I spent yesterday in New York. Woke up at 4:30 to drive to Providence and take the Amtrak into the city. It's embarrassing to admit, but while I've been to several of the world's oldest, largest, most beautiful, and most famous cities (Rome, Cairo, London, Seoul, Paris, etc.), I've never been to the Big Apple.
I loved it.
It was unlike anything I've ever experienced in America. A world unto itself. If there is glamour left in this country, then surely it resides there, in the city of brownstone and brick, where age, beauty, and (let's face it) violence intermix, and history has not been flattened like so much unwanted baggage. There was grandeur there, reminiscent of the glory (and decay) of Rome.
The purpose of the trip was business -- visit the British Consulate and get my Visa -- but most of the day was spent wandering. Walking through Central Park, exploring Times Square, catching sight of the Empire State Building. And yes, eating a pretzel. But it sent shivers down my back to know that all the while I was a stone's throw away from places like Harlem and Hell's Kitchen, place names that are evocative of literature and film, broken dreams and distant hopes. New York, like all of Europe, is alive with memory.
I even got to see an Off Broadway show. While it's the West End in London that has really fed my taste for theatre (I've seen over 13 shows there in the course of two trips to the UK), Broadway still echoes in my imagination with memories of my first exposure to Les Miz and my early dreams of being a Broadway singer (never mind that I can't actually sing).
The show itself was an adaptation of C.S. Lewis's Screwtape Letters. A two person show with one speaking role, and one Acting 2 dream part (all movement, and body, and voice). Incredibly well done, Mommy and I were given free tickets by a professor from Carnegie Mellon while trying to get a last minute deal at the ticket window.
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