It was my first time to New York and I was surprised to see there is so much more to this city than skyscrapers. New York City is full of stimulation from all angles; from the underground subways to the tallest buildings; from the historic past to future plans for the city; from arts to science to technology. To me Manhattan is like a miniature model of the world offering you a piece of everything in one location. There was a glimpse of every nationality here and a lot of heritage too.
When we arrived, the city was buzzing with energy and that didn’t really diminish on the day we left. They’d just had a snow blast of almost 2 feet, well ahead of time, and the city looked really magnificent. The sun was out with clear blue skies, so a stroll around central park was a must. It was two blocks away from where
I stayed and on the way there, I heard more languages in a few hours than I’d done in the whole year. More than 170 languages are spoken in New York and over approximately 40% of the population are born outside the US.
This city is truly amazing and is very easy to fall in love with. The city that never sleeps has a lot to offer everyone – the young and the old, the ambitious and the lethargic. There are so many food joints - to cater to the cash deprived students to the breathtakingly rich. So much to see, so much to do, it can be very hard to decide where to start.
Nick named the Big Apple, Gotham, The City that never sleeps, The Empire City, Capital of the world and much more, the city is made up of 5 boroughs with Manhattan in the centre. The surrounding boroughs are The Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island. When you go up any of the high rise buildings you can easily see the Hudson River and beyond the river is New Jersey. With around 20 million people in the city now, this is the most populous city in United States and is rated as one of the safest too. New York exerts such powerful influence over world commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment that it’s very obvious it all starts here. With a strong network of public transportation, you can really get anywhere within minutes. Just wandering around the city can be so fulfilling.
The Statue of Liberty has greeted millions of immigrants and many more millions of visitors that visit New York every day. Wall Street in lower Manhattan controls the financial pulse of the world since World War II and is home to the New York Stock Exchange. This is such a narrow street that if you are not really attentive, you could go past this and miss it altogether. The Empire State building had so much expensive and lush office space available at one point in time that it had no occupiers due to its high cost and so, it was referred to as the “empty state building” which soon changed. Land is really scarce and every bit of space available in the residential apartments is skillfully utilized to its optimal capacity.
The world trade centre actually is made up of 7 buildings of which the twin towers were designed by Minoru Yamasaki, an American architect of Japanese descent. Surprisingly Minoru had a fear of heights. The North Tower and the South Tower were the tallest of these 7 buildings which collapsed on the day of the attack on September 11, 2001. Although the other buildings did not collapse from the attack, some of them had to be demolished as they were damaged beyond repair. These have since been rebuilt and 5 of these office towers are functional today. The initial plan was to build two more towers even higher than the ones that went down but due to the current economic downturn, there are talks of these plans being altered. The subway stop that actually ran beneath the heart of the world trade centre is closed since 2001 till further notice.
Then there is Broadway, Times square, City hall, Bryant Park, the Rockefeller Centre, Grand Central terminal, Staten Island, the famous Brooklyn Bridge, various Museums to challenge and educate you, New York Sky ride, the Gothic Churches, Top of the Rock (i.e Rockefeller centre), Madison square garden’s, Central Park Zoo, NBC Studio Tour, Radio City Music Hall… I can just go on and on. For most of these you can buy a city pass that saves you from standing in the rather long queues to buy entry tickets to. The reading room in the New York Public Library is truly amazing and one of the best in the world.
Tom Wolfe, the writer said of New York City "Culture just seems to be in the air, like part of the weather”. Numerous major American cultural movements began in the city, which established the African-American literary standard in the United States. The city was a center of jazz in the 40s, invent of American art known as abstract expressionism in the 50s, the birthplace of hip hop in the 70s, hardcore punk in the 80’s. This very culture is highly visible as a true characteristic of New York. Christmas is a great time to visit. You will love the magnificent giant tree lightings, the hustle and bustle of shopper-filled streets, and the beauty of ice skating and elaborate window decorations found all around the city.
And for the first time, I want to go back where I have just been. I am really looking forward to my next visit and I am sure it will feel as if I am going there for the first time all over again.
I stayed with my cousin who is such a great host. Catching up with family added a new dimension to this happy experience too. On the way out I bought a hand bag which depicted my feelings for New York. It has "I love New York" written all over it so if you spot someone walking down Auckland roads with a black hand bag with bright white I love NY all over it, it is probably me.
Rashmi Shenoy works with Hewlett Packard full time as a services account manager and writes for IWK in her spare time and can be contacted via Indian Weekender.