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The trick to look like a real new yorker is to always be in motion, always look straight ahead and to always hold on to something, a steering wheel, a mobile phone, a cup of coffee...Only the homeless, the aimless and the tourists slowly walk up and down, looking up and around as they take in this passionnate, breathless city. However, not matter how long you walk here, not matter how breathless you get, there is always a little iron green foldable chair to rest your tired feet.
This city has welcomed the tired and the homeless for centuries, from the welcoming flame of its freedom lady to the little foldable green iron chairs, it has become a habit.
What is it about this place that makes us feel so welcomed, so 'buzzed'? It is loud, polluted and busy 24/7. You can feel the daily grind of life as the pavements are pounded by crowds of well dressed workers. The inhabitants here do not smile easily, they do not 'have a goood day' like in California.They are nowhere near laid back.The grid of streets with no names, only unromantic numbers creates concrete canyons from the East to the West, sometimes lit up by strange sunsets. There are no stars among the highrises and only a sliver of forgotten sky. It should be a harsh, unfriendly place where money rules and and money talks.
And yet..and yet it is loud but never disgratious, busy but never disrupting. The crowd in the street wears the same clothes as in the magazines, transforming their fast steps into a permanent and tasteful fashion show. The New yorkers are deeply passionate, often speaking animatly to someone, holding on to their cellphone as they walk. Among concrete canyons, many green squares are hiding, with their assortments of green foldable chairs, coffee stands and musicians. the sky and the sun have been replaced by impossibly big LCD sceens exploding in colours. Each Avenue, each street has its own personnality and on the weekend, everything changes.
New york is still crowded on the week end, it does not become a gost of a city abandonned by its army of workers. But the people who live here change their gear from confined to confort, from fast walk in business suits to leisure stroll in jeans through the many markets that have appeared overnight. They still talk passionatly but now there are no more cellphone to be seen, they are among friends, in a city that they love, you can nearly see them glow.
We have spend four days walking up and down the colourful avenues of Manhattan, on the fifth to Central park (and yes the one in San Franscisco is smaller but much nicer), on the seventh to Time Squares (this name has nothing to do with the clock that is watch by millions on New Years eve,this used to be the HQ of the magazine of the same name), on the Third all the way down to Little italy and China Town. We have put all our hands on the bull on wall street for good luck and shouted hello to the statue of Liberty (a baby shower present from the French, when they were still on the same wavelenghs) from the staten island ferry.
We have bitten into many different bagels, many differents pizzas and watched hundred of yellow taxis zoom blissfully over zebra crossings (pedestrians, what is a pedestrian?) from the second floor fire escape of our hotel. This is a place where every single surface has been painted by local artists and where every single piece of furniture had a rich life somewhere else, think spooky that grows on you in a very funky way. So very New york...
It would be very sad to live this vibrant city if we did not know that we will be back in three weeks. Tomorrow, we will catch an early morning train across Vernon to Montreal. Actually it will be very restful not to walk and not to drive for a whole day.
- comments
David maxim it is coming up to my birthday can you send me a present can you please
David ha,ha,ha just joking