New York is entertainment city, chock full of good eats and culture

No matter how much time you plan to spend in New York City, it never seems like quite long enough. It’s truly a “so much to do, so little time” situation.

Both Ashley, my twin sister, and I had visited New York before, so we were able to skip a few things you typically see on must-do lists, like visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art or riding the Staten Island ferry to get a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty.

We got in a few touristy things, of course, but we were also able to use this visit, part of a trip exploring the East Coast by train, to check things off our own lists that we weren’t able to during previous visits.

During this trip, we stayed at the Chelsea International Hostel (251 W. 20th St.), staying in a room with two beds with a shared bathroom and kitchen area. As per usual, upon arriving in New York City at about 4 p.m. after a short train ride from Philadelphia, Ashley and I hit the ground running.

We grabbed veggie tacos ($4.50 each) from the El Grillito food truck (parked at 20 Cooper Square). The tacos were small but packed a lot of flavor into just a few bites and were surprisingly filling.

Dinner had to be quick, because we were heading to La Mama Experimental Theatre Club (66 E. Fourth St.), an Off-Off-Broadway theater that has championed underrepresented artists since 1961. We were there to see the U.S. premiere of “The Horse of Jenin,” written and performed by Alaa Shehada.

The show centers around a giant horse sculpture that used to stand in Jenin, Palestine. It was created from the wreckage of homes, cars and ambulances that were destroyed during an invasion in April 2002. As horses are seen as an Arabic symbol of freedom, the sculpture became a beloved part of the Jenin community.

Shehada shared stories of playing with friends around the horse sculpture as a young boy and using the sculpture as a starting point for other adventures as he got older. But in November 2023, the sculpture was bulldozed by the Israeli Defense Force.

Shehada explored what happened to the horse after it was removed while sharing memories of love, loss, resilience and the power of theater. It was an incredibly moving show that I hope more people get to see.

While walking back to our hostel, we stopped for a sweet treat from the Donut Pub (203 W. 14th St.), which has been serving donuts in locations around the city since 1964. Most donuts were peanut- and tree-nut free, and there were vegan and gluten-free options as well. Having never tried a croissant donut ($5.50) before, I was pleasantly surprised by how well the flaky croissant paired with the sugary chocolate icing.

The next morning, we started bright and early with a short walk to the Chelsea Flea Market (29 W. 25th St.), which is open every Saturday and Sunday, rain or shine. Ashley and I got there right after opening, so people were still setting up, but the crowds were small, making it easy to browse. We walked away empty handed, but it was fun to look at the jewelry, clothing and artwork people had on display. If you need an interesting piece of kitchenware, the flea market would be a great place to stop.

From the market, we walked down to the Brooklyn Bridge. Both Ashley and I had already traversed the 1.1-milelong bridge ourselves, but we enjoyed the experience – crowds and all – so much that we wanted to do it again together.

The bridge itself is beautiful to look at, but it also provides gorgeous views of the city skyline, the Statue of Liberty, the Manhattan and Williamsburg bridges and the East River.

Ashley and I couldn’t help but notice how many languages we heard spoken while we walked the length of the bridge from Manhattan to Brooklyn and back. How many countries were represented on the bridge at any one time? It may not be the tourist destination that the Statue of Liberty or Times Square is, but it’s a true melting pot of cultures all the same.

From the bridge, we walked to two New York City food institutions for lunch and a snack. First up were knishes ($6) from Yonah Schimmel Knish Bakery (137 E. Houston St.), which opened in 1910. Schimmel, a Romanian rabbi, and his wife started selling knishes from a cart in Coney Island in 1890.

The restaurant, which offers vegan and vegetarian savory and sweet knishes, was closed the last time Ashley was in New York, so we made sure to visit this time around. On a chilly January day, the hearty knishes, sweet potato for me, potato for Ashley, hit the spot.

For dessert, we walked to Ferrara Bakery (195 Grand St.), which has been selling delicious Italian desserts since 1892. Did we need the cannolis (about $6), crisp pastry filled with sweet ricotta and chocolate chips, after the knishes? Not exactly, but I wasn’t going to say no to trying a classic dessert from a classic restaurant like Ferrara. I’d love to grab some gelato there in the summer.

From there we were off to a night at the theaters. Yes, plural. We started with a matinee performance of “Hadestown,” which features a book, music and lyrics by Anaïs Mitchell, at the Walter Kerr Theatre (219 W. 48th St.). I saw the national tour when it played in Spokane and fell in love with the show, which tells the story of two couples – Orpheus and Eurydice and Hades and Persephone.

I would’ve seen the show anyway, but it was extra special to see it on Broadway while one of our favorite singers, Allison Russell, played Persephone. We also managed to get tickets for the final performance for actors Jordan Fisher, Maia Reficco, Phillip Boykin and Shea Hughes, making for a touching final curtain call as the rest of the cast said goodbye.

We stopped by chain restaurant DIG (856 8th Ave.) for tofu, veggie and rice bowls (about $12) before heading to Playwrights Horizons (416 W. 42nd St.) to see “Many Happy Returns,” a lovely little memory play co-created and choreographed by Monica Bill Barnes and co-created and written by Robbie Saenz de Viteri. All performances during this run of the show were free, so Ashley and I couldn’t say no.

Our final performance of the evening was an improv show at the famed Second City (64 N. 9th St.). “Improv with My Friends from Work” featured host Ceara Jane O’Sullivan, a writer on “Saturday Night Live,” bringing “SNL” writers and performers to the stage for an hour of improv.

During our show, we watched O’Sullivan, Ego Nwodim, Heidi Gardner, Chloe Troast, Ben Marshall, Jimmy Fowlie, Will Stephen and Mike Birbiglia pretend to be children at summer camp, sell American Girl dolls and be various members of a family dealing with infidelity.

I don’t know if any of the scenes could work for “SNL,” but it was so much fun to see skilled performers make something out of nothing but a suggestion from the audience.

The next day, after a lazy morning, we walked to Bryant Park, where we grabbed bao from Bao by Kaya at the Bryant Park Winter Village. While eating, we watched young twin girls, about 4 or 5 years old, take an ice skating lesson. People often ask what it’s like to be a twin, a question I know those young girls will be asked as they get older. I always say something along the lines of “It’s all I’ve ever known” or “I have nothing to compare it to,” but I do know that I’m so grateful to have a built-in best friend who is always up for an adventure.

After eating, we headed into the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building (476 Fifth Ave.), the flagship building in the New York Public Library system, to view the Polonsky Exhibition of the New York Public Library’s Treasures, which features a handful of the 56 million objects in the museum’s collection.

Here, we took in items like a Gutenberg Bible, Shakespeare’s First Folio, Virginia Woolf’s walking stick, Charles Dickens’ desk and chair, George Washington’s handwritten farewell address, a miniature leaf-shaped Qur’an attributed to Mohammed Saleh Taom Zadeh, and the original Winnie the Pooh and friends stuffed animals owned by Christopher Robin Milne, son of A.A. Milne.

We were in awe of every item (if you’ll recall from my article about our stop in Philadelphia, Ashley and I are quite nerdy), and it was a great way to spend an hour or so without spending any money.

We stopped for more Italian desserts at Angelina Bakery (W. 41st St.) – our sister’s name is Angelina, so we couldn’t just pass it by – before keeping the free activities coming with a visit to the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts (40 Lincoln Center Plaza).

Here we saw “Rhythm is My Business: Women Who Shaped Jazz” and “The Joffrey + Ballet in the U.S.” Both exhibitions were well-researched and shed light on aspects of the arts world I knew little about.

From the library, a quick walk through Central Park brought us to Silky Kitchen (138 W. 46th St.) for tofu, squash and mushroom dumplings ($8.90 for six) before we arrived at the Lena Horne Theatre (256 W. 47th St.) for our final show in the city, “Six.”

The musical, which features a book, music and lyrics by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss, centers on the six wives of King Henry VIII as they set the record straight on their lives and relationship with the king.

This was another show I first saw in Spokane and wanted to see again. We entered the show’s lottery, which gives winners an opportunity to purchase cheaper tickets, and ended up winning seats in the front row. “Six” calls for the performers to interact with the audience, and it was a blast to get to look the performers in the eyes and cheer them on as they sang.

After a last night at the hostel, we packed up and headed to the train station, ready to explore Boston, the final stop on our trip.

Though we crammed a lot into our trip, and walked about 22 miles to see as much of the city as we could, there was still so much more we wished we could experience.

I don’t know if I could live in a city as big as New York, but I know for a fact more visits to the Big Apple are in my future.

This is Part 3 of Azaria Podplesky’s twin travels on the East Coast. Follow along next week for their next stop.