NYC has always been a fantasy city for me. From those scenes in the first 'grown-up' movie I recall seeing in the mid 1980s i.e. "King Kong" (the 1976 de Laurentiis version, i.e.) where Kong scaled the Twin Towers instead of the Empire State Building in the 1933 version. Or being the fabled home of the Ninja Turtles during my early 1990s obsession with the heroes in a half shell. Or as the setting of "Home Alone 2" around the same time. And the countless movies featuring the city streets, Central Park and the yellow taxis. And later, as my love for buildings developed, as the home of some of the world's tallest and iconic buildings: the Empire, the Chrysler, Hearst, Seagram, Guggenheim and more.
Living in London gives wonderful opportunities to travel to virtually everywhere in the world and we decided without much difficulty to book a ticket to NYC during the Easter week. The trip started with a surprise upgrade to 'premium' economy on the outbound afternoon flight. We landed at JFK in the evening and immediately set off to our hotel at Canal Street in SoHo or South of Houston - I soon found out the Americans are obsessed with acronyms. I also noticed that American WCs operate in slightly different ways than European ones; this was never really highlighted in the movies!
As much as we are told not to judge books by their cover, I think that one can safely judge a new place by first impressions. It was immediately obvious that NYC does not invest heavily into its infrastructure as much as, say, London does. The subway was consistently dirty, trains are vintage by almost any standard and signage is not entirely foolproof. Same for pavements, streets and the urban environment in general. I guess my expectation was that NYC is to America what London is to Europe, but I was mistaken on this count.
What I was not mistaken was that NYC is the king (or queen?) of the high-rise. Yet, I never felt like I was walking in canyons or alleys. The classic sights - an inspiration for almost 2 decades - were, quite literally, highlights. We were lucky to have clear sunny daytime views from Top of the Rock and splendid night views of the lit gridiron city streets from the top of the Empire.
While history in the European sense of the word is virtually non-existent, the museums were another big tick in the "satisfied" box. Besides the Prado, I must say that I have been to the main European top galleries and museums and the Met and MoMa now sit amongst my greatest hits, even if compared with the bounty of London's freebies they do come at a considerable fee, albeit worth every penny. Sorry, cent.
Food: great choices, as expected in a very cosmopolitan place. Great dumplings, ramen, burgers and Katz's pastrami of course. The 15-20% tip came as a big surprise, even after a decade of 12.5% UK "discretionary" service charges.
The biggest surprise (and I was positively impressed by it) was the New Yorkers themselves. Not that I had a "bad" impression of Americans; I do work for an American firm after all and my boss(es) are indeed American. However, the level of friendliness, willingness to help and good manners, almost verging on shyness, were something I did not expect from a nation which is widely considered to be the world's ruling one. Comparing again to London, certainly there is much more warmth in the Big Apple!
One week went by quickly, even if the days were jam-packed from morning to night, averaging some 20km of walking every day and soon we rode away from Manhattan to JFK, to fly back to London and luckily arriving with no signs of jet-lag whatsoever.
My verdict: a visit to NYC is a must but in my view it is not a city for living. It is generally quite expensive (but probably OK with US salaries), hectic and tending towards filthy in some areas. If nature or Swiss precision is your thing, then probably it is a risky destination, but if the skyscraper is what turns you on, then in it you will find a slice of Nirvana. Having said that, I am not surprised that, besides Frankie's label as the city with perpetual insomnia, there is yet to be a Samuel Johnson style "tired of London, tired of life" equivalent for NYC, for London is still in my view the greatest city in the world. And hence this blog will remain "The streets of London".
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