New York, New York or why I didn’t visit The Statue of Liberty

I’ve noticed that people who don’t like NYC or come here and get disappointed, don’t enjoy movies as much. There’s a deeper connection.

New York City was like knowing you’d like this cake before tasting it or you’d like the person before actually meeting them. My superhuman intuition had its culmination on the East Coast.

Wanted to experience the city as a local. Locals don’t visit the Statue of Liberty, they don’t visit Museums that much either unless absolutely needed. They don’t hang around Times Square much or Climb the towers either. They walk, ride the trains, go to the restaurants, clubs, the movies. That’s what I did. And I don’t regret it at all. I did visit the Museum of Sex tho and to be honest the sex shop at the entrance was much more exciting and fun than the museum itself ( side note: Lus, for the Last Time STOP visiting museums -_- ).

I digested the Greenwich Village, went there to visit the Friends’ Apartment and left in love with the whole neighborhood. The most atmospheric and mystical place in the whole city. It’s empty most of the time, like after some zombie attack that somehow left the place completely intact and neat. Lots of zigzagy, narrow streets filled with movie like apartments with most romantic front porches that you’d love to make out in front of, at midnight, on a Saturday evening.. :D

I didn’t crack the code of Hell’s Kitchen tho, it was reserved somehow, couldn’t grasp the aura of it, like it was there, present, alive, but withdrawn. Didn’t see a superhero per se but lots of Jessica Joneses there: cool, hot, leathery, biting women drinking bourbon and gin tonic at bars and looking dim as fuck but without the superhero abilities to crush skulls or move cars, though who knows?

Hated Soho, srsly that place was awful, no signature behavior. Soho is believed to be this cool place with lots of shops which it is but nothing more. It was boring.

Hated the Chinese food there. I mean what’s up with that? I love Chinese otherwise but that was some horrible shit and tbh the whole chinatown wasn’t impressive either. It was blank. The Koreatown was much more lifelike.

Loooved the Japanese food. My friends took me to this most amazing Sushi bar: The Blue Ribbon. My God. I mean you can find great sushi in NYC almost everywhere, even the lost pubs in Brooklyn have great sushi. But the Blue Ribbon stood out. It was orgasmic. Sushi lovers would legit feel the difference.

I got lost in the Central Park. Intentionally. Hid my phone somewhere in my pockets and went walking. It was already late in the evening so by the time I somehow found my way out of the park it was deep dark outside and kinda scary. I was alone. In the Park. I think I walked my way through all of it. Feels like a mirage now. Like it never happened. And the photos? I could have photoshopped myself there. Yeah, it defo didn’t happen.

Christmas at the Rockeffeler Centre. You should be there. If there is a better place to visit NY it’s during Holidays. You can’t compare it to anything else. I was standing under the Rockeffeler Christmas tree, alone, away from homeland and friends, surrounded with strangers and it still felt like home. Maybe it’s the music or the lighting, the smell? Dunno.

I love roofs, I think they are underrated and overrated at the same time. I wanted to climb the Empire State Building but ppl warned me against it as it has a huge line and you almost can’t see stuff from there as it’s wire fenced and ugly. So happy I didn’t climb it. Climbed the Rockeffeler Roof which is much more beautiful and it’s relatively open, there’s the absolute top of it that you’re allowed to climb if u’re brave enough. I dared. It’s extremely windy, cold but exciting. You see everything from up there. It’s surreal.

BTW these romantic movies about couples meeting at the top of Empire State Building are so unrealistic. My God. They would have to wait for hours to get up there. And frankly, I can’t imagine them buying the tickets online. It ruins the magic.

We peed (:D) in almost all the fancy Hotels, including Plaza which is Residents Only, but we managed. I have mastered the art of crashing places where I’m not allowed like movie theaters without tickets or libraries without passes and now hotels without reservations.. Love the thrill of it I guess.

East Side was calmer than West Side, at least to me. The 5th is magical but 6th doesn’t lag behind much either.

The bottom line is, The city is messy, crowdy, dirty, smelly and fantastic! There’s this sense of power and success in the air. It pushed me to my edge which I liked. DC was different, calmer, more chillaxed. Maybe it’s the legal weed? Maybe.

I loved that near the end of my trip I was helping out tourists to find places or guiding them through subway lines. I mastered the city in some sense I guess.

Saw lots of movies in most amazing IMAX theaters months before their worldwide release. And to all the people who’ve been buzzing my PMs with “Hey did you seriously go to NY to watch Movies, Lus?” — YES I HAVE -_- I’m at the centre of the cinematic world, ppl :/ Where else if not here? Ah I forgot, at home, in my pajamas, in front of a tiny laptop screen via some crappy website with awful quality.. yeah sure.

NYC is, was and always will be to me what Paris is to most girls. The city of love, in the most conceivable and inconceivable senses of that word. If that’s a meant to be, I’ll find my way back.

Cheers *