What makes New York so unique? Is it the history of the city, the size of the island that somehow manages to squeeze on this tight land space, the many movie back drops (General Electric Building-Ghost Busters, NY Public library- Day after Tomorrow, Chrysler and of course the Empire State building- King Kong,)…. or the fact it contains such a diverse community?

Street scene

Walk down any street, catch a train, bus or be served at a shop and you begin to appreciate the numerous dialects that live in such close proximity. Yet, this is no different if you went to any other big city- Melbourne, London, Paris for that matter. I suppose the uniqueness is experiencing it and having the time to appreciate and soak very bit in.

Lower Manattan is where you find China Town and Little Italy- two very different cultures that offer food stalls, flowers, clothing, designer handbags for $15- $25, Rolex watches(with 2 L’s)for $5 and streets and streets of restaurants. Interesting to note even the local New Yorker will search the internet to find out which restaurant has the best reviews- business is cut throat!!

Chinatown

Chelsea and Greenwich village are the trendy places to live. As you meander your way slowly might I, add as the feet do take a pounding, through these areas you begin to appreciate the differences that each suburb presents- whether it is the local bar, news stand, or the endless number of nannies keeping their ‘charges’ under control, life moves along at a startling and noisy pace. Never a dull moment with a street full of taxis and their horns!

This city has no where to spread out, so the only way is up but amongst this maze you do find the odd park or see people purchasing a tree to take home and place in their apartment or roof top balcony.

Signing off for now- more museums to check out and in some cases revisit to complete the exhibits we have missed.