(Ct. from Pt. 1)
I visit NYC every couple of years, a sort of touching base i’ve developed, like a nervous tic, and each time I feel like such a stranger, a tourist even. I arrive and feel like leaving right away… at least up until my feet hit the pavement and I remember how to keep up with the city pace, then it all slots right back into place, as if I had never left.
I would be utter crap at telling you the best places to get a good slice (I usually just walk into whatever dingy corner pizza place is nearest that doesn’t look too crazy full) or where to grab the best coffee and bagel to go ( er, anywhere near Port Authority is fantastic, they know everyone is in a rush), or even what parts of NYC not to go to (I’ve been told i’m nuts for visiting the parts of The Bronx I usually go to), so I won’t even try. All I can say is that there is so much more to NYC than just what you usually see on postcards. Those are fantastic yes, but there’s a quiet and calm part that you rarely get to see, that’s just as worth a visit as any of the other whirlwind adventure places dotting the map.
Places you can sit on a park bench, surrounded by lovely prickly Jewish and Puerto Rican grandma’s for as long as you’d like, just feeding the squirrels and tossing breadcrumbs at birds and it’s as wonderful as being at the top of the Empire State building, just a different kind of joy.
Places where the light bends and breaks on buildings in lovely ways, and they’re not famous architectural wonders or even very beautiful streets but there’s something about NYC sunlight that can make almost anything seem so special. And maybe it’s not Rockefeller Center, but damned if you don’t think it’s something worth photographing in that moment.
Easily overlooked or taken for granted things that are almost always worth a second glance.
It’ll probably never be “home” for me again (too many other places in this world I want to experience) but there’s a comfort in NYC that I don’t know I could find anywhere else.