The Disappointments Of An English Woman In New York

New York. The Big Apple. The city that never sleeps. You would be far stretched to find someone who hasn't lived in/wanted to go to/visited/at least heard of New York. Except perhaps a few tribes in the Amazon but I wouldn't be surprised if they hid postcards of Lady Liberty under their pillows or sang Sinatra's New York New York at celebrations. (Just an interesting cultural note for those of you that don't know, New York New York is one of the most common songs to be played at the reception of British weddings).

For me, New York was a source of great interest for many reasons: 1) How I Met Your Mother & F.R.I.E.N.D.S is set in New York 2) its reputation as one of the greatest and most diverse cities in the world is something I had to explore 3) according to my best friend, the shopping is incredible. OK, so perhaps not the most deep & philosophical reasons for wanting to visit somewhere, but those were my reasons none the less. You can imagine my excitement therefore my my Dad told me that our family holiday 2010 would be to New York city itself! I immediately got a job and starting saving up money, dreaming of all the dresses and shoes that could soon be mine. And, given that New York is the city where dreams come true, I was certain they would be.

July arrived nice and quickly and before I knew it I was being welcomed to New York after an 8 hour flight of watching terrible films (Alice In Wonderland, the Bounty Hunter & Valentine's Day - I recommend none of them. They are all disappointments.) and uncomfortable fidgeting after failing to sleep. We (and just to clarify ahead of time, 'we' is myself, my two younger brothers, my father, my step-mum and two younger step-brothers) were staying in an apartment above a restaurant in Little Italy but had to drive from Brooklyn first to get there. I can tell you right now, that the view of Manhattan from Brooklyn bridge at night is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen and left me instantly smitten.

I loved the idea that instead of being typical tourists in a New York hotel, we were diving into New York life & living like other New Yorkers. The apartment was just as I had expected New York apartments to be: dirty & dingy on the outside, nice on the inside and views of the red brick apartment building next to yours and black laddered fire escapes. Teaming the gorgeous view from Brooklyn bridge and our awesome apartment, I fell asleep that first night convinced that I'd like to live in New York one day. Given that I'd only been in New York about an hour, I can say now that that thought was a little premature.

(Image: Little Italy on a busy Friday night)

Now my knowledge of the geography of New York was very sketchy so I had to have it all explained to me by my Dad when we got there. For a start, I had no idea that it was a state. Did you??? Once I had that information though, things became a little easier to understand. New York is divided into boroughs - much like London - called Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan, The Bronx and Staten Island. While in New York, we covered Midtown to Downtown Manhattan, including Ellis Island and Liberty Island, the home of the Statue of Liberty and drove through Brooklyn to get to & from the airport. We went around everywhere by subway and walking which I also liked because, according to Chandler in FRIENDS, no one drives a car in New York so we didn't either! Although our reasons were because it would be healthier & cheaper, not because Chandler said so.

I am going to start on a slightly negative note. I HATE THE SUBWAY. The only good thing is that its air-conditioned. It is so dirty & humid & full of crazy people! Don't get me wrong, I wasn't expecting some ultra modern and clean super system but I was expecting better than what it was. Having experienced the London Tube, I'm used to the dirtiness of travelling underground but the New York heat made being underground unbearable. The most sweating I did the entire week was a subway journey on a train that didnt have air-conditioning. It was awful.

On a more positive note, the sights we were going to see via the subway were pretty damn amazing. Times Square is the most beautiful symbol of consumerism I have ever seen, as your eyes are dazzled by endless flashing advertisements and giant posters of models. I could have lived in Central park easily. It really is an oasis and you can completely forget you are in the middle of a city and go for nature walks among beautiful trees, plants and lakes, go and watch softball games or sunbathe in endless fields (I did all three). Plus you can go and see the FRIENDS fountain! Chinatown is a unique shopping experience as you develop your haggling skills (my personal achievement was getting a bag down from $75 to $25) and a perfect chance to stock up on all the perfumes that are ultra expensive in London (I finally got my Vera Wang Princess - for $15!).

(Image: Times square)

I am a bit ambivalent about the shopping in New York. It is no mistake that there are plllllenty of shopping opportunities, but I unfortunately was disappointed. It isn't as cheap as I was hoping and I didn't find much that I wanted in the major places people go to like Century 21, Macys and (the love of my shopping life) Forever 21. I did however get to stock up on my Abercrombie & Fitch. I refuse on principle to buy it from the shop in London and I was in dire need. I have also developed a love for American Eagle jeans and stocked up on MAC makeup.

The food of New York was...different. Once again I was ambivalent. I absolutely loved most of it but found that eating the equivalent of what would have been two meals in London as one was a bit much on my stomach. I gained half a stone in a week. Plus the lack of places that sold apple juice and meals without bread of any kind disconcerted me. I will say however that I totally prefer food shopping in deli's to supermarkets. As deli's are quite rare in London, is was quite a cool experience to handpick everything you bought.

The people of New York was something I only really experienced through the subway and while in restaurants or shopping. It was really nice being greeted and asked how I was every time I walked into a shop but on the subway, it was very much like London, where everyone just minds their own business and keeps to themselves. I therefore remain undecided and will make no opinion of the New York people until I have met ones who are not in a situation where they are at work and obligated to be kind to me, nor on public transport. I will say that they seem lovely enough though!

The visits to Ellis and Liberty island were really interesting. From 1892 to 1954, Ellis island was the portal for over 12 million immigrants into the US. Liberty Island is the home of the Statue of Liberty. I love the symbolism of freedom behind the two places and the thought of the millions of immigrants that would have passed through Ellis island was very overwhelming. I didn't however, have the major connection with the two places that many people do. Perhaps it is because, to me and my ancestry, Ellis island and the statue of liberty have never really had anything to with us. Despite being a beautiful monument, for me, that was all it was - a monument. Who knows, perhaps I'm harbouring some secret dislike for Lady Liberty because the liberty she gained is from the tyrannical British? I seriously doubt it though.

(Image: the Statue of Liberty)

(Image: the globe crushed by the twin towers)

There was one place, however, that I did have a very strong connection with. Ground Zero. When we went to where the Twin Towers had originally stood, we were met with scaffolding and major building works as the building of the ground zero monument continued but that did nothing to prevent the reality of what happened hitting me. All around the site were more buildings and people and thought that they collapsed into this cramped little space was overwhelming. Everywhere you went in New York you could see signs of the effect of 9/11. On the front of many fire & police stations were plaques for service men that died saving others on that day. In Central park there is a globe that was crushed when the twin towers fell on top of it then rebuilt as a monument and has to be the most thought provoking, emotional & symbolic art work I have ever seen. Even going to times square, which was covered in police officers after the recent terrorist attempt there. What I loved was that despite what happened, the city wasn't coated with fear or suspicion but continued being just as amazing as it had always been, standing up to terrorism by showing its strength and ability for everyone to unite together. That being said, at the time I knew nothing of the protests that were going on against a mosque being built near ground zero. I personally consider them to be the minority that have allowed their fear to control them and turned their fear to hate.

All in all, I really enjoyed New York. It was an interesting place to visit with good food, good people and good sights. But, in all honestly, I didn't live up to the 'greatest' reputation and while I would like to go back to see more of the other boroughs in New York, it hasn't made it onto my list of places I want to live. What do you think? Did I miss something? Is there something I should have done or seen that I didn't? Am I missing the big picture? I don't know, maybe.

In a sentence, my review of New York would be "good, but not great" or perhaps "Chicago's better".