NYC

I'm getting ready for my very first trip to NYC this summer! My son in law sent me an email to tell me what to expect. Being a wordsmith by his trade, he's a journalist for the Associated Press, he gave me such a poetic description of the city. This is the city through the eyes of a native Arizonan. I wanted to share this with you since we are trying our hand at "creative writing" this year. I hope to see you all at the August 3rd meeting and then I'll be leaving on a jet plane on the 8th. Enjoy the following excerpt from my daughter's husband as he paints a picture of the the big city....

As our first family visitor, you're going to get the royal treatment. And I'm not overstating it when I say it will be a cultural experience. In some ways, New York is the complete opposite of Phoenix. Everything is clustered together. There are skyscrapers on every block. In some areas it gets so dense that they blot out the sun. Downtown is basically a maze of man-made canyons, and even after six months I still catch myself gawking at the rooftops like a tourist, amazed at the size of this city. Down below, the sidewalks and subway cars are usually packed with people. We don't "walk" here. We push, squeeze, force our way through the city. The streets are usually crowded, but nobody lets it slow them down. At rush hour, traveling on the subway is an intimate experience. You're packed shoulder-to-shoulder, back-to-belly with hundreds of other people -- and some didn't shower that morning. I think this was the biggest adjustment for me. It took a long time to get comfortable with the daily assaults on my personal space. But it's no big deal here. In the subways, you'll find businessmen in suits, tramply little teens, homeless people, tourists and more all riding together underground. When the subway jostles left and right, we sway together, holding each other upright, like a family. New Yorkers have their own language too. For example, you never say you're going north or south. It's "uptown" or "downtown." East and west are both "crosstown." If you say you live "in the city," it almost always means Manhattan. People from Brooklyn say they're from Brooklyn. People from the Bronx say they live in the Bronx, etc. And a slice of cheese pizza isn't called "cheese." It's a "plain" slice.

We can't wait to show you around. We live in a quieter part of the city. I'm sure Steph has sent lots of pictures. She found us a cool apartment that's a block away from Central Park, which is so nice. It's the best park in the world. You'll see. There's a huge lake and a boathouse (with cheap beer!) and there are trails going everywhere. On the west side, there's an outdoor theatre where actors like Anne Hathaway stage Shakespeare plays, and during the summer the New York philharmonic and other music groups play on the Great Lawn. All around, dancers and guitar pickers and hot dog venders compete for your attention. It's a great place for a picnic. At night, you can hire a horse-drawn carriage to take you around the park.

If I were you, I'd make sure to bring comfortable shoes. We do a lot of walking here.