19 September, 2019
There's a certain familiarity to New York; every time I visit there's a feeling I already know the place or have lived here before. I guess it's to do with all the American films and TV sitcoms I watched growing up.
This time the feeling was amplified by a work trip I'd taken here not long before. I'd stashed a good amount of recommendations to help beat the tourist traps, and was able to explore the city's more authentic aspects.
Now, with the tips I had collated on my previous trip, we worked out a plan of attack that would take us from Central Park, through Midtown to the Lower East Side, Chinatown, Staten Island and back over to Coney Island. It's walking through these different neighbourhoods - drinking and eating along the way - that you get a real taste for the mixture of cultures that make this city so vibrant and alive.
The hectic beauty that lives across the neighbourhoods of New York is integral to the importance and meaning of the place. Each area has its own identity, recognisably different and alluring, while containing so many similarities. Trying to capture and experience it all is exciting, exhausting and probably a life's work; this snippet was altogether fascinating.
