New York City. My first time in this iconic city, one of most European cities in the US. Staying in the middle of Manhattan for one week in January I had only a chance to touch the tip of an iceberg. I could taste it like daily rush fast-food more than rich in flavor tasty meal simply because I had effectively only one day and a half to wander around. Find below my experience of this cult city, some (miss)impressions based on couple first-to-visit places.
Manhattan has welcomed me with wide avenues and streets, yet looking very narrow due to being surrounded by sky high buildings. I get there very late in the night so I was glad to find my hotel quickly, just two blocks from Grand Central station where the shuttle bus stops. I took shower and fell asleep to reduce jet-lag to minimum. Truly speaking most of the week I have only morning walks and evenings to go out (yes, traveling in business). Mixing in the crowd of morning rush, on my way to the office located several blocks away, I could feel the atmosphere of white-collar workers migrating every day from distant districts of suburbs. Adding some evenings wandering to the picture I could confirm my first observations – Manhattan is mostly fashion & food. Every single corner or a street is packed up with boutiques and exclusive shops as well as cafeterias, restaurants and semi fast-food stores supplying white-collar workers with energy all over work week. If I were living in NYC I would not make breakfasts at home at all; you can stop by at any of hundreds places with different cuisines on the way to the office.
Take also a look on full resolution panoramas.
Having one day and a half before return flight, I joined group of colleagues from my company, also visiting NYC, on our way to discover NYC. Based on voting started from American Museum of Natural History, heading to Museum of Modern Art and Guggenheim. Couple hours of walking through the AMoNH drained all my energy dedicated to this kind of activity. I would not say it was “boring” but there were way too much things to see in such a short time.
Next day I split with the group and got my own route. I took metro to downtown to get more outdoor activities. The Wall Street was first target because I wanted to see the place ruling the global finance. After that I walked north the famous Brooklyn bridge just to turn west to reach the “ground zero” zone, WTC attack aftermath, where the 9/11 memorial is being constructed. The “new WTC” is just half way of climbing up while it is already highest building in Manhattan – do not tell me Americans have no ego trip…
I could not miss visiting the symbol of USA, ugly green lady “disposed” by French as a gift to Americans. Statue of Liberty, if you will, is apparently the place of one-and-only-one-visit. I was glad I have chosen to take free Staten Ferry cruising near the Liberty Island. That was enough especially that statue is being renovated this year so no-one can enter the interiors anyway.
Late afternoon, on my way back to hotel, I decided to take a look on Chinatown. Lucky me I hit straight into the Chinese New Year’s Eve street spectacles with dragons, colorful crowd, kung-fu fighters and so on.
The time was up too fast leaving more than half of initial agenda unrealized, including some nightlife 😉 Yes, my NYC visit profile was far away from “sex and the city”. Without free time, thick wallet, good knowledge of places and friends, it was pointless to get on this bandwagon. As always, next time.
