snippets of new york.
New York is magic. The whole city just feels like this one great organism, all working together as one giant whole. New York's past, present, and future are alive in every block, every fire escape, every roof, every cobblestone. It's one of those places--maybe one of of only two such places in the world, along with Paris--that just buries itself in you and never leaves. It gets into your skin, your lungs, deep into your marrow, and you find yourself aching to be there from the second you leave. There really is no place like it. It's that simple. To be able to live there someday would be a dream come true.
The other thing about New York is that it's like one giant Russian nesting doll of a city. You take the broadest sweep of the place, hustling your way through the major areas, and it feels knowable, manageable. But then you just keep exploring, and more and more layers reveal themselves. We were there for six days, and we felt simultaneously like we got to know the city so intimately and like we didn't even scratch the surface. We were staying down at the very southern tip of Manhattan, in the financial district, so we began by exploring the canyonesque Wall Street area, emerging at Battery Park for sunshine and the sight of seagulls wheeling through the sky over gentle waves.
Over the next six days, we strolled through a sunblasted SoHo, huddled under umbrellas as rain battered Chinatown and Little Italy, making the streets shine like new and the sidewalks steam. We stopped in little cottage-like record and book stores in Greenwich Village and braved the 5th Avenue crowds to browse at expansive, brand-new midtown stores. We trudged for blocks and blocks up the West Side until our feet hurt, before dawdling in Central Park and then making our way back down on the East Side. We ate sushi until we almost burst and stopped for lemonade when the sun got to be a bit too much. We saw more adorable dogs than the average person sees in a lifetime. In short, we packed our days with as much New York as humanly possible, and by the end of it, all we could think of was when we'd be coming back. I hope soon. I know eventually. I can't wait.
Have a great weekend, you guys :)
