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Historical Travel / Thanatourism / Times Square / New York City / Museum Travel / Science Travel / Volcanoes / Pompeii Travel / Alitalia / → All Tags

Times Square Grave-Robs Pompeii of Its Vesuvius Victims for New Exhibit

I see dead people...in Times Square! Leave it to one of the world's biggest tourist meccas to attract one of the world's biggest thanatourist (thanatourism = death tourism) draws to it: New York City is showing Pompeii's ash casts of the victims of the volcano eruption some 2,000 years ago with an exhibit at Discovery Times Square, in partnership with Alitalia.

The event, which opened a few days ago and has no set end date, showcases 250+ artifacts from the old Roman city, which were buried and preserved under layers of volcanic stone and ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted in AD 79. Alongside pottery and whatnot will be a selection of the "bodies" found at the excavation site, which are injection molds of hollow spaces left deep within the ash by the long-gone bodies of the volcano's victims. The bodies, in their contracted and huddled shapes, show the final torturous moments of the citizens of the once-great town on the Bay of Naples.

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New Year's Travel / New Year's Eve / Events / Lists / New York City / Times Square / Snow Travel / Travel Tips / Tourist Traps / → All Tags

Five Rules for Going to the New Year's Ball Drop in Times Square

Oh, the weather outside is frightful, but New Year's celebrations can be so delightful! And since you've got a place to go—Times Square—let's go, let's go, let's go! Okay now ignore that attempt at rewriting the song "Let It Snow" and pay attention, because we're about to give you the lowdown on crossing New Year's in Times Square off your bucket list.

Many people, as we've come to discover, just flock to Times Square all willy-nilly for the ball drop, mistakenly thinking they'll have things like tons of port-a-potties or food vendors. Not true. It's a rugged experience, and you've got to prepare for it and know the rules. Aside from no alcohol allowed, there are five major guidelines to having a great time at the ball drop and still getting a view of the action.

The Five Rules for Going to The New Year's Ball Drop in Times Square...

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Travel Snapshot / New York City / Times Square / Snow Travel / Weather / → All Tags

Times Square Gets Shoveled Out From Under The Weekend's Blizzard

So remember how this was supposed to be the week that the great blizzard hit the East Coast? Well, for DC (with over two feet of snow!) and some other east coast cities, this was definitely the case. However, in good old NYC, the city got itself together by noon and cleared the roads and sidewalks, and public transportation continued mostly uninterrupted. We know that the city's various Starbucks locations were busy as usual, because we still couldn't get a table, and we tried three of them.

But don't take our word for it that New York isn't crippled under the weight of the white stuff; check out our photo above of Times Square yesterday evening. The snow was even falling then, and yet it was still at "aww, look at the snowflakes" levels.

Nonetheless, airlines that preemptively cancelled flights over the last few days were right to, since we wouldn't want to be flying up in clouds full of ice and snow, not to mention that plowing a runway takes more effort than shoveling a sidewalk. So continue to monitor your flight status and here are a few sites to help you become best buds with the airline customer service rep.

Related Stories:
· Prepare for This Weekend's Snowstorm with Your Airline Information [Jaunted]
· Snow Travel [Jaunted]

[Photo: Jaunted]

New Year's Travel / New Year's Eve / Events / New York City / Times Square / → All Tags

Five Rules For Enjoying The New Year's Ball Drop In Times Square

Although the picture above is about as close as we'll get to seeing the ball drop in NYC's Times Square, that doesn't mean that we can't help you get the most out of braving the crowds to have the once-in-a-lifetime New Year's experience.

Aside from no alcohol allowed, there are five major rules to having a great time at the ball drop and still getting a view of the action. Pay attention, because you've only got a couple more days to get your strategy together.

The Five Rules For Enjoying The New Year's Ball Drop In Times Square...

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New Car-Free Zones Make Times Square 36% Less Disgusting

Most tourists don't realize this, but real New Yorkers don't hang out in Times Square. In fact, they avoid it whenever possible, giving a wide berth to the crowds packing Bubba Gump's Shrimp Co. and the ESPN Zone in favor of more authentic hangouts downtown. But Times Square suddenly got a whole lot more palatable to natives this week with the introduction of several new pedestrian-only zones, where you can hang out and gawk at all the neon and plasma without worrying about being mowed down by a taxi. It was a move I never thought I'd see in a city that has seemingly favored drivers over walkers in recent years, so I had to check it out. Armed with a camera and a copy of The New Yorker, I explored the new car-free oasis of Times Square during my lunch hour on Thursday, and I've got to tell you: it's great.

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Tourists Watch Car Crash on Times Square Set of Nic Cage Movie

A car chase being filmed for a new Nicolas Cage movie last night in Times Square went a little off-track, crashing head-first into a Sbarro pizza restaurant at around 1am. The scene was being shot for the movie, "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" and yes, it's related to Mickey Mouse.

Since the accident happened in Times Square, the crash was witnessed by several tourists who told The NY Post what they saw:

Mark Watkins, a tourist from Birmingham, England, watched the live action chase from the top of the new TKTS booth. "A black Ferrari and a silver Mercedes were chasing each other," he said. "The Ferrari took a route down the center of the road, swerving between cars. The Mercedes took the outside lanes. "The Ferrari took a sharp right to the left and lost it, swerving across the lanes, taking out a lamppost and a news stand.

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If You Absolutely Must Hang Out in Times Square, You Could Do Worse than Ruby Foo's

One of the many misconceptions travelers have of New York City is that Midtown Manhattan in general - and Times Square in particular - is the best place to go to get a true sense of the city. This is incorrect. Real New Yorkers spend time in Midtown because they have to. That's where their jobs are located, and certain business and schmoozing simply must be conducted between 34th and 57th Streets. But when the workday is over, most of my friends and colleagues instinctively head downtown, or to Brooklyn, to hang out, hook up, shop, eat, and drink.

There are exceptions. Two weekends ago, we wound up in Times Square to meet a couple of friends who had ridden the bus in from New Haven. They had taken their young daughter to see the Little Mermaid on Broadway, and had only a couple of hours to kill before catching the bus home. We decided to press the easy button and met them at Ruby Foo's on Broadway and 49th. You know what? It was pretty good.

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NYC BBQ / Restaurants / Food Travel / BBQ / Times Square / → All Tags

A Sticky Treat Near the New Times Square

Daisy May's is probably the most over-covered of all the NYC BBQ joints, but even though Oprah, Rachel Ray and the Today Show have already visited chef Adam Perry Lang's Hell's Kitchen cafeteria, no serious Barbecue lover could leave this one off the list.

Leaving aside the food for a moment, Daisy May's has one of our favorite restaurant creation stories. A few years back, a venerable institution called the Penthouse Club decided to open an establishment in the Times Square West area. But this is the new Times Square, not the old one, so that meant the new strip club had to include a ritzy steakhouse, and of course a hot young chef.

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Gossip Girl Travel: What Do You Mean, No New Episode?

OK, so maybe we're a little bit in denial about how there was no new "Gossip Girl" this week. Maybe a hair "scratching the walls in frustration." Can you blame us?

Luckily the show has kept New York residents busy by continuing to shoot all over town. Blogger Lauren Farmer was lucky enough to run into a big ol' spoiler alert last week in Times Square--after the jump, her photo of Serena and her new flame...

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Magicians / Odd Travel / Times Square / Tourist Attraction / → All Tags

Adventures of Criss Angel: Cement Box Escape Video

A video of the Mindfreak's escape on A&E's live television coverage, how meta of you tipsters.

First, is that Paul Shaffer or Gilbert Godfrey counting down and yelling "C'mon Chris" around the 1:15 mark?

Second, isn't this the exact same trick that baffled Hugh Jackman in The Prestige?

Someone search the crowd for a drunk double--no a twin brother, that's it. Criss Angel has a twin brother and he is dating Cameron Diaz.

Here's hoping all the tourists and gawkers on 46th and 8th enjoyed the show.

Related Stories:
· Criss Angel's Cement Escape Stunt in Times Square [Jaunted]
· Criss Angel Cement Box Escape Photos [Jaunted]

Magicians / Odd Travel / Times Square / Tourist Attraction / → All Tags

Criss Angel Times Square Cement Box Escape Photos

On Friday, we told you about illusionist Criss Angel's latest stunt--24 hours in box full of wet cement hanging above Times Square. Last night blogger asktherelic was looking for a good excuse to test out his new Blackberry phone camera, so he sauntered over to Angelville and had this to say:

Walked by and did the tourist thing myself. There were lots of annoying kids and loud Drum n Bass music playing and of course a smoke machine going off every 5 mins. They were giving out lots of DVDs and stuff, a loud promoter on a microphone.

Angel was scheduled to escape the box at around 7 AM this morning. If anyone woke up early and witnessed the escape attempt, let us know about it in comments.

The cement box stunt is hoping to draw attention to the third season of Criss Angel's show Mindfreak.

MORE CRISS ANGEL CEMENT BOX STUNT PHOTOS HERE

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Magicians / Odd Travel / Times Square / Tourist Attraction / → All Tags

Criss Angel's Cement Escape Stunt In Times Square

Update 06.05.07: We now have photos from Criss Angel event here.

Criss Angel is set to perform a death-defying stunt on June 4th in Times Square.

Angel, who is looking to top David Blaine's 2006 Lincoln Center water bubble flop, will encase himself in a glass cube, be lifted 40 feet in the air, and have 24 hours to escape before the whole box drops to the ground. Oh, and the box will be filled with three inches of wet concrete...oh, and he will be shackled--of course.

What is at stake? Historically, the top U.S. magician cashes in on commercial appearances and dates hot models.

In the wake of Blaine's 2006 failure, Angel is set to become America's Next Top Magician if he pulls this off.

We leave you with an ominous Criss Angel quote from the clip after the jump:

A solid can not pass through a solid...unless it was really liquid.

If you are in Times Square Monday, snap a photo and send it our way, or drop it in the Jaunted Flickr photo pool.

Criss Angel walks through glass video clip.

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