Rhapdosy in blue

[gfish]

I have come to the conclusion that visiting NYC is a lot like visiting the land of Fae. It is both entirely mythological in nature and yet simultaneously far more real than anything you've ever experienced before. This is a Platonic City, from which all others are pale imitations. My two years in Vancouver already had me seeing Seattle in a new light, and this isn't going to help with that any.

That said, I really like it here. This is public transit heaven. And while I can see that people are generally a bit more extroverted here than I'm used to, the difference isn't that huge. (The most obvious thing about that: far fewer people listening to ipods on the subway!) And there is just a wonderful lived in feel about everything. Everything has been tested to destruction by millions of people -- if it's still standing, it's pretty damned solid. Despite all the wonderful Victorian and Art Deco details, this place naturally values function over form. It's dense, gritty and I love it. I think I've missed out by never living here. Seems unlikely to happen at this point in my life, but maybe I could make it happen in a decade or two.

I've managed to do just about everything I wanted, including driving out to New Jersey to see the Edison labs. (Thanks, lolmike!) I even got a picture of myself wearing a UN translation earpiece in the General Assembly hall, which is still making me squee. Kind of taking today off, just going to an Ethiopian cooking party with some friends of adularia. Tomorrow is dedicated to museums, exploring as much of Central Park as the weather will allow (-3 right now, blah.), and maybe getting dinner at this insane restaurant I read about years ago.

Comments

[memegarden.livejournal.com]

I love two different fantasy novels in which New York City is treated as The City in a mythic, Fae-related sort of way: _Little, Big_ by John Crowley and Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin. They have other odd resonances between them as well. You should read both of them.

[ladymondegreen.livejournal.com]

It's nice to see that someone else sees the resonances between these two books. I've been trying to get people to read them in tandem for ages, but it never seems to happen.

I love New York. As a child, I wanted to live here, and I've really never been dissatisfied with living here as an adult.