Is there a more dynamic or exciting city than New York City? Probably, but the words New York conjures images of hustle bustle, yellow cabs, iconic skyscrapers, honking cars, and people scurrying purposefully. But my post-Covid experience is way different from those earlier visits, and like the other places I have visited over the past couple of years, an element that was unique to The Big Apple, seems to be missing.
I am staying at the centrally-located Hilton Hampton Inn on W 31st Street, an easy walk up the road to Madison Square Garden and Penn Station, should I be attending a concert or taking a train. But I’m not. I’ve arrived in New York City to start a bus tour that will eventually take me into Canada.
I’m collected from La Guardia airport by members of the tour company, which is a nice surprise, but that where that ends, because upon arrival at the hotel, I am greeted with the news that my hotel booking had been cancelled. My initial reaction in the past would have been to argue, but instead, I smiled at the receptionist and told them to take it up with the tour group. It’s amazing how a room located at the front of the hotel, with a wonderful view suddenly materialised. I’m happy with the position, and since it is early in the day, I set off to explore, stretching my legs and with no destination in mind.
We cannot possibly underestimate the damage COVID has done to the world, and although my observations are anecdotal, I am quite surprised that New York City has changed so dramatically since I was here last in 2012. The most surprising change is the lack of traffic, caused in part by the introduction of bike lanes. Is there no large city in the world where these stupid lanes have not been introduced? I do love the little three-wheeled police vehicles that are haphazardly parked in some streets. It’s not what one would expect from the NYPD! I really love this location, and if it isn’t too expensive next time I come to New York, I am staying here!
As the shadows lengthen, I stop at L’Amico Italian restaurant on 6th Avenue and order a glass of Prosecco and a bowl of pasta. I thoroughly enjoy sitting in the open al fresco area, the heat of the day dissipating with the last vestiges of the sun.
As I enter the hotel, I realise that the woman sitting in the lobby is probably my tour guide and I approach her to introduce myself. Our tour starts early in the morning, and I am looking forward to exploring New York City over the next 24 hours.
I won’t forget our tour guide’s name. It is Jeannette, sounds like mine with a slight variation on spelling. I think we will be friends. About three-quarters of the tourists are Spanish speakers, mostly from South America. There are a few Indian people, and a young man from Brazil, who speaks no Spanish, so the tour will have to be bi-lingual. Three young women, teachers from Texas are of Mexican heritage, and they are delightful as they mingle with everyone. Before long, the bus is travelling up or down (I’m not sure which) W 31st Street, passing Madison Square Garden and the entrance to Penn Station. The bus lumbers through the traffic and stops long enough to allow us to alight and follow Jeannette along the street, then into a subway. We are ushered through a retail section before arriving in subway train station. With about a dozen of us crowding into the tiny space, Jeannette virtually pushes two security guards out of the way whilst she explains in two languages how the subway system works in New York City. We are shown a ticket machine and are instructed on how to buy a ticket on a train, whilst crowds of polite New Yorkers mill around trying to access the machines so they could start their day. Once on street level again, we follow Jeannette around a corner, enter a shopping arcade at Columbus Circle, travel down the escalator to a Whole Foods supermarket, where we are led to prepackaged meals and snacks. Jeannette explains that restaurant meals are expensive in New York and that we can pick up a meal reasonably cheap at the supermarket. Of all the tours I have taken in my lifetime, an excursion to a subway and supermarket has never been on the itinerary. This is refreshingly practical. We briefly stop at the Lincoln Centre for the Performing Arts, home to the New York Philharmonic then continue to the Dakota Building, where John Lennon lived, and just across the road we enter Central Park and find ourselves in Strawberry Fields, the John Lennon Memorial. These days musicians are permitted to play music in the area. When I was here in 2012, it was a quiet and reflective place with music banned. When I do a quick comparison, I feel that quiet contemplative music would be more desirable than the busker here today. Aboard the bus again, we travel along the side of Central Park until it comes to an end and after making a couple of turns, we stop at a cathedral. I’m surprised that since most of our tourists are presumably Catholic, this stop is not the famous St Patrick’s Catholic Cathedral, but the Cathedral Church of St John the Divine, an Episcopal church. It is famous because despite its magnificent Byzantine/Romanesque Revival styles, it is unfinished, but the façade is well worth seeing, along with the European-style coffee shop/toilet stop across the road. Yes, it is possible to get a decent espresso in New York City. We travel to Chinatown where the footpaths are filled with an exotic and colourful variety of Chinese delicacies and around the corner, we walk through Little Italy, where the smell of coffee and pastries overwhelms the senses. Munching on cannoli, I get back on the bus where we drive through the once scary suburb of Harlem, briefly stop to view the Statue of Liberty, pass the World Trade Centre memorial, follow the High Line, which I would love to explore further one day, and arrive back at the hotel in the middle of the afternoon, giving me time to join the hustle and bustle of 5th Avenue.
This is my third visit to New York City, and I cannot believe that it has been twelve years since I was here last. Manhattan is vibrant, colourful, and with the huge police presence, I feel very safe.
I don’t like to compare Melbourne with cities I visit, but it is hard to ignore that New York City, like many US cities I have been to so far on this trip, is far cleaner. The absence of graffiti here clearly shows that when government and law enforcement work together, cities can be cleaned up just like New York City has done.
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