New York City!

New York City!  I would like to be as enthusiastic as our guide Al, who says NYC is the greatest city in the world. I’ve been to the city several times so know it is not all that sterling and I was prepared for the rabid traffic, the multitudes of people, and the grittiness.

When we came out of the Lincoln Tunnel Millie experienced the boiling cauldron of  sights and smells that is the big Apple for the first time, which probably explains the first words she said, “ This ain’t no place for a Southern Gal”!

Manhattan is the crown jewel of New York City; it has the super valuable real estate, the wealthiest residents, the power brokers of the financial district, the media and theater business and the Iconic structures. Two million people a day come onto Manhattan Island to take it all in. Many people take a guided tour the first day, to get the lay of the land and probably the confidence to return on their own for several more days of exploring. I won’t try to tell you we saw it all, but we saw enough to satisfy our curiosity. 

On the way back to the campground our guide asked for a one word description of the city. The label that is most predominate in my mind is “gritty perseverance”. It has been the country’s largest city since 1790 so everything is old. It has way too many people, way too many vehicles, and they’re all trying to go somewhere. Yet, they continue to move, to work, to repair, to renovate. No where is this more prevalent than in the area around the world trade Center site. New buildings are going up at Ground Zero; a lot of the buildings in the immediate area are surrounded by scaffolding, with some type of restoration being done.

With the following words I am in no way trying to diminish the Muslim jihadist act of war that killed 3000 US citizens. The Sept 11, 2001 attack was horrendous beyond words, but it created an economic boom in New York City (and New Jersey) that has been going on for the last 12 years and will probably go on for twelve more. If the terrorist’s knew how resilient the New Yorkers are and how the city is rebounding with such gusto, they probably would not have attacked.

 Reading my own words this essay sounds like we didn’t care for the city. That’s not true, we enjoyed our visit especially the early American historical portions of the tour. Our government during George Washington’s presidential tenure was located on Wall Street; you can almost feel the ghosts of democracy’s pioneers. The statue of Liberty is an iconic symbol of freedom; it should be on everyone’s bucket list. I was especially moved by our guides talk about Ellis Island where all of the European immigrants where in-processed and the Central Railroad of New Jersey Station where some 10.5 million immigrants including my ancestors boarded trains for points all across the country. We enjoyed our entire visit, we’re just glad we don’t have to live there!