I Happen To Like New York
They say there’s something for everyone in the city that never sleeps. There are a million stories in the Naked City. Concrete jungle where dreams are made of. New York, New York, the city so nice they named it twice. It’s a wonderful town.
World-renowned museums? Out of this world dining? Broadway theatre? Opera? Ballet? The Shake Shack? New York City has it all and by the time you’re reading this, I have, paraphrasing Tina Fey, gone to there.
Yes, museums, shows, and dining will be a big part of our first-ever full week in the Big Apple. We also want to walk around and enjoy the architecture. We want to take a bicycle tour and ride over the Brooklyn Bridge. Out to the Statue of Liberty? See the World Trade Center monument? Visit the ladies of the View? It’s all on the table.
We were fortunate to visit New York City a year and a half ago. We exhausted ourselves in a whirlwind of a tour with just a couple of days on the ground. But we saw a show, gaped at the city from the top of 30 Rock, and even had the distinct pleasure of watching Caroline Kennedy and her dog jog past us in Central Park.
We were struck by how clean such a big city could be, and how few unfortunate street people were visible. To encourage tourist trade (it’s Manhattan’s biggest industry) New York City has ordinances that might not pass muster even in some non-Constitutional governments, but you can’t help being struck by the fact that it all seems to work. New York was in free-fall collapse in the 70s and 80s and today, it’s a working, chugging, enjoyable, even wonderful town.
This time around we have a better plan. A couple of things to do each day, and no big drama if we only do one. Tickets to Evita with Ricky Martin. Tickets to the Tony-winning best musical, Once. And tickets to a comedy play starring Jake Gyllenhaal. We’ve got priority seating at The View and the Katie Couric talk show. Beyond that, no plans. Museums, bike rides, sure. Pizza by the slice is the only certainty.
We will be two wide-eyed boys in the big city, hoping against hope that the subway train we are riding is going in the right direction. But even if it isn’t, when we get off the train, we might be disoriented and have a long walk home, but you know we will still be in New York, bright lights, big city. You know how Jay Z promised that these streets will make you feel brand new?
If I can make it here, I’ll make it anywhere.
– Art Reker, Account and Creative Executive
