As the aircraft veers down from the clouds the skyline of New York comes into focus. The tall buildings of Manhattan, the famous bridges, and the Hudson River keep you company as the plane turns sharply to land at one of New York City’s biggest and busiest airports, the La Guardia Airport. As the plane taxied down the runway, I was bubbling with excitement to finally get a chance to explore New York City. The city of the loves, lives and laughs of six young F.R.I.E.N.D.S, the city where the elite CSI team solve gruesome murders, the city where Ted Mosby explains to his kids, how he met their mother, the city where the ruggedly handsome Rick Castle and the charming detective Kate Beckett from the famed NYPD team up to round up the bad guys in the city.
We made our way to Manhattan passing the Bronx neighborhood, the Columbia University, the George Washington Bridge and the city of New Jersey on the opposite side of the river. The first sight of Manhattan itself makes you fall in love with it. I was lucky to get an opportunity to see the city from a bird’s eye perspective from the top of the Rockefeller Centre. The city’s landscape is a unique blend of modern skyscrapers that soar into the blue skies interspersed with buildings from the old school of architecture. The city plays host to some the world’s most expensive stores on the 5th Avenue. It is an overwhelming feeling to see Bergdorf and Goodman, Saks, Swarovski, Gucci, Prada, Versace, Godiva to name a few. I didn’t even have enough courage to step into any of these! The Trump Towers, the Chrysler Building, Rockefeller Centre, and the Empire State Building stand testimony to the exponential growth the city has achieved. All the big names in finance and banking make their presence felt on Wall Street in New York, living up to it being called the financial capital.
As I rode the subway, a casual glance at the people around made me realize, New York, the city encompasses so much! In the subway, there were Americans, Asians, African Americans, Hispanics, some old, some young, some singles, and some happy families. Some casually dressed, some in perfectly pressed suites. Some were carefree students, some camera wielding tourists, some serious faced business executives. And as we made our way to Battery Park, the southernmost tip of Manhattan, the Statue of Liberty was visible on the horizon. The towering and awe inspiring statue of the lady with the torch was a gift, signifying international friendship, freedom and democracy. New York City truly lives up to it.
PS: New York, I love you…..
