The Greatest City in the World

New York is a capital of finance and fashion, the backdrop to some of the world's most famous films, a masterpiece of architecture and industry, and an epicurean's delight. Some have gone so far as to call it the greatest city in the world.

I had been to New York several times before. As a child, I took my first trip to New York City with my Hebrew School, visiting Ellis Island and Katz's Deli. Now, about fifteen years later, I went back with prospective-young-adult-living lenses. Though I don't know what my post-HNC life will bring, I am just as intrigued with the light and life of NYC that has drawn so many post-grads before me, and I got to check it out from a new perspective. A year of travel and living abroad helped me find a new vantage point as well.

New York's glamorous reputation so far precedes it that I was unsure how to handle the conflicting evidence. Filthy metros with black gum stains polka-dotted the ancient floors and old industrial steel always thundered with the passing of a vehicle. Compared to Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Beijing, New York's subway system was embarrassing. In Hong Kong I grabbed the sanitized handrail of the escalator with no fear, but in New York I avoided it due to that unknown sticky substance. When I made it on to the NY subway, I noticed a PSA poster reminding the public to stay away from the platform edge. The efficacy of the poster was in noting that there were 26 people who died last year after having been hit by a subway train. All of a sudden I became more thankful for the clean glass doors in China that separate the platform from the pit of despair.

The heat and humidity did nothing to help the feeling of New York dirt and grime. However, a mid-week rain shower cleared the weather, and the fog that had tainted Manhattan for me suddenly lifted. I realized that while the city wasn't old so much as tried and true.

The dated steel that paled in comparison to the new shine of up and coming Asian cities suddenly felt sturdy and dependable. I realized that I felt safer walking across a hundred year old bridge in the Big Apple than walking across a five year old bridge Made In China.

The architecture was diversified and full of life. Every building has a personality, and no building has a knock off. Even despite the grid set-up, New York feels organic--boroughs, neighborhoods, and up-and-coming sections of town have formed personalities over time. While there is no denying that Chinese identity is at the core of Beijing, Shanghai's impressive modernity lacks soul. Many cities in China are so new that they were planned by the government and then built in just a few years. The quick installation of a city may ensure that the buildings are there to house people and permit new business, but there is no time to let the city grow organically. There's nothing exciting about young wine, weak cheese, or un-steeped tea. But New York City is about as flavorful as metropolitan life can be.

I have never been able to stomach people gloating that the United States is the best country in the world, or that New York is the best city in the world without any experience to back up such claims. Taste is relative and always up for reevaluation. I do not believe that there is only one best food, but New York certainly sets the bar for gourmet.