Big City Life

I've seen movies, paged through newspapers, browsed magazines and heard stories, but nothing prepares you for the sights and sounds of the city with your own five senses !! New York City, you can smell the air that exudes fast paced life and dollar dollar bills, you can taste the pretzels, Wendy burgers and 7 up, you can see the kaleidoscope of lights beaming from towers of enormous screens, you can hear the NYPD sirens and beating hearts of 100 excited foreigners aboard a bus that has taken us directly into the city that never sleeps. Yellow cabs and monuments, gorgeous churches and 57th street, history and fame come together to form an explosion of divine mess and perfection, a thrilling contradiction!

Unfortunately due to my infamous lack of time management my camera let me down moments into the tour, my eyes however, store a permanent array of scenes and emotions together at every glance. Stopping for dinner at a food court overseeing Brooklyn Bridge, we are torn for choices. Lady Liberty, or Liberty of Lightening is but a pin sized wonder in the distance. Coffee with Miranda and Carrie at Magnolia Bakery is a pass by dream. Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks, for treats and coffee on the go. History lessons and celebrity addresses, we are able to take a step into the depths of the City. Central Park, a city of flowers and fauna all on its own.

I met Richmond, an assistant of one of New York's finest, trotting the streets to serve and protect. We stood in the drizzle with not a disappointed bone in our bodies as we skip to " Grand Slam " to browse the Big Apple's abundance of souvenirs, we pose with Captain America on the way, and we liaise with the local vendor of the " I love New York " hoodies that are stacked and piled on carts, colours and sizes, a colourful garden of purchasable memories. My throat was sensitive from all the gasps, as every corner was another exciting recognition of something South Africa did not have. All in all, a short and wonderful first impression that will stand the test of time. Thankfully I am an hour train ride into the centre of the City where exploration will be emancipated.