New York
They say the best way to travel is light, without the weight of overpacked luggage or expectation. But how can you not have a preconceived idea of New York City, a place that exists not just as a collection of islands in the Hudson estuary, but in our collective cultural immagination?
From the Staten Island ferry to Fort Tryon of Harlem, Manhattan was fantastic, but I couldn't shake the fantasy - Gatsby, the Knights of the Algonquin Round Table, Jazz in the Village, Sex in the City. The New York I found had all the grit I could have hoped for, but not quite enough glamour.
Which is to say that I thought New York was all that but not and then some.
Loved
Hosts: The charming & gracious Donny put me up in his cute East Village apartment and showed me the sights. His lovely flatmate Bronwyn saved me from the bathroom-overflow-horror of May 2007.
Locals: If the city didn't quite meet my expectations, then the bloggers I met in Brooklyn were about ten times more fabulous in person than I could have hoped. THANK YOU! Kate and Conrad and Krissa and Stewart and Shiv and Jen and Kev and Mark and Stephanie.
The City That Never Sleeps: What do you do when you get off a ridiculously long transcontinental flight? Why, go out for dinner, drinks and (becaude you're staying with Donny) karaoke. At 3am. On a Monday night. In a place that's a lot nicer than Barrons. And then you do it all over again for the next week. What's not to like?
Celebrity spotting: Apparantly they snap froze Anglea Lansbury the second thay stopped filming, Murder She Wrote, because when I caught sight of her emerging from a Broadway stage door, she looked freakishly well-preserved.
Top of the Rock: The Empire State was incredible, but the Rockefeller had a view so good, it reduced the horde of screaming French teenage tourists to English, "Oh my God! Zees ees fur-keeng amazeeng!"
Culture: The Met, MOMA, The Cloisters, the International Centre for Photography, The New York City Library = pretty much my idea of heaven.
Brroklyn Bridge: Just wait until I upload the 679 "artistic" sunset shots I took here!
The Angel of The Waters, Bethesda Terrace, Central Park: Amazingly beautiful and serene, a weclome respite from the flower-clutching Japanese tourists and bad buskers in Stratwberry Fields.
Hated
Times Square: The idea that the centre of the universe is just a bunch of neon signs and chain restuarants triggered at least five minutes of existential angst. Then I saw Sephora and got distracted by makeup.
Pizza and Coffee: You guys had how many million Italian immigrants and you still can't make a decent espresso or slice?
UN: I want to believe the UN is more than a toothless tiger, but from the utter schermozzzle of the security screening tent to the desk clerk who started yelling at the Asian tour group who didn't speak English, you can sense why they have issues arranging little things like humanitarian aid and peacekeeping missions.
The New York Attitude: Considering how many elections I've handed out at, it's a small mircale that NYC managed to top them all for the number of times I've been told to "F**k Off, whore!" in a ten minute period. Those suave and sophisticated gentlemen of Gotham City sure know how to charm a gal!
From the Staten Island ferry to Fort Tryon of Harlem, Manhattan was fantastic, but I couldn't shake the fantasy - Gatsby, the Knights of the Algonquin Round Table, Jazz in the Village, Sex in the City. The New York I found had all the grit I could have hoped for, but not quite enough glamour.
Which is to say that I thought New York was all that but not and then some.
Loved
Hosts: The charming & gracious Donny put me up in his cute East Village apartment and showed me the sights. His lovely flatmate Bronwyn saved me from the bathroom-overflow-horror of May 2007.
Locals: If the city didn't quite meet my expectations, then the bloggers I met in Brooklyn were about ten times more fabulous in person than I could have hoped. THANK YOU! Kate and Conrad and Krissa and Stewart and Shiv and Jen and Kev and Mark and Stephanie.
The City That Never Sleeps: What do you do when you get off a ridiculously long transcontinental flight? Why, go out for dinner, drinks and (becaude you're staying with Donny) karaoke. At 3am. On a Monday night. In a place that's a lot nicer than Barrons. And then you do it all over again for the next week. What's not to like?
Celebrity spotting: Apparantly they snap froze Anglea Lansbury the second thay stopped filming, Murder She Wrote, because when I caught sight of her emerging from a Broadway stage door, she looked freakishly well-preserved.
Top of the Rock: The Empire State was incredible, but the Rockefeller had a view so good, it reduced the horde of screaming French teenage tourists to English, "Oh my God! Zees ees fur-keeng amazeeng!"
Culture: The Met, MOMA, The Cloisters, the International Centre for Photography, The New York City Library = pretty much my idea of heaven.
Brroklyn Bridge: Just wait until I upload the 679 "artistic" sunset shots I took here!
The Angel of The Waters, Bethesda Terrace, Central Park: Amazingly beautiful and serene, a weclome respite from the flower-clutching Japanese tourists and bad buskers in Stratwberry Fields.
Hated
Times Square: The idea that the centre of the universe is just a bunch of neon signs and chain restuarants triggered at least five minutes of existential angst. Then I saw Sephora and got distracted by makeup.
Pizza and Coffee: You guys had how many million Italian immigrants and you still can't make a decent espresso or slice?
UN: I want to believe the UN is more than a toothless tiger, but from the utter schermozzzle of the security screening tent to the desk clerk who started yelling at the Asian tour group who didn't speak English, you can sense why they have issues arranging little things like humanitarian aid and peacekeeping missions.
The New York Attitude: Considering how many elections I've handed out at, it's a small mircale that NYC managed to top them all for the number of times I've been told to "F**k Off, whore!" in a ten minute period. Those suave and sophisticated gentlemen of Gotham City sure know how to charm a gal!
posted by Dani at 1:28 PM
3 Comments:
Oh honey, made me relive our trip there all over again...the ICP was a highlight for us too, and the lack of decent espresso seems to be a worldwide plague upon us coffee drinkers I am afraid!
I will roundly punish New York for all its flaws and when you come back next time, it will be much better. Except the UN. We can't do anything about the UN.
And ALSO, I will disagree about the slice. You need to know where to go, I promise, but we have some of the most transcendent pizza in the world.
NYC has the best Pizza in the world.
It's also home of the Yankees, so despite it being fun, it sucks wicked hard.
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