Café Sabarsky is in a beautiful room with wood furnishings on the ground floor, across from Central Park, and Café Fledermaus has tiled floors and is inspired by the Cabaret Fledermaus in Vienna but is in the basement and has no view; however, the two cafes have the same lunch/dinner menus. These cafes are not cheap, and part of what you're paying for is the location and the decor/atmosphere, but you also get value, in the form of genuine Viennese cuisine and pastries. These cafes are a good option if you're visiting the Metropolitan Museum and prefer to eat something nearby that's better than the merely OK food at the Met's Snack Bar. You may have a significant wait for a table at peak hours, but it's worth a try.
Mon Wed 9AM-6PM, Thu-Sun 9AM-9PM, closed Tue·Breakfast (9-11AM): $3-20 for single dishes; $28 for a prix fixe menu, $38 with a glass of Sekt; Cold beverages: $5-13; Viennese coffee specialties: $6-8; Savory dishes (11AM to closing): $16-32 (less expensive ones are soups); Sausages: $14-20; Hot beverages: $8-12; Desserts: $7-13; Salads: $18-28; Sandwiches: $19
DoCentral Park
Inspired by the nearby Egyptian Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, this playground contains several pyramid-like play structures.
Probably the most famous of the Guggenheim foundations (others found in Bilbao and Venice), which hold avant-garde modern art by artists such as Kandinsky and Mondrian, the New York branch is housed in a unique and famous building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and rendered in a rounded, organic form and completed in 1959. Be sure to take the elevator to the top floor, then follow the spiral viewing floors downwards to the street level. One of eight buildings by Wright to be listed as a world heritage site.
10:30AM-5:30PM·$30/adult, $19/senior/student/disability, free for children under 12. Pay what you wish M/Sa 4-5:30PM
The Met
One of the world's largest and most important museums of art and world culture, you'll have to devote an entire day (if not more!), if you want to do this place justice. This massive neo-Gothic building, originally opened in 1872 and with numerous expansions added on over time, holds literally hundreds of rooms on its two floors, containing thousands of art pieces from across human history and around the world, covering virtually every field of art in existence, but controversially including many items that were looted from their places of origin. Along with the numerous permanent exhibit halls mentioned below are several changing exhibit halls.
Sun-Tue/Thu 10AM-5PM, Fri-Sat 10AM-9PM·$30/adult, $22/senior, $22/disability, $17/student, children under 12 free. Residents of NY State and students from NY/NJ/CT may pay what you wish. Admission includes 3 consecutive days at the Met and the Met Cloisters in upper Manhattan. Note admission is not included as part of city passes