Stories & Lifestyle: the New York Subway

With two Dollars for a one-way ticket, a ride on New York's subway is among the cheapest attractions of a visit to New York. At the same time it offers a kind of view and insight into New York that cannot be obtained by taking the bus or a cab. The New York railroad network, with a total of 1,200 km (745 miles) of tracks and roughly seven million passengers a day is among the biggest in the entire world. And despite its reputation, it is relatively clean and safe.

The subway has a lot to offer for tourists in New York. Anyone interested in music should try the stops in Midtown Manhattan. Some artists there playing for the arriving and departing passengers even officially supported by the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority and wear the label "Music under New York." For example the trio of young women who are playing classical music for strings in the Rockefeller Center subway station. Most musicians, however, just play, usually the guitar, the accordion or drums.

If you get hungry on your trip through the Big Apple, you will find numerous newspaper kiosks offering candy, fast food and drinks. Sometimes you will be offered exotic food. Very popular, for example, are churros, a sweet kind of pastry similar to a doughnut.

To have a nice view of the city, however, you will have to leave Manhattan where the trains are only underground and take one of the above-ground lines. New York experts recommend taking the D line at dawn and riding across the Manhattan Bridge. From there you will have a great view of the better-known Brooklyn Bridge. The light of the rising sun will make the East River sparkle with a myriad of colors. And if you look South you will see the Statue of Liberty, also enchanted by the morning light. Looking North you will see the spectacular Manhattan Skyline, dominated by the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building.

A great experience is also a ride with Line A in Queens, the eastern part of the city. On its way to Kennedy Airport, it crosses the Jamaica-Bay wildlife refuge. In that marshland you will see rare birds and plants, things you would have expected anywhere but in New York. And if you switch to line L going to Manhattan at Broadway Junction you will see the roofs of Brooklyn, because here the trains are 15 meters (49 feet) above ground on an elevated railway line. From there you will continue past the Evergreen cemetery that stretches fro miles and back into Manhattan.

Worth seeing is also Grand Central Station, New York's most famous station right in the center of Manhattan. Continue your journey on Line 4. In the station of 59th Street you will see a giant glass-mosaic ("Blooming") by artists Elizabeth Murray. The colorful pictures decorate the walls with red trees in front of a blue background. You will find similar artwork in the stations of 96th, 103rd, 110th and 125th Street. If you like mosaic art, you will also like Line 1 going south - with the mosaic "Alice in Wonderland at 50th Street and the wall mural "Return of Spring" at Times Square.

A perfect conclusion to this one-day subway trip is taking Line 1going south in Manhattan just before dusk. The view of the sunset on Hudson River and the New Jersey hills with Harlem in the background is probably one of the most dramatic the New York subway has to offer. And even if you're tired after a day like this, you will come to the same conclusion many subway enthusiasts have arrived at before you - that the journey is the real reward.

Further information about the subway: www.nycsubway.org