"Shoot the freak, come on shoot the freak," yelled the guy with the microphone. "You shoot him, he don't shoot back. You can't come to New York and not shoot the freak..." Happily this is purely a sideshow at Coney Island, New York's answer to Blackpool - albeit a slightly run-down version where every other person seems to be speaking Russian. For $2 you have five paintball shots at 'the freak' - a stooge in plastic body armour and shield who moves around randomly in a vain attempt to dodge the bullets. It's as naff as it gets, but that's part of Coney Island's appeal. An amusement park has been there since the late 1800s, the 'world famous' rollercoaster, The Cyclone, built in 1927, its heyday the 1930s and 40s. There's still plenty to see and do - walk the promenade, visit the funfair, visit the aquarium, even track down folk singer Woody Guthrie's former home on Mermaid Avenue. It's a good 45 minutes on the train from Manhattan down to Coney Island - take the B, D, N or F trains to Stillwell Avenue-Coney Island (the last stop), or take the D or F trains to West 8th Street - but well worth the trip. For the majority of visitors, New York City means Manhattan, and a long weekend break for shopping and the key sights of the Empire State Building (since 9/11 once again the tallest structure in the city), Liberty and Ellis Islands, Central Park and Times Square. You may take in a Broadway show, go on a helicopter ride or boat cruise - but the sheer size of the place and wealth of things to do and see is overwhelming. Which makes a return visit a must - and a great chance to take in some of the less obvious New York attractions - like Coney Island. We arrived in late September - in my view autumn and spring the two best times to visit New York, what with the sweltering summers and freezing winters. It was something of a freak warm spell, with temperatures in the mid 20s all week, but September and April/May are generally temperate months ideal for sightseeing. If you have, like Lee and I, been to New York before and 'done' all the main sights, a second (or in Lee's case, umpteenth) visit allows you to try out some of the more unusual distractions. Now as we all know, Americans love their sport - and New Yorkers are probably amongst the most fanatical and vocal. The week we were visiting witnessed the final week in the baseball regular season, and the New York Yankees' every pitch, swing and breath was closely watched - and documented on the front, back and inside of all the local papers. Sadly Yankees were away at Boston Red Sox for the week (due to the large distances, teams tend to play a series of three or four games when they're away from home, as opposed to a one-off), so we instead went to watch their neighbours the Mets, based in Queens at the famous Shea Stadium, site of the now legendary Beatles concert in 1964. Along with our visit to Strawberry Fields and the Dakota Building (more of which later), it was the first of three Fab Four moments on our trip - though neither Paul or Ringo were amongst the crowd of fans seemingly as busy seeing how much food they could consume in three hours as what was actually happening on the diamond below - though Paul was in town that week, playing four nights at Madison Square Garden. It was a similar experience on a trip to Giants Stadium - home to the New York Giants as well as Major League Soccer's Metro Stars; tickets for the latter much easier to get hold of than the former, for which there's a 50-year waiting list! The football was pretty shocking but highly amusing - former French international Youri Djorkaeff was clearly only there for the money, while for most of the crowd the football seemed to be a mere background to their two-hour dinner of pretzels, nachos, burgers, beer and hot dogs. For New Yorkers, food is right up there alongside sport as a favourite. As you can imagine for a city with a population of eight million (spread across the five boroughs of Manhattan, Queens, Bronx, Brooklyn and Staten Island), there are more places to eat than most of us have had hot dinners - from the street corner hot dog vendors, delicatessens, diners and restaurants - which, unsurprisingly given the vast ethnic spectrum, span every type of cuisine from Afghan to Vietnamese. A great way to sample some of these - without becoming a statistic on the obesity count - is on one of Susan Rosenbaum's fabulous Enthusiastic Gourmet walks. For $45, she'll take you on a two-three hour tour of foody landmarks, give you the history, introduce you to local personalities - and give you samples of everything from ham and ricotta balls to bialys (a softer kind of bagel without the hole). Our trip, The Melting Pot, took in the Lower East Side including the pickle guys, Kossar's bialys, Chinatown and Little Italy. Thoroughly recommended. After all that food, you'll want to burn it off - for around $35 take a leisurely bike tour around the vastness of Central Park (www.centralparkbiketours.com), or for a cheaper option (ie free), walk across the 6,016 feet of Brooklyn Bridge. My personal favourite part of the whole trip, the walkway, shared by pedestrians, cyclists and joggers, is suspended above the road bridge, so you not only have the bridge to look at but the Wall Street skyline, the traffic below - and the two neighbouring bridges, the Manhattan and Williamsburg (it's easy to remember their order - B-M-W). Start off in Brooklyn and walk back over to Manhattan for a truly memorable hour or so. Back at Central Park, all 843 acres of it, and you've almost got a week's activities there alone. Spend an afternoon lolling by the boating lake watching the old gentlemen with their radio controlled yachts; take a rowing boat out on conservatory water; sit out on the great lawn or the sheep meadow, or join the joggers / dog walkers etc on the roads which circumnavigate the park. There are also countless statues to spot - Hans Christian Andersen and Alice in Wonderland (both near conservatory water) pick of the bunch. Another must-visit is Strawberry Fields, a peaceful corner of the park just across the road from the Dakota Building, where John Lennon was shot in December 1980. He and Yoko lived there, and it was Yoko who bought the piece of Central Park as a memorial to Lennon, the simple Imagine mosaic a touching tribute to the great man, who like many of us was captivated by this fabulous city. Must do's in the Big Apple Climb the EMPIRE STATE BUILDING... but don't go quite as far as King Kong. Cross the BROOKLYN BRIDGE... on foot. Go to a sports game - be it BASEBALL, BASKETBALL or ICE HOCKEY... tickets are like gold dust. Order a big NYC BREAKFAST - crispy bacon, scrambled eggs, toast and home fries - a mixture of fried potato, onions and peppers. Go to the GUGGENHEIM, MoMA, MET or any of the dozens of other great museums in town. Many of them are on the stretch of Avenue known as Museum Mile, which runs alongside Central Park. When you're at Coney Island, grab a HOT DOG from Nathan's Famous - the franchise started there 90 years ago in 1916, and runs a hot dog eating contest every 4th of July... the world record is 53 1/2 dogs (meat and buns). How to act like a New Yorker Buy a HOTDOG from a street corner vendor and eat it on the move WEAR a baseball cap - whatever your age Whenever you're on your MOBILE put it on SPEAKER but hold it close to your FACE Liberally PEPPER your SENTENCES with SWEAR WORDS DON'T WALK more than a few blocks. CATCH A CAB if it's any further KNOW the starting line-ups for the YANKEES and KNICKS DON'T BUY a ready-made sandwich - ORDER it from SCRATCH with as many ingredients and instructions as possible (eg hold the pickle mayo, salad no tomato etc etc) Factfile TRAVEL: Jon Perks flew from London Heathrow to New York with Icelandair (via Reykjavik). Icelandair flies from London Heathrow to New York JFK via Iceland. Return fares start from £264 including tax. Call Icelandair on 0870 787 4020 or visit www.icelandair.co.uk for the best fares. ACCOMMODATION: The Roosevelt Madison at 45th Located in the heart of midtown New York City, The Roosevelt Hotel is where the business district meets the Theater and Fifth Avenue shopping districts, and is handy for the likes of the Rockefeller Center, Empire State and Grand Central Station. www.theroosevelthotel.com. West Eleventh 278 West 11th Street between 4th and Bleecker The beautifully furnished apartments in this Greenwich Village townhouse in a quiet side street are a great base for downtown Manhattan. Highly recommended. www.west-eleventh.com. EATING OUT: SAN DOMENICO 240 Central Park South Located just off Columbus Circle, this fabulous Italian restaurant oozes style and sophistication. Dress up and push the boat out for an unforgettable meal you'll be talking about long after
you're back from New York. Reservations: sandomny@aol.com or call (212) 265-5959 Outback 60 W 23rd Street Forget what you've experienced at one of the average UK outlets; this lively diner not only boasts a great atmosphere based around its central bar, but fabulous steaks and the coldest (and best) glass of Foster's you're likely to ever drink. Great spot to watch the sport on TV. (212) 989 3122 obs 3334@outback.com OUT AND ABOUT:
NY CITYPASS www.citypass.com/city/ny.html For $53 ($41 for children) you get a book of vouchers entitling you to admission to six of the main attractions in New York: American Museum of Natural History, Guggenheim Museum, The Museum of Modern Art, Intrepid Sea Air Space Museum, Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises, Empire State Building Observatory. Very good value (admission to all six would be over $100) - recommended NY METS newyork.mets.mlb.com
NEW YORK METRO STARS www.mlsnet.com/MLS/met/
THE ENTHUSIASTIC GOURMET www.enthusiasticgourmet.com
CENTRAL PARK BIKE HIRE www.centralparkbiketour.com | 
