What An Interesting City
My second visit to New York City this month was even more interesting than the first. This one involved meetng many media peers face to face for the first time, rather than our usual email correspondence. I also was able to see a part of Manhattan that is less tourist and more local, specifically an area called TriBeCa.
Some random observations:
- Waiting for a train in the Amtrak seating area at Penn Station I saw a pigeon flying through seeking food scraps. Yes, inside the station.
- The attractive woman sitting next to me was having a cell phone chat in Russian.
- A local colleague taught us the proper way to hail a taxi. The ones with a center roof light on are available; and don't tell the driver where you're gong till you're in the cab because if you're 'only' going a mile or two rather than all the way to an airport, they might not take you.
- There is an eclectic (seemingly zoning-free) mix of structures in TriBeCa, including hotels, offices, condos, bars, restaurants, shops selling cheap knockoffs of name brands and a smattering of abandoned buildings.
- Every taxi ride I have ever taken in NYC was accident-free, which I am sure is some kind of miracle. If I drove like that I be in a wreck in every block.
- There are at least three or four people I know here that I want to have meals or drinks with next time I'm here and at least five or six places I want to visit. I have to come back here just for fun soon.
New York City is such an iconic place that it feels familiar to strangers. Few other places I've visited leave a visitor with that kind of feeling. It isn't just a New Yorker's city it is every American's city, especially since the terrorist attacks of 9/11/2001. I am starting to understand that song lyric that is something like: 'if you can make it here you can make it anywhere.'
Some random observations:
- Waiting for a train in the Amtrak seating area at Penn Station I saw a pigeon flying through seeking food scraps. Yes, inside the station.
- The attractive woman sitting next to me was having a cell phone chat in Russian.
- A local colleague taught us the proper way to hail a taxi. The ones with a center roof light on are available; and don't tell the driver where you're gong till you're in the cab because if you're 'only' going a mile or two rather than all the way to an airport, they might not take you.
- There is an eclectic (seemingly zoning-free) mix of structures in TriBeCa, including hotels, offices, condos, bars, restaurants, shops selling cheap knockoffs of name brands and a smattering of abandoned buildings.
- Every taxi ride I have ever taken in NYC was accident-free, which I am sure is some kind of miracle. If I drove like that I be in a wreck in every block.
- There are at least three or four people I know here that I want to have meals or drinks with next time I'm here and at least five or six places I want to visit. I have to come back here just for fun soon.
New York City is such an iconic place that it feels familiar to strangers. Few other places I've visited leave a visitor with that kind of feeling. It isn't just a New Yorker's city it is every American's city, especially since the terrorist attacks of 9/11/2001. I am starting to understand that song lyric that is something like: 'if you can make it here you can make it anywhere.'
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