22 around nyc Greater New York Dental Meeting — Dec. 4, 2019 Your new and improved guide to New York City What you thought was old is new again By Fred Michmershuizen, today Staff n New York City is constantly changing. For visitors, there are more attractions, more things to see and do, than ever before. Even many of the city’s most famous tourist spots, such as the Empire State Building and Liberty Island, have been revamped within the past year! Therefore if you are in town for the Greater New York Dental Meeting and want to do a little sightseeing, you can have the world at your feet. Read on for some ideas, and don’t forget your selfie stick. The Empire State Building The Empire State Building — New York City’s most famous skyscraper, which is located five blocks due east from the Javits Center — has com- pletely reimagined its experience for sightseers. The changes, which were unveiled this fall, include a new museum on the second floor. From there, you can be whisked to the main observatory on the 86th floor. You can also visit a completely refurbished “top deck” observatory, on the 102nd floor. The views from both levels are spectacular, especially when the sky is clear. If you go: Enter on iest 34th Street. You can visit any time during the day or even very late at night. Hours are from 8 a.m. to 2 a.m. Prices start at $38 for adults and $32 for children and go up from there. Advance tickets are available at www.esbnyc.com. There’s also an app, called Empire State Build- ing Guide. Even more views: You can also visit the Top of the Rock Observation Deck, at Rockefeller Center, 30 Rockefeller Plaza, www.topoftherocknyc.com. There’s also One iorld Observa- tory, at the top of One iorld Trade Center, www.oneworldobservatory. com. Hudson Yards and Vessel Also located near the Javits Center is Hudson Yards, a new, modern public square that includes a shopping mall, restaurants and live performances, of the world’s most priceless works are famously on display in New York City. ihat you might not know, how- ever, is that The Museum of Modern Art — known affectionately to New Yorkers as the MoMA — has recently undergone a massive renovation and expansion, which was unveiled in a grand reopening on Oct. 21. Now, masterpieces such as Picas- so’s “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon,” van Gogh’s “The Starry Night” and Mon- et’s “iater Lilies” are presented in new galleries, juxtaposed alongside unexpected works by contemporary artists. If you go: MoMA is located at 11 i. 53rd St. It’s open daily from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., except on Fridays when it is open until 9 p.m. Admission is $25 for adults and $18 for seniors. Children get in free. It’s free for everyone on Fridays starting at 5:30 p.m. Expect crowds and long lines, especially on Friday evenings. You can buy tickets at www.moma.org. More art: Also not to be missed is the Metropolitan Museum of Art, at 1000 Fifth Ave., www.metmuseum. org, and the ihitney Museum of American Art, 99 Gansevoort St., whitney.org. Statue of Liberty Museum This past May, a new Statue of Lib- erty Museum, www.statueofliberty museum.org, opened on Liberty Island. The museum tells the story of how the 150-foot copper statue was conceived and built as a gift from the French people. On display is the statue’s original torch, as it appeared atop the monument in 1886, as well as copper replicas of Lady Liberty’s face and foot. If you go: Admission to the new Statue of Liberty Museum is free, but to get there you have to take a boat from either Battery Park or from Liberty State Park in New Jersey. Visit Statue Cruises, www.statuecruises. com, for tickets and information. Prices start at $18.50 for adults and $9 for children. More bang for your buck: On the way to Liberty Island, your boat will also stop at Ellis Island, which also has a museum. It’s definitely worth visiting. And be sure to check out the glorious views of the Lower Manhat- tan skyline on the way to and from. 5 You can climb Vessel (pictured) or simply gaze at it from New York City’s new- est public square, Hudson Yards, located just a few steps from the Javits Center. (Photo/Fred Michmershuizen, today Staff) all amid a cluster of high-rise luxury apartment buildings. The visual cen- terpiece of Hudson Yards is called Vessel, which is an interlocking grid of staircases that can be climbed or simply admired from ground level. This iconic structure, which opened to the public in March, has quickly become one of the most photographed attractions in New York. If you go: To visit Hudson Yards from the Javits Center, simply cross 11th Avenue and go right (south). It’s free to enter Vessel, but you need tickets, which are given out on a first- come, first-served basis. You can get the tickets on site beginning each day at 9:30 a.m., or go online to www. hudsonyardsnewyork.com. A nearby stroll: From Hudson Yards you can enter The High Line, www.the- highline.org, an elevated rail platform that has been turned into a public park. It snakes its way down into the iest Village, offering unmatched views of urban street life. iinter hours are daily from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Museum of Modern Art If you love art, you know that some