Paying a visit

Sun, 02/17/2008 1:16 PM

Guided tours run seven days a week, except in January and February when the United Nations is closed to the public on weekends. Tours are conducted from 9:30 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Monday to Friday; Saturdays and Sundays from 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

The building is on First Avenue between 42nd and 48th streets, with the visitors' entrance at 46th street. No parking facilities are available, so go with the subway or the bus. Take the 4, 5, 6 or 7 trains to Grand Central Station then walk on 42nd Street to First Avenue. The buses are more convenient as the M15, M27, M42 or M104 buses stop a stone's throw away from the building.

They say knowledge is priceless. So a few dollars spent on the tour will definitely pay forward. At the time of writing, the tour costed $13.50 for adults, $9 for senior citizens and students and $7.50 for children aged between 5 and 14.

Tours in English are conducted daily every other 30 minutes. Tours are also carried out in Arabic, French, German, Hebrew, Italian (which I took to gawk at the uber cute guide), Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Swedish although on a much less-frequent basis.

-- Tony Hotland

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