New York isn't really a city I ever thought I'd get round to visiting. Partly because I'm a pretty lazy bloke, all things considered, and partly because I'm the sort of person who starts to get a bit homesick when he approaches the edges of the NE postcode area. Against the odds though, I've recently made it across the pond, and, speaking as someone who basically hates everything, I can say with authority, New York is as good as everybody told me it would be.
I had my doubts upon arrival, though.Before going, the fear of a trip eaten away by a Lost in Translation-esque sleep-starved anxiety was nagging away at the back of my mind, and arriving into the lunatic squall of humanity of Times Square at 10PM on a Saturday night after a day's flying did nothing to ease the fear. I went to bed that night feeling uneasy about what the next five days would bring, but it's amazing what a decent night's sleep and an artery-clogging breakfast can do to ease a tetchy soul. Predictably, gluttony would prove to be a prominent feature in my week, but fortunately it was balanced out by walking for miles every day.
Of the major must-sees, we did pretty well to soak up the vast majority in our short trip. One of the pleasanter surprises was The High Line, a public park located a couple of storeys above the city, situated on a disused railway line. It's a slightly strange feeling being there, because in the madness of NYC, you don't imagine there could be such serene, peaceful little oases like the High Line. Being in the open air above the streets makes you feel like you're somehow detached from New York, but the place is still entirely New York in essence, in keeping with the recurring idea that if the ground is full, build upwards until you find some space. That applies particularly to the city's creative approach to their quest for greenery to punctuate the sometimes harsh architecture, because it's not uncommon to see trees on roofs. Certainly, they're not short of parkland, but Central Park, though lovely, is just as bustling as the busiest street.
One of our first trips was to Ground Zero, something which I'm aware we had to visit while we were there, but looking back now, it still doesn't sit well with me. I'm in two minds about the site. Clearly 9/11 is an enormous part of New York's history, and it's completely right and proper that they should commemorate its victims and acknowledge the importance of that terrible day in forming the mindset of the New York of 2011. It's quite difficult to fully reconcile the streets immediately around the site with the ten year old memories of horrific television pictures of people running around in blind terror, but the feeling of the place's signifance is definitely there in the air, in the form of a muted, downbeat kind of sentiment which pervades the place. The visitor's centre was the toughest thing to take, because it's filled with personal effects of the victims, tributes from tourists, and, most heartbreaking of all, copies of the missing person posters that were tacked up all over the city by desperate relatives in the immediate aftermath of the attacks. It was this in particular which made me feel like I was intruding on somebody else's grief, like my being there was somehow vulgar. But then, who am I to tell New York how to mourn its victims? If the way they've chosen to commemorate 9/11 helps the city heal, then any uneasiness I feel about it means absolutely nothing.
As far as culture goes, we did pretty well in absorbing a lot of what New York has to offer, including The Museum of Modern Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the New York Public Library. All three were hugely enjoyable, and served as gratifying reminders that in spite of the world's perceptions of the USA, it's a country which cares about art and literature. I sometimes regret not being much of an art-lover, because there were some pretty important exhibits in the two museums during my time there. It's weird, because when it comes to music, I'll happily listen to the most atonal, formless noise, and (if you'll forgive the pretension for a moment), 'get' it and enjoy it. But with art, I feel like the spirit of experimentation is out of my grasp, and I can't really enjoy it beyond superficially appreciating pretty paintings. On that level though, both MoMA and the Met were wonderful. The library, too, was great, particularly to someone who is married to a librarian. Seeing literature treated so reverentially, and housed in such a stunning marble and wood-laden building, you can't help but feel bitter about the plight of libraries in this country. Obviously I'm aware that comparing New York's main public library with some little council-run library in the middle of Gateshead is a bit extreme, but still, if the USA can respect and celebrate the importance of libraries to the world, then why the fuck can't we?
Probably my favourite part of New York was the bit everyone told me I would enjoy, Greenwich Village, and, in particular, Bleecker Street. It's a hip little hive of record shops, pubs and cafes which feels so far removed from the bright lights of Times Square that you occasionally forget you're even in the same city. If I'd had my own way, I'd have spent the whole holiday here, but I guess if we'd done that, then we'd have missed out on the major sights, and I'd have had the awkward task of explaining to my family and friends that I ignored The Empire State Building in favour of the delightfully sawdust-strewn McSorley's Ale House. In the end, we didn't disregard the Empire, although the foggy conditions of the first couple of days made it look like we weren't going to manage to visit the top. We finally made it up at midnight on our final night, to be greeted by an amazing panorama of the lights of New York City. It was inifinitely more beautiful than the view from the top of the Rockefeller Centre which we took in by day, even to someone with such a cowardly terror of heights as I.
There were other highlights too, like the highly enjoyable show we took in on Broadway (How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying - Who knew Daniel Radcliffe could sing?), Battery Park, the Staten Island Ferry with it's view of The Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge, Tik Tok Diner's Grandslam breakfast, Juniors' Cheesecake, all of which, looking back, make me wonder how exactly we managed to do so bloody much in five days. In the end though, I'm so glad I allowed myself to be thrown so heartily into what New York has to offer, because it really is an incredible, unique place which everybody should visit at least once.
