a drink, Jimmy at The James Hotel is a sleek rooftop bar with 360 degree views of Manhattan, 508 Restaurant & Bar is a gastrobrewery where you can pair craft brews with gourmet plates and The Room is a sultry wine and beer bar. For those who want to explore further than SoHo, Greenwich Village, Little Italy and Chinatown are all within walking distance.

A welcome patch of green in Downtown Manhattan, Union Square is one of New Yorkers' favorite city squares. It's the place for public gatherings, yoga and exercise classes, and for people from all walks of life to take a break and catch some sunshine, eat lunch, or read a book.

Stock up on fresh produce at the wonderful Greenmarket held here Mondays, Wednesday, Fridays, and Saturdays, and if you're here in November/December you can pick up gifts at the holiday market.

Some striking architecture surrounds the square, and you'll find statues of famous figures dotted throughout, including Washington, Lincoln, Lafayette, and Mahatma Gandhi. Big-name stores and fine restaurants are nearby, and Chelsea, Greenwich Village, and the Flatiron District are just a stroll away.

Open from November through March, the Wollman Rink (formerly Trump Rink) is an outdoor ice-skating rink in Central Park. Accessible from the south entrance of West 59th Street and 6th Avenue, the rink offers open skating as well as lessons. For New Yorkers and visitors, skating on the rink is a tradition that symbolizes the magic and romance of the winter holidays. In fact the scenic rink, with its park and Manhattan skyline backdrop, has been featured in various movies, including “Serendipity” and “Love Story.”

During the summer months, the rink turns into the Victorian Gardens.

The 20th-century artwork displayed on the gently inclining white walls of the Solomon R Guggenheim Museum often take second place to the building's landmark Frank Lloyd Wright design.

The great architect's last work is an uplifting sight, from both outside and within, and a thorough restoration program was completed in 2008. Unwinding like a coil of white ribbon, the exhibition space spirals upwards around a central skylight.

As well as hosting changing exhibitions of photographs and paintings, the Guggenheim's permanent collection includes works by Gauguin, Picasso, van Gogh, Monet, and other early Modern masters.

Now home to Brooklyn's Chinatown, this historic area is bordered by four neighborhoods: Greenwood Heights in the north, Borough Park in the east), Bay Ridge to the south and Upper New York Bay to the west. Originally a European immigrant community that formed around the Bush Terminal, the largest shipping, warehousing and manufacturing complex in the U.S., and later the Brooklyn Army Terminal, Sunset Park experienced its greatest boom between 1895 and the end of World War II. The building of shipping and trucking facilities in nearby New Jersey gave rise to suburban sprawl, and many of Sunset Park's immigrants left the area in the 1950s and early "˜60s in pursuit of employment.

The area's empty rowhouses lost value, creating real estate opportunities for new immigrants from Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Mexico. These people brought a vibrant mix of Latin shops, design and flavors to the area, some of which still remains today. The increasing Latino population, coupled with a mid-1970s wave of Christians from India, inspired much of Sunset Park's still-lingering Norwegian-American community to bid the neighborhood farvel ('goodbye' in Norwegian) by the 1980s.

As those immigrants exited, Cantonese people were taking their place. Soon after, a larger influx of Chinese from Fuzhou started moving in, and since the late 2000s, a Mandarin-speaking community has started to grow here. The result is a full-fledged Chinatown in Sunset Park, a district of Buddhist temples, shops, restaurants and grocery markets often called Little Fuzhou.

The New York Mets have been playing ball in the city since 1964, but the team got a brand new Queens stadium in Citi Field in 2009, a year after their original Shea Stadium was shuttered and demolished next door.

Yankees Stadium is an iconic park in the world of baseball, but the stadium that bears the name today only opened in 2009. The original Yankees Stadium was built in 1923 in the Bronx and closed for good 85 years later in 2008 when New York prepared for the opening of the new site in the same borough.