New York times

By KATHLYN HORIBE

It's easy to blow your budget in the consumer capital of North America. All it takes is a couple of indulgences at Bergdorf Goodman or Barneys, lunch at Le Cirque and a hotel room at the Plaza.

But if you aren't prepared to drop a couple of grand, New York can be surprisingly cheap.

Best bargains are on the streets, where admission is free, and inexpensive restaurants, tours and sights abound, leaving plenty of change for a taxi.

At $US4 ($9.30) a MetroCard FunPass, good for all-day transport on New York City's Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) subways and buses, is the best way to take in the city's varied architectural wonders and its hustle and bustle.

Each day I'd take the southbound M1 down Fifth Ave and along Park Ave and Broadway to the most southerly sight on my agenda and then hit the pavement.

New York's 3700 air-conditioned buses cover 200 routes in five boroughs. To my surprise, the drivers are courteous. Tourists would poke their heads in to ask questions and I never heard a snarly, rude reply. There goes that New York cliche.

At the tip of Manhattan, the Staten Island ferry is a 25-minute bargain that's now free of charge. Hold out for one of the older ferries for spectacular shots of the lower Manhattan skyline from the outside deck. You'll need a telephoto lens to shoot the Statue of Liberty. During off-peak hours, the 24-hour ferry, operating since 1810 and Cornelius Vanderbilt's first business venture, departs from the Battery slip every 20-30 minutes.

Guarding the northern entrance of Bowling Green, designated New York's first public park in 1733, is the charging Wall St bull. Go a few more blocks and you'll find the narrow canyon-like Wall St, home of the New York Stock Exchange, on your right. Trinity Church, built in 1846, the city's tallest building until the 1860s, is on your left.

The 110-storey twin towers of the World Trade Center in Battery Park City, on the Hudson River, are New York's tallest buildings. Shop till you drop in its 50 shops, visit the 107th floor observation deck for $US13.50 ($30.50) or take the overpass to the World Financial Center. Here, free music and dance performances are held in the Winter Garden, with its 16 giant palm trees and grand central staircase.

A must-see is the Empire State Building, Fifth Avenue at 34th St. For $US9 ($20.30) each, 3.5 million tourists a year visit the site of the original Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. Seventy-three lifts, operating at speeds of 182-366m a minute, whisk them to the 86th floor observatory.

On a clear day, the vista takes in the surrounding 130km area, extending right into New Jersey, Pennyslvania, Connecticut and Massachusetts. If you want to see the city at night, the observatories are open until midnight. Remember the Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan movie, Sleepless in Seattle?

The world's largest concentration of cast-iron architecture is in SoHo, the acronym for South of Houston St. This trendy neighbourhood of art galleries and loft apartments still retains its gritty look.

In the Cast-Iron Historic District bounded by Broadway, Canal and Sixth Sts, Greene St has the longest continuous row of cast-iron buildings. Cast-iron, a 19th century American architectural innovation, was cheaper than stone or brick and could duplicate any ornate architectural style.

The King of Greene St, at No 76, is a five-storey Renaissance-style building with Corinthian columns. The Queen of Greene St, No 28-30 with its tall mansard roof, was built in 1872.

Broadway is a lively street of striking contrasts in SoHo. Tiny establishments and bargain outlets selling original paintings or hardware tools are side by side.

You can browse around the museum store of the Guggenheim Museum SoHo, Broadway and Prince, for free. Admission to the museum is $US8 ($18.05). Up the street are the New Museum of Contemporary Art, with experimental work of unknown artists ($US6 - $13.55), and the Museum of African Art ($US5 - $11.30).

Pay what you want on Friday evenings at the Museum of Modern Art (Moma). Marvel at Van Gogh's Starry Night, contemplate life in the Sculpture Garden and then cross the street to the Moma Design Shop.

A visit to New York wouldn't be complete without indulging in some consumer spending. The sales annex of Barnes & Noble is just off Broadway on Astor Place. Filene's Basement, a branch of the famous Boston, Massachusetts, store, is at 20th and Avenue of the Americas.

If Macys, Broadway at 34th St, the world's largest department store, is beyond your budget, try crossing the street to Daffy's, a discount retail store.

Part of the city's charm lies in munching on the steps of public buildings, such as the Indiana limestone steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (pay-what-you-want admission), while basking in the sun and eavesdropping on New Yorkers.

For less than $US5 ($11.30 - there's no tax on street food) you can buy a shish kebab from the outdoor food cart, Broadway and Astor Pl, or the crusty roll combo of sausage, German fried potatoes, red cabbage and onions at Hallo Berlin, Fifth Ave and 54th St, which was featured in a New York Times article on the best street food.

Another good place is Union Square, a green market, 14th and 17th Sts and Park Ave South and Broadway, which was a gathering spot for labour protests in the 1900s.

For a free behind-the-scenes walking tour of Times Square, head to the Times Square Visitors Center, 7th Ave and 42nd St, at noon every Friday, rain or shine. On Sundays, a free guided shopping tour of the Lower East Side starts at 11 am. Meet at the corner of Houston and Ludlow. Nearby is Katz's Delicatessen, where that deli scene from When Harry Met Sally was filmed.