Let me be clear.
I’m gonna borrow an old italian adage,
“see (New York) and then (you can) die”.
There’s no-thing more.
For many of us the journey towards the Big Apple is still that kind of journey can change your life. That kind of journey to the other side of the world. That kind of journey Italians used to take, full of hope and expectations, dreaming about discovering 10ft carrots and huge cabbages.
That’s true: most of the time, videos gone viral on YouTube and linked on our pages have been shooted on its avenues; you just turn on the tv and enjoy wide-eyed one stunning Victoria’s Secret ad; they’ve got no bidet, but in bathroom it seems to be on a submarine the moment you go flush; you’re not as weird as to be noticed, ever!, because there’s always somebody acting weirder than you do; skyscrapers deserve that kind of “sky-“ root; thanks U2 for that “blinding lights” quote: they are indeed; it is anarchically well-organized; Broadway and its sensational theatres; cupcakes, hot dogs, mini-pretzels, pastrami and loads of meat; Starbucks’ chocolate chunk cookies and steaming manholes make you believe to be on a movie set…
But there’s something you wouldn’t find on guides and reviews, that I think it is the very core value of New York: Newyorkers.
And I had the proof of that, by coming back to JFK in subway: in Milan anyone has in-ears and stares at bitten apples; in NY, the Big Apple, if your eyes cross the other ones, you gotta smile and then you talk to him, like that guy, in his fifties, who made that coach an atypical version of a cozy living room; or like that squire who, despite the pouring rain, perceived we needed help and offered to give us directions; or that little guy – he had to be my age – who left us with a line and a smile, even if he was told we wouldn’t have bought his tickets.
The real New York strength live in people who fill gaps from one building to another, from a bright sign to the huge expanse of green parks. From a borough to another, where the city make you believe you are entering different eras with a time machine.
Not everybody are winners, nor they have already made their American Dream come true, but they keep trying, day by day, sure that there is a place for anyone. They know how to point to the sky. Deep down, I feel that, maybe, that is exactly the reason why we need skyscrapers.
This worth the ticket for New York City.
The rest is just the (awesome) background.