Ok, I’m in an internet cafe with fifteen minutes to type so you can expect a less rambling entry than normal.

New York, having about 15 times the population of San Francisco, is less easily summarisable in a couple sentences. Indeed, that is probably the thing I have noticed most about it. Even London and Paris have defining, destinctly London/Paris characteristics which you find throughout their many, varied suburbs. In the five days I have been in NY though, I have been unable to identify such an all-encompassing vibe. Each part of town, and I have only really seen Manhattan, could be in a completely different city.

The thing that has surprised me most is how much friendlier it is than I expected. I knew Giuliani had cleaned up a lot of the crime but the streets and subway feel safer here than in some parts of SF. And while there are the yellow cab filled, crowded, noisy streets around Times Square, there are many parts of downtown Manhattan, including the area we are staying which are distinctly green and suburban.

So far we have mainly just been wandering the streets of the different parts of town: the Financial district, paying the obligatory visit to the World Trade Centre site, Chelsea, Greenwich Village, Little Italy, Chinatown, Times Square, Broadway, Fifth Ave, Central Park… In our remaining two days we still need to do the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty.

Anyway, time is running short. More updates (and possibly photos) soon.

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This entry was posted by the illustrious Andrew Coulthurst on Monday, September 26th, 2005. It concerns such pressing issues as travel, usa. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.