Final word on NYC?

Well a number of days have passed since my last proper NYC entry and I've had more time to reflect here. And you know what? I'm still not sure if I *love* New York.

*dodging arrows*

How could this be possible?!!? Even I'm puzzled by my seeming ambivalence. Lets check it off.

Environment - TICK! There's a lot of interesting architecture around here that reflects phases in the city's history. Especially the Art Deco for which it's justiably famous, there's some good gothic revival. Lots of pleasant little parks, and of course the big ones. The weather eventually turned nice on Sunday afternoon and made it all really nice. Sometimes you'd get a whiff of some stagnant water but that's the smell of any big city.

Culture - TICK! The Museum of Natural History, Museum of Modern Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art...they are good. The Guggenheim I didn't visit but I know that one's good. And I visited the Metropolitan Opera House (to buy a pair of opera glasses but the shop was closed - boo) and I took a look at their program. This season, various shows are featuring Nathalie Dessay, Placido Domingo, Renee Fleming, Angela Georghiu...dang, that's some selection! And then there's Broadway...

Native Population - Tick-Pass. The people were friendly, yes. I did a lot of chatting with random people and some really helped me out when I was semi-lost. But my tourist vibe attracted a lot of touts and people asking me if I were Japanese, and then explaining that I'm Australian and I do speak fluent english. It gets tiring.

Shopping - Tick-Pass. The shopping is excellent and with the weak US dollar, it can be downright cheap. What's annoying is because different US states have different tax laws, you have to add another 8% on top of the cited price in NY. It gets annoying. And you end up with a lot of pennies which are also annoying.

Food - Borderline Pass-Fail. Let's face it, food in the US is not great. While some of what I've eaten was pretty good (big ticks to Men Kui Tei, and the local Mixed Asian restaurant I went to with Uncle Nory on Tuesday), a lot of it was pure dross. The mantra of excess is extended to the food - I had a raspberry crepe in Central Park and here's a progression sequence.

Ugh, wayyyyy too much jam!

Also, I don't see the appeal of those giant pretzels. The one I ate was so salty even after I brushed off the excess salt, my mouth felt as if I were having a hypertonic attack. It was so salty it overrode my asian programming and I threw away food I paid for. I do not consider *variety* the mark of greatness. Nor do I consider what americans have done to pizza as *improving* it, as Uncle Nory has tried to argue. And what is with *zero-calorie* water?! I could go on and on with this topic.

Public Transport - Borderline Pass-Fail. It takes about 45 mins from where I am in Queens to Manhattan which I consider acceptable. After I bought a book, it didn't seem that long and the transfers are pretty quick. What brings the mark down to borderline fail is the overall condition of the system. The London Tube and Paris Metro aren't exactly bastions of cleanliness (hell, the Metro doubles as a public urinal), but the subway just took it to another level. The stations are especially depressing as they have major scunge-factor what with all the missing tiles and water leakage. I also wished sometimes that it were more comprehensive or better linkages between stations. London and Paris stops are close together, but (particularly in the case of Paris), it's walkable if you really wanted to. To get to the Met, I could have gotten out at Lexington/63rd, walk 250m to Lexington/59th and then catch the subway to 86th...which is still 500m away from the Museum. I preferred to walk the 1-1.25km from Lex/63rd but that would not be an option if I were travelling with someone like Ma.

So on all the important categories, NYC managed to pass pretty much all of them but it let itself down on some petty things that would mar the pleasure. Things like I'd be walking around thinking *you know, I think I really like this place!* and then I'd trip on some uneven paving or pothole - which are EVERYWHERE. I really wonder how the SATC girls didn't twist their ankles or break their shoes more often. Or I'd be lying in Central Park watching some kids and thinking *awww, theyre cute* and then they'd let out a huge scream and their black/latina/asian/always different raced nanny would come and amuse them. Or I'd be happily eating an icecream and then the wind would blow something onto it. And then I'd sneeze. Pooey thinks the city just hates me.

Maybe it's because I spent most of my time here alone and lying around in parks thinking. Maybe if I were given less time to be introspective the result would be different. But here's one thing I came up with: If we liken cities to dating, NYC is like the boy who ticks all the boxes but I can't seem to really love. Probably because he does improbable things that piss me off. Maybe if I gave them more time...