Even as a writer, occasionally words fail me.
For several days now I have searched for the right words to sum up my New York experience, but those words have eluded me. I had hoped to find and share a single anecdote that would neatly encapsulate one small town mouse’s view of the big city, but how can such an overwhelming experience get narrowed down to a single story when you’re comparing small oranges to such a big apple?
Through my Oklahoman eyes, New York is big, loud, crowded, and a little scary. The reality I know of hopping in my car each morning and driving fifteen miles to work in fifteen minutes simply doesn’t exist there. Those with a fifteen minute commute in New York are few and far between; daily commutes of 30 to 90 minutes (each way) are apparently more common. Manhattan is a city made for walking. A seven-day unlimited MetroCard costs $27. Parking at the hotel costs $65/day. Everything anyone ever told me about New York City traffic is true. You couldn’t pay me to drive in it.
Tourists are easy to spot in New York City. Many are holding cameras or subway maps, and a lot of whem are wearing white tennis shoes, but the easist way to spot one is if they make eye contact with you or say “excuse me” when you bump into them in a crosswalk — two dead giveaways.
This morning for the first time I saw Oklahoma through a New Yorker’s eyes. I marvelled at the open fields. I smiled when a fellow motorist allowed me to merge. I laughed when I realized I had not heard a single car horn or siren all day. Today for lunch I realized we had driven ten minutes and not passed a single restaurant. I wonder if there is any place in New York City where one can drive for ten minutes and not pass a restaurant?
But there were parts of New York City I loved. I loved seeing restaurants open past midnight. I loved Times Square and Central Park. I loved walking down Wall Street, 5th Avenue, and Broadway. Then again, I could just as easily list things I would not love. I would not love the traffic, the daily pace, or the rent.
If you’re waiting for me to say that I could never live in a place like New York City, I cannot. There were parts of the city that I really connected with. How can a city with surprises awaiting you around every corner ever get old? Oklahoma does seem quaint in comparison — then again, in the middle of the night with no sirens, horns or subways to wake you, quaint sounds pretty nice.
Here are all the pictures I took during my week long adventure. The New York City pictures are bookended by a few from Chicago, where my train ride began and ended. I took a lot of pictures looking out the window of my train to kill some time, which in retrospect are pretty boring; feel free to skip some of those.
My walking adventure through Manhattan took me through Chinatown, Little Italy, the Financial District, Wall Street, the marina district, Staten Island, past the Statue of Liberty, Central Park, Rockefeller Center/Plaza, Broadway, and Times Square. You should be able to find all of those pictures (and more) in the following photo gallery.
On my one and and only visit to NYC I was being coached by my wife’s friend whilst riding the subway into Manhattan on how not to look like a slack-jawed out-of-town rube. I ignored her, believing myself to be well-versed in the art of travel by virtue of my military and motorcycle experiences. Then we came out of the station, onto the street, and the first thing I saw was the Chrysler building. I had never seen a building that tall before. Boom. Instant slack-jawed out-of-town rube.
Still, while the city itself was a marvel, I found the gestalt of the place immensely hostile compared to my desert homeland. While I’m certainly glad I visited, but I could never live there myself given how the place goes against the grain of everything that has to do with civility.
Let’s see, driving ten minutes in Oklahoma without passing a restaurant means the restaurants are a minimum of ten miles apart. Driving ten minutes in NYC without passing a restaurant means the restaurants are a minimum of, what?, 100 feet apart? :D
Life in large cities can be fun. In Chicago I went to Wrigley Field at least weekly. There’s just so much always happening. The things about big city life that get old are the little things. Waiting in rediculously long lines at grocery stores. The general air of rudeness (even if people are not ‘explicitly’ rude). It’s funny, but spend enough time in a big city, and you adjust. It just becomes normal life. But, if you are in a position to see the contrast between big city and smaller town life, you can see the contrast pretty clear. I think i mentioned this once in a message, but I worked for an airline when I lived in Chicago. I would constantly fly to Florida to visit family. It finally occured to me that when I was flying south to Florida i was overcome with relaxation and happiness. When heading back north to Chicago, I would be winding up and preparing for battle.
Now I live in Florida.
Regards, Tim M.
dat dat darr da dar….
dat dat darr da dar….
Start speading the news… Oklahomas not gay..
I wanna be a part of it. YU-KON YU-KON!
I’ve been to NYC once and had similar feelings as you. It is a nice place to visit and there’s plenty to do. But there is no get away because there are always people around and a buzz. I did like having all the different food choices and the long restaurant hours.
Rob! It was great to hang out with you. Hopefully someday you can come back to NYC with some more time and visit up where we live. You got to see the whirlwind-tourist-intensity side, but day-to-day life is actually really calm here. Or can be. It depends on your mood and adjustment level.
Fer example, today – a typical Tuesday – I had my breakfast while perched on top of a giant rock at the park a few blocks from where we live. Beautiful spring weather, the flowers and cherry trees are blossoming like crazy. Chatted with my neighbors out on our building’s playground/patio and said “Hi” or nodded to a half-dozen strangers on the street. People are plenty friendly. The tough Dominican manager chick at Dunkin Donuts calls everybody “baby” and is nice as pie. Went to the big gym in the afternoon which is right in our apt. complex. So that’s like a 2-minute walk door-to-door; no excuses.
And dude, this is Harlem! Da big bad Bronx is 15 minutes by feet away and it’s… damn pleasant. We go there to shop at Target and get some ice cream.
This weekend, I’ll take a long, relaxing subway ride to either the woods or the beach for $2.50 and get a lot of reading done along the way.
NYC is what you make of it – there are tons of options. Some people live their lives in crazy S&M dungeons and whatnot, and then there’s squeaky-clean nature enthusiast people like me. Texas was cool and all, but I rabidly love living here for the past ten years.