View this helpful list of all the NYC playgrounds listed by borough and accessibility level.  You can also find out the highlights of the facilities, directions, and other nearby playgrounds.

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Yes you can hike in NYC!  Enjoy the greenery and forget you’re in the city.  Bring water, sunscreen, baseball hat, and rest as often as you need to.

• North Woods of Central Park – view the map
• List of hikes by borough
• High Line (now open to public)

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When the New York Public Library offered a free Genealogy class at the 42nd Street location (with the lions), I jumped at the chance. There I learned of all the free resources at the library including subscriptions to Ancestry.com, HeritageQuest.com, a list of volunteer–added databases, and printed volumes in the NYPL Genealogy Room.

For a month, during my lunch hour I went to the library and looked through the books, censuses, and family indexes and found a great deal of information going back to the 1500s in France. I eventually learned that I am a descendant of King Louis VIII of France!

Anyway, the librarians are so helpful and nice and the resources are very organized. I would recommend this to everyone.  The classes are every month or so but you can walk into the NYPL Genealogy Room and ask for help at anytime.  It was a lot of fun.

Christi, 26, Astoria

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Walk by the storefront and create your own fish with a cellphone. It’s cute and better than a graffiti–lined block.

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Try these self-guided tours dedicated to the funniest (and scariest) of architectural elements.

• Check out the city’s best gargoyles and grotesques according to Time Out New York.  Nice self-guided tour of the small details of the city.
• Gilded Gargoyles on American Radiator Building- Points out and explains the details of one NYC block

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Choices in Childbirth offers free monthly meetings for expectant parents to know their options, meet other new parents, and address a different topic each month. Find our how you can achieve a more safe and satisfying birth. View the 2009 meeting schedule.

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