To have the best lunches like a 'fried peanut butter sandwich', lounge or book a room for a few days in the heart of the city, visit 'The Ace Hotel'. Ease down in the couches, order a Brooklyn Beer and relax. A great place to meet up.
Having the experience of owning and running a coral reef aquarium (and frequenting this particular shop about once a week) - I was sad to hear it closed it's doors. Their reef display tank was always amazing. These pictures were taken from PetCo at Union Square (I also used to go there for my saltwater needs).
Nature is the only thing I sometimes feel that I miss in the city and though I love going to Central Park and Prospect Park it’s still a bit of a hike for everyday life. Thankfully there’s a ton of small gardens and parks all around the city and in the summer some of them turns in to secluded hideouts. My favorite is cramped in between 6th avenue, a playground and another street but it still feels like (almost) being in a little forest when sitting there.