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Citaat:

So here I am, 4am, wide awake. I´m lying on an inflatable bed in a room in New York city. A room that, apart from my bed, suitcase and a lamp, is empty. Most of this two bedroom apartment, of which I am sleeping in the living room now, is barely furnished anyway. And who can blame the current tenants, they will be gone in six months and how exciting a trip to IKEA -- especially with the big yellow IKEA boats -- may be; I can imagine carrying all those boxes back home and up to the 5th floor is certainly not. This building does not have an elevator….

What this building, or at least one of the other tenants, does have, is a dog. A dog that barks when we pass the front door and by doing that every time scares the hell out of us. We need to start bearing that in mind before passing that door. It might help, at least we are prepared then. It will turn out later this week that being prepared does help, thank god, my heart could not handle the jumping much longer.
But that is later this week. For now, I am just lying is this bed, it is dark outside, the rain is pouring down and I cannot sleep. Welcome to New York city.

In the morning the rain is still pouring down, so we decide to go shopping. After all, who cares about rain when you can spend hours walking around in this department store, and after those hours still realize there are floors you have not been and about a million items yet to be discovered. All these people running around, all these bags full of new clothes, all the money being spent on stuff that will probably turn out to be useless anyway. But hey, at least everyone did take advantage of the current dollar rate. Something to brag about back home. I must admit to be a little proud we only bought what we actually came for. That is something to brag about, we were able to resist all these temptations. That, or we are just these poor students who do not have money to spend anyway. That is up to you to decide.

Later that day we are at Battery Park and watch the sunset at the Hudson river. Thit is what it is all about.

Everyday we take the A or C train downtown. We walk around, do what we as tourists are supposed to do; go to Liberty Island, Times Square, the Brooklyn Bridge, rent a bike in Central Park. We spend hours at the Met, MoMA and Guggenheim. We watch so many Monet’s, Kandinsky’s, Picasso’s and other’s that in the end I don’t even know exactly what I saw anymore. And still it does not seem to be enough.
When we go to Lower East we walk around, again, visit some art galleries, spend time in the park where we sit in the sun, reading, watching guys play basketball. We walk down Bowery street and I think of a friend at home who told me to go there. He was right, this is amazing. It is warm, sunny, I love the dress and sunglasses I am wearing and I am excited for whatever it is the evening will bring us. When I walk around alone the people in the streets invite me to come sit with them for a drink, tell me they love my glasses, just say hello, someone even mumbles I am too well dressed for this neighborhood… It makes me smile. In the evening we go to a club, to finally see a band again I have met years ago at home. I have not seen them since and look forward to the moment they will start their set. But first there are other great bands in this lovely venue where the crowd is good. I cannot get the smile off my face anymore. This is the life. As after the show I talk to one of the guys from the band, I find out that apparently I made an impression five years ago as he still remembers me. But funny, how for five years I’ve thought those beautiful eyes were brown, when they turn out to be blue-greenish. Fooled by my own imagination.
But this is New York, it is not only about art or musicians, or is it? It is about the city as well, about the city lights, the beautiful sunset from Top of the Rock where we stood for more than an hour, just watching the sun go down, day turning into evening, the sky going dark and the lights illuminate the dark sky again. Feeling like there cannot be anything more beautiful, more inspiring than this. Is that exaggerated? Probably is, but is that not what we all do when we are really excited about something and want to share with the whole world how amazing it is? Even when that something is just a big, crazy city?

The last days I spend more time alone, to explore the city on my own, to walk the streets I choose. Just to be alone so there is nothing or no one that can distract me from experiencing the city as intense as possible. I leave the apartment and take a train downtown at 125th or 116th. We live in Harlem, close to Morningside park. I love this neighborhood, I love how there are always people in the streets, how everyone seems to know each other and when they wish you a good day actually seem to mean it. I love how the people sit on the stairs to their front door, drinking coffee, watching the passengers in the street, always in for a chat. I even start to love, or at least really appreciate the subway. It is unbelievable how fast I got used to the trains and how much I like the idea of getting in, travelling through darkness and get out being somewhere completely different. And no, I am not ignorant, I have used the subway before, but I never liked it the way I do now. I take the C to 86th street, walk around and look for things I will later find out are gone. Too bad, but it is a pleasant walk anyway. The sun still shines bright as people walk their dogs, have lunch at one of the cafes or, just like me, walk around with no real purpose. I continue to Fulton Street where I get on the J train to Brooklyn. As we are on the Williamsburg bridge I turn around to watch the Manhattan skyline. What an amazing view. Again I get off the train basically to only walk around, grab a coffee, eat something. I do not have much time, there is one other place I really want to go before darkness sets in. Back to Battery Park. I sit down and watch another sunset there, see the reflection of the city lights on the water. The contrast between the vibrancy of the city and the seemingly calm and quiet dark river. I love this place, I love to just sit here, to watch people walk by, to watch the river while hearing the sounds of the city behind me.

It is getting dark and I should go back to my friends. Dinner in the Village, maybe some drinks after and then there will be tomorrow. Tomorrow is another day in New York City. A day to enjoy to the max, a day in which we will have a bizarre, unexpected and wonderful meeting with a friend. We both did not know the other person would be in New York. We both do not live there. We just happened to be at the same place at the same time. A chance of one in a million. Those things can only happen here. That is why I don’t want to think about the day after tomorrow, I don’t want to think about leaving yet.

But all good things come to an end and we do have to leave. As Michael Stipe once said, Leaving New York never easy. I sit in the taxi, looking back at the wonderful skyline of the amazing city. As the time ticks away, the Manhattan skyline slowly disappears and the lights fade. I turn back around and stare at the crowded road in front of us. Destination JFK airport. Goodbye New York.