The Magic of New York: nguptatravelscrapbook.blogspot.com: Blog 39

Blog number 39

The Magic of New York:  nguptatravelscrapbook.blogspot.com

“I regret profoundly that I was not an American and not born in Greenwich Village. It might be dying, and there might be a lot of dirt in the air you breathe, but this is where it’s happening.” – John Lennon

New York Skyline from the balcony of QM2 on 20/11/2022.

New York: the city where nothing stays still. While the timeless icons sustain: the Statue of Liberty, The Empire State Building, and The Plaza hotel-it is as if everything else is on the move incessantly.

Sunrise setting with New York skyline as viewed from QM2

New York is an ethnically diverse metropolise, commercially driven and overtly packed. Yet it remains the most appealing city in the world, and only a few other cities have contributed more collective images to the world scenes. 

"I love New York" has been the city's catchphrase since the late seventies. There is a lot of truth for this modern-day city that holds up this phrase with high trade and commerce, the art galleries, the museums, the towering skyscrapers, and famous districts displaying endless energy. Fashion, theatre, Food, music, publishing, advertising and finance; are all present here and thrive very well. 

Here in New York, Wall Street means finance, Broadway is synonymous with theatres, Fifth avenue is robotically paired with shopping, Madison Avenue means advertising industry, Greenwich Village depicts a Bohemian lifestyle, Seventh Avenue connotes fashion, and Harlem evokes images of Jazz, African American aspirations, and the slums! New York City is constantly reinventing itself. Sizzling lights, electrifying energy and people everywhere; this is the America of everyone's imagination

Fifth Avenue

Often referred to as the Big Apple, the city's vibrancy is claimed not only by its exclusive shops, glittering shows, and sheer luxurious fashions but also by high-flying business, fashion and sports tycoons who have their homes here. Manhattan has some of the trendiest and most happening hangouts in the town. I had the opportunity to visit New York frequently in my earlier years, but this time I touched New York after nearly fifteen years of a long gap. And for a different reason. My husband and I decided to embark on a Transatlantic voyage from Southampton (UK) to New York via the world-famous Cunard ship named Queen May 2 (QM2). The voyage typically takes seven nights of journeying the Atlantic Ocean while overpassing the famous Atlantic Ridge and being in the vicinity of the Titanic wrack while cruising towards Manhattan. I have written my next blog on my transatlantic voyage taken. 

Sounds of New York 

The loud, fast and pulsating symphonic energy of New York is exhausting and constantly evolving. From the humblest of a hole in the wall to the grandest building in New York, are all accounted for and admired on some pretext. It is a lifetime must-see of a complex network of frustrating traffic jams, honking cars, unexpected one-way streets, numerous food trucks selling delicious street foods and rushing commuters, exploiting the complete frustrations of non-New Yorkers. Visiting New York for the first time for someone is like stepping into a movie with unimaginable possibilities and prospects.

New York City has a well-established micro-culture, made of tip-demanding cabbies, incredible restaurants, home-run eateries, brusque deli owners, hedonistic rooftops, straight-off-the-screen sights and much more.

Manhattan Bridge

Virtually every country in the world has a presence here with its secluded hamlet in its own roughly created boundaries. All are here, from Brooklyn's Russian enclave in Brighton beach to a mini South America in Queens, from the middle of Times Square to the most obscure corner of the Bronx to K town in Midtown. Manhattan has a  well-established China Town, little Vietnamese and Cambodian spots, an Indian Bazaar alongside Irish pubs and bars and fish and chip speciality restaurants to represent the UK. Living in such a crowded, complicated and expensive city is overwhelming. Still, on the contrary, for a place as large and diverse as New York City, undoubtedly, everyone gets along well. The five boroughs, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx and Staten Island, have a population of approximately 8.8 million, and Brooklyn is the most populous among these.

Plaza Hotel, Pic is taken from a high point in Central Park.

While writing my current blog on my trip to New York and undertaking my initial research, I found it perplexing, yet indulging, to discover more of New York. I touched base merely a fraction of New York but plentiful to indulge in summing up my memories. I was hooked on New York again by the end of my four days, having been here many times before. Nothing is as enjoyable as walking down the heaving streets of Midtown, strolling through Central Park on that freezing and blistery morning, or walking fast with a Starbuck Coffee cup in my hand and pretending as the locals do. Walking around, inhaling the scent of cheap pizza alongside haute cuisine, and soaking in the nerve-ending stream of people is the most refreshing feeling. It is like being at the centre of the universe, on a spinning wheel that does not stop anytime!

What do you want to experience in New York?

Every New Yorker finds the city enigmatic and incomprehensible at times. As a visitor, it too can be nerve-racking, with a tendency to get lost. I did some pre-trip planning to get the best out of my itinerary, narrowing down the neighbourhoods we wanted to explore and attractions we wanted to tick off. I booked a few restaurants in advance that customarily fill up months ahead. We were fully rewarded during these action-packed four days full of the finest diners, late nights, world-class culture and notable New York moments. I checked mainly on www.nycgo.com and www.timssquarenyc.org web links and found these web sights very interesting and helpful. It was more than necessary to have a roaming facility on the mobile phone to keep in touch with Google Maps and Uber calls and to send messages to the others in our travelling group. 

Scenes from Times Square

It is up to you how you want to spend your day in the city with a high culture of visiting the museums in uptown Manhattan and a la mode eating in the Greenwich or Chelsea village or choose to wander around in the city thru twisting and maddening small streets. Or then, art galleries in downtown Manhattan? Welcome to New York at Times Square, the world's most extraordinary Crossroads! Times Square is the city's undisputed shining star, blinding and intoxicating. Massive, digitalised, sharp neon coloured, and video billboards occupy the facia of most buildings with the latest generation of all sorts of human usage products. 

Food and Drink scenes in New York (NY)

The food scene in NY is unparalleled and hence to be tried to get spoiled at traditional institutions where occasionally internationally acclaimed chefs may be eagle-eyed. At the same time, humble neighbourhood eateries and more than century-old food trucks are as good as reservation-only spots with satisfactory food and low prices. 

Waiting for our food in Chelsea village 

In addition to some of the food world's most celebrated restaurants, there are scores of gourmet shops, delis, bakeries, wine purveyors and farmer's markets where residents and visitors alike stock up on the finest Food and wines that the city offers. Imported chocolates? Can't have enough. Selected and finest cheeses, yes, of course. The ace seafood, known outlets are serving only the best of mouth-watering lobsters. We relished such a treat in Chelsea market when browsing around there. 

A few other sites that we visited and enjoyed overwhelmingly.

New York Skyline

New York City boasts one of the world's most iconic skylines, and we wanted to share our favourite spots from which to gaze upon the terrific views of New York and the Manhattan skyline. From the dizzying heights of its towering skyscrapers to cruising the East River and the Hudson, sipping a cocktail in a panoramic rooftop bar and exploring the neighbouring waterfront parks, there are fantastic vantage points of the New York skyline both in Manhattan and the surrounding boroughs.

Pic is taken from the Top of the Rock

We experienced the famous Manhattan skyline from a high point, first from our cruise deck and later from the 67th floor of Rockefeller centre, called Top of the Rock.

Ground Zero Memorial

Ground Zero Memorial

A lot had changed at the raw-looking Ground zero memorial when I last visited the site in 2006. Today the shimmering One World Trade Centre rises at the centre of the site, and the surrounding 9/11 Memorial offers a tranquil place to reflect and respect the victims.

Oculus building in the vicinity of Ground Zero

Brooklyn

Brooklyn Bridge 

While the majority of visitors to New York never leave Manhattan, there is more to the city than its most famous borough of Manhattan. You would find world-class art museums, gardens, and mesmerising ethnic neighbourhoods named DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass), to name a few. DUMBO is a revitalised area in Brooklyn with characters like cobblestone streets, art galleries, independent bookshops, boutiques, confectionaries and co-working spaces where start-ups thrive. We explored here after a walk over the Brooklyn Bridge, settling in for stunning Manhattan views at Brooklyn Bridge Park with its famous russet arches and Manhattan skyline beyond.

High Line, A walking deck

Arts on High Line 

 Once a high rail viaduct, it closed in 1980 and fell into disrepair; it's now been transformed into a 1.5-mile elevated walkway edged with self-seeded wildflowers. The walking trail has depiction of modern art and stonework.

How did we do?

I guess we covered and ticked box all our agenda items in these four chock-full days. 

We navigated the city mainly by NY's iconic yellow cabs, which often ran up big bills with an expectation to add the tip. Uber, thankfully was easy to call for, but it took a lot of work for drivers and customers to find each other on complex one-way systems.

Summing up the magic of New York

My visual exposure to New York was thru the Hollywood films watched since my childhood, but I must say that I took notice of New York scenes for the first time when watched the famous film named The Sting back in 1973, in Delhi. Since then, I have read and visualised New York thru unlimited sources, including the books I have read, the Hollywood films I have watched, the OTT series, including the most recent watch; Succession and very many TV programmes like Friends, America's Got Talent, CSI, NYPD, Sesame street etc., which are filmed and shot here in New York. 

To summarise my experience in New York, I have underpinned some famous New York quotes which portray my bone-fide experience in New York.

There’s an inherent energy in New York City that it’s famous for. It makes you want to get up and do a million things all day and stay up all night.”

“I’m having an affair with New York.”

“One belongs to New York instantly, one belongs to its as much as five minutes as in five years.” – Tom Wolfe

“My life didn’t begin until I got to New York.”

“London is satisfied, Paris is resigned, but New York is always hopeful. Always it believes that something good is about to come off, and it must hurry to meet it.” – Dorothy Parker

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