7 Wonderful Reasons to Fall in Love With Queens
Taste food from around the globe, watch Mets baseball and US Open tennis, see cutting-edge art and more in one of the world's most diverse places. Queens is a lot of fun, surrounded by diversity.
Rich Diversity is synonymous With Queens
Food and culture visual storytelling by Lucas Compan
While there is no precise count, some experts believe New York is home to as many as 800 languages — far more than the 176 spoken by students in the city’s public schools or the 138 that residents of Queens, New York’s most diverse borough, listed on their 2010 census forms.
“It is the capital of language density in the world,” said Daniel Kaufman, an adjunct professor of linguistics at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. “We’re sitting in an endangerment hot spot where we are surrounded by languages that are not going to be around even in 20 or 30 years.”
So here is our list of (at least) 7 reasons to visit this awesome New York City's melting pot.
1. Queens is a 24/7 food feast
Queens is the place to go to explore ethnic cuisine in New York City's most diverse borough. You can eat your way through the world cuisine. Take your pick: Italian, Indian, Armenian, Brazilian, Greek, Turkish, Colombian, Peruvian, Cuban, Argentinean, Egyptian, and more.
Everyone knows New York City is the culinary epicenter of the United States. And while Manhattan gets Michelin stars and Brooklyn gets blogger hype, real culinary fanatics know that authentic ethnic food experiences happen in the restaurants of Queens. There, New York's celebrated ethnic diversity is the most potent, with more than one million foreign-born residents. This means food lovers can travel the globe without using any vacation time: take a culinary tour of China, sip a frappe in Greece, dine on authentic Italian sausage, make a toast with the original Brazilian caipirinha—all without ever leaving Queens.
2 – Two minutes from Manhattan
Queens is closer than you think. From Grand Central Station to Long Island City – where you can enjoy awesome views – is a two-minute subway ride on the 7 train. You can also take the N or Q trains and after just 12 minutes you are in Greece, I mean, in Astoria-Ditmars.
3 – You find art and music
MoMA PS1 is one of the oldest and largest art institutions in the United States dedicated solely to contemporary art. It was founded in 1971 by Alanna Heiss as the Institute for Art and Urban Resources Inc., an organization devoted to organizing exhibitions in underutilized and abandoned spaces across New York City.
The Museum of Moving Image rivals the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for fun. You can also learn about the history of hip-hop or take the Jazz tour to see where Dizzie Gillespie and Louis Armstrong lived.
4 – World Culture
Visit Astoria-Ditmars to listen to Greek music. Or go to Little India and shop for Indian condiments, hear Bukharam music in Rego Park, smoke Hookah on Steinway Street or attend the Latin Festival.
5 – Watch the U.S. Open and visit the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center
Also, visit Flushing-Meadow Park
6 – Watch a New York Mets baseball game at the Citifield
Citi Field is a stadium located in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens. Completed in 2009, it is the home baseball park of Major League Baseball's New York Mets.
Citi Field was built as a replacement for the formerly adjacent Shea Stadium, which opened in 1964, next to the site of the 1964-1965 World's Fair.
7 – Knockout views on both ways
To go to Citi field to watch a Met's baseball game or to the U.S. Open to watch a tennis match, to visit the Billie Jean King Tennis National Center and the Flushing-Meadow Park you take the 7 train – and also enjoy wonderful views of Manhattan skyline (like this one below)
After having a lot of fun, filling your belly with great food, satisfying your soul with art and music, watching baseball and tennis, and also learning one or two words in more than one different languages, take the train back to the city. When you think you've seen everything, there's be more. If the weather is good, you will have the chance to enjoy some awesome sunsets and views from Queensboro Bridge.
Have fun! Divirta-se! ¡Que te diviertas! Divertiti! 玩的开心!