Imagine a city that never sleeps; a bustling metropolis which is in many respects like a giant sized theme park. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you New York City.
This was my first time in New York and, in fact, my first trip to the USA for about 5 years. It was good to be back!
While I generally do not enjoy tick box tourism and would much rather take my time not just to see and visit the sites but to let them affect me emotionally, there was simply not enough time on this two day tour de force of New York City to allow for that kind of idealistic meandering. Instead, there was a lot of dashing from place to place to pack as much as possible in and get our money’s worth on the New York Pass we’d forked out for.
The New York Pass
A note about the New York Pass, before we go any further. Since I’m fairly sure this will be a very well Googled topic, the New York Pass does not necessarily help you to jump queues like their website says it does. Because the people today who do not have access to the Internet and the ability to buy a New York Pass are few and far between, in the respect of saving on queueing time, the free availability of the New York Pass has moved the zero line – everybody has one. So the queue is just as long. (I’ll show you a couple of pictures of queues further down the page).
The pass can however help you to save money if you can see enough attractions during the time period for which it lasts. It is possible to get 5-6 attractions a day in, comfortably provided you can walk pretty fast and don’t suffer from any heart conditions.
New York, New York
Arriving in mid-town Manhattan in early afternoon after a nine hour flight listening to two rather entertaining Liverpudlians talk about holidays and watching what I thought was a superb movie – The Next Three Days – on my iPhone, I was rather tired and ready for a well earned nap. But I wasn’t getting one. I could sleep at home. I was in New York!
One of the things I love about American hotels is the availability of free tea and coffee. And when a Yorkshireman hears the words “free tea” it sounds better than Ave Maria. If I wasn’t getting a nap, I was sure as hell going to have a free cup of tea or two. So I did just that, before taking a walk around the surrounding area.
New York City has become world famous largely because of some very famous landmarks like the Statue of Liberty; and also because of Hollywood. If you, like me, consider the TV your third parent, then you can be pretty sure you’ll recognize almost everything in the whole city from some movie or another. But there were a few surprises…
SURPRISE #1: Times Square is not a square. It is a series of triangles with an astronomical carbon footprint. Every wall of every building is clad with enormous screens, neon lights and gigantic light up figures and statues which are on twenty four hours a day. And while it would make any environmentalist sick, especially at night, there’s something cosmic and borderline spiritual about it.
SURPRISE #2: Broadway is not a theatre district. It is in fact an entire street that stretches almost the full length of Manhattan. The theatre district is the most famous part of it, but there are many more buildings on Broadway besides theatres. To add to this, the term “off broadway” is not a reference to the geographical location at which a particular show played, it is a reference to the seating capacity of the theatre.
The Empire State Building was made famous by of King Kong but nonetheless, it does provide a very good vantage point on the city. Perhaps the only building that capitalizes more on the iconic fame of The Empire State Building is the Rockafella Plaza. The setting for the popular sitcom “30 Rock”, the Rockafella Center is the home of NBC studios as well as countless apartments, offices are restaurants. But its location also provides a million dollar view of New York’s Central Park on one side, and an argueably more iconic view of New York City on the other because it contains the one thing you can’t get in your photo from the Empire State Building – The Empire State Building itself.
New York Food
While I went a whole five days without seeing or smelling a curry, I did rather enjoy New York food for two reasons: a lot of it is like Italian food, just BIGGER. And secondly because New York is a highly multicultural city. You can get everything there.
As an example of the size of the portions, check out this 18 inch pizza I ate…
New York People
Obviously, this is an account of my experience during those five days, but I found New York to be a fairly friendly place. The only unfriendly person I came across was the border control officer on the way in. And I think it’s part of his job.
So in summary…
Would I visit New York again? Absolutely. If I could afford it, I’d get a condo there. The title of Adam’s Favourite US City is now a toss up between Seattle, San Fransisco and New York City. New York City has a geographic advantage because it’s closer to England than the other two places.
