New York, USA
New York. The big one. The city you’ve seen in a thousand movies and always wondered whether it actually lives up to the hype. Short answer: yeah, it does.
We arrived to proper summer weather, which was a welcome change, and spent the first day doing exactly what you’d expect - Central Park. It’s one of those places that somehow manages to be both exactly what you imagined and nothing like what you imagined at the same time. Massive, green, full of people doing their thing. Joggers, families, blokes playing guitar, people just lying on the grass soaking up the sun. After a few hours of wandering around we found some cool bars nearby and settled in for the evening. As you do.
The next morning we were both absolutely hanging, which made the decision to walk up and down 5th Avenue questionable at best. Turns out 5th Ave is a lot longer than it looks on a map, especially when your head is pounding and the sun is trying to kill you. We did meet a lovely German couple at breakfast though, which somewhat salvaged the morning. There’s something about being hungover that makes you weirdly open to chatting with strangers.
Saturday night we headed to the Meatpacking District, which is one of those neighbourhoods that sounds like it should be dodgy but is actually full of trendy bars and well-dressed people. Met some people out and had a proper big night. The kind where you lose track of time and suddenly it’s 4am and you’re wondering how you got to where you are (both physically and existentially).
Sunday was a quiet one by necessity. We spent the afternoon smoking cigars and philosophising about life, which is either incredibly deep or incredibly wanky depending on how you look at it. Probably a bit of both. There’s something about sitting in New York with a cigar that makes you feel like you’ve got the world figured out, even though you very clearly don’t.
The early flight to Toronto the next morning meant we had to pull ourselves together, which after four days in New York was easier said than done. But what a city. I could see myself coming back here, no question.
