New York can seem gloomy on a cold rainy day, but it doesn’t have to be! Here are 8 ways to make the most of your trip (and even enjoy the city!) when the weather isn’t ideal for outdoor excursions. (And save these excursions for the warm sunny days!)

1. Watch a Broadway musical

There are several ways to get discount tickets to see a Broadway show.

1) You can enter the digital or in-person lottery: some shows have digital lotteries the day before, while others have same-day rush tickets or in-person lotteries. I tried to get the $30 in-person lottery tickets a couple hours before Wicked, but it was not my lucky day and I was one of two people who didn’t get one of the 26 tickets, but they sympathized with us and still gave us discounted seats, so it was worth it, as the show was so amazing. Tip: Make sure you have enough cash for the in-person lottery! If you win you have to pay in cash on the spot. I had to run almost a mile through crowds of people to get cash from a Chase ATM in time (which I guess was in vain because I didn’t even get the tickets). If you can, have both parties present so that each person can enter the lottery and you double your chances of winning. (I did end up befriending the other “unlucky” person, and we ended up hanging out and exploring Brooklyn together — so perhaps my luck wasn’t so bad after all?)

2) You can also go to the TKTS discount booth in Times Square or Lincoln Center the day before or the day of the show you want to see; they’ll have 20-50% discounted tickets for select shows. Go the day before if you can, as seats sell out fast! I waited a full hour to get tickets for Moulin Rouge a couple hours before the show.

2. Browse a store around Fifth Avenue

The Apple Store: I heard the underground Apple store was cool so I checked it out — you go down a spiral staircase that reflects like a mirror and has cool visual effects. The store is large and spacious with benches on the side and tables for people to rest. A couple wall panels were filled with plants that created a nice modern leafy vibe. Also a convenient place to charge your iPhone.

Saks Fifth Avenue: 10 floors of designer clothes! I got perfumed by a sales clerk and tried on a pair of $306 designer jeans (they were disappointingly not $306 level comfy). I entertained myself by trying to guess how much the dresses cost and pondering the kind of life I would need to live to ever want to spend so much on clothes.

NY Public Library: There are branches all over the city, and they are convenient places to read, find a public bathroom (the other places I was able to find include McDonald’s and churches), and nap (would highly recommend if you’re out and about and really could use a nap. It’s not the most comfortable sleeping position, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do!).

Strand Bookstore: Popular independent bookseller. I spent many late afternoon and evening hours here. They don’t provide many places to sit (understandably because they don’t want you to stay and read their books), but I was able to find a place in the basement floor all the way in the back, putting my coat and purse on an empty book cart and sitting on a stool. I was also able to sit at the bookstore café for awhile since there weren’t many people ordering drinks.

3. Check out a museum

There are several museums in NYC to visit, including the MET and the MoMA. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET) is HUGE so you’ll want to budget at least a half day, depending on how closely you like to read the captions. Even though the third floor was closed when I went, I barely finished all the exhibits in 5 hours (I don’t read every caption but I like to read the main summaries in each gallery). Also if you’re visiting in the winter, be mentally prepared that there is a chance their coat check may not be open.

The Museum of the Modern Art (MoMA) is smaller, so you can probably budget 2-3 hours. There’s 6 floors, so would recommend starting at the top floor (oldest in chronological order) and working your way down. The 6th floor also has famous works by van Gogh, Picasso, Dalí, and Monet, among others.

Tip: If you’re not a NY resident or student, you can still get a free ticket via the Culture Pass, which you can get with a physical NY library card. You register online for the card but then need to go to a NY Public Library to get the physical card. They’ll require you to provide proof of NY residency, but I was able to swing that I was a “temporary resident,” providing them the address I was staying at, and that was enough for them.

There’s also Federal Hall on Wall Street, the location of the original and first Capitol of the United States, where George Washington was sworn in as President in 1789 and Congress adopted the Bill of Rights later that year, and where Washington, Adams, Hamilton, Jefferson, and Madison worked. In 1790 the government moved to Philadelphia and finally in 1800 to D.C. In 1862, President Lincoln converted the building from a U.S. Custom House into a branch of the U.S. Independent Treasury System, which issued and received bonds, gold certificates, and the first “greenbacks.” It’s free and not very big so you’ll only need about a half hour.

4. Watch a live taping of a show

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert was definitely a highlight of my time in NYC. If you get priority tickets you’re pretty much guaranteed a seat as long as all the parties in your group show up between the hour time slot noted in your ticket. If you’re not able to get priority tickets you can still wait in the general line, but may not get in. I’ve been to a live show taping once before in LA, but the NY energy was on a different level.

5. Visit a church

Churches are not only a great place to find some peace and quiet amidst the bustle of NYC life, but also a great refuge in the rain.

Trinity Church is a beautiful church near Wall Street, where Alexander Hamilton was a member and was buried.

St. Patrick’s Cathedral: large and extravagantly decorated cathedral on Fifth Ave.

6. Tour the UN Headquarters

Highly recommend doing a guided tour of the United Nations Headquarters — our tour guide provided a lot of information in an hour and I learned a lot about the UN. We saw the Security Council Chamber, which had really comfortable green chairs (comfortable = better for diplomacy), the Economic and Social Council, which does most of the UN’s work, like implementing a project to turn plastic waste into classrooms, and the General Assembly, the largest room where all 193 members gathered and where the Paris Agreement was negotiated and decided. It’s quite amazing to see the rooms where global leaders gather and discuss the global issues of the day.

The tickets recommend you get there an hour early for security, but unless you’re going during a high-demand time, a few minutes in advance is fine. It’s best to book your tickets in advance — we arrived early but weren’t able to do an earlier tour as they were all full.

7. Enjoy the city in the rain

The weather can be sucky but at the same time it can make the city look very beautiful! Thankfully the rain wasn’t terrible to walk in when I was there; it was more drizzling than pouring, so with the right gear it’s still possible to enjoy the city in the rain.

8. Eat, drink, and be merry

Of course, trying a variety of global cuisines is always something to do in NYC, rain or shine. Check out my food blog for some of my favorite restaurants and bars in the city!