Snow and the City

Snow. Snow is everywhere. On the sidewalk, car bonnets, leafless tree branches, my jacket. Snow gives the streets of New York a fresh façade, a new charisma that it lacks during the summer months. Yet the locals go about their daily activities as if the cold weather doesn’t change anything at all. The tourists, especially the ones like me from hot climate places like Australia, practically dance around the city in awe of the snow. Witnessing a thick layer of snow in the city is magical and fascinating. It has released my inner child, highly excitable by new things in the environment. I can’t help but stomp in every pile of snow I encounter and touch the fluffy substance at every opportunity. I scoop up some soft, freshly fallen snow off a table on Broadway and throw it at my younger brother, laughing when it hits his shoulder. Locals continue to walk by, probably thinking we are stupid but we don’t care. We are having too much wintery fun in one of the world’s greatest metropolises.

After a short subway ride from Penn Station we alight the A train at West 4th Street and make our way up to Washington Square Park. The atmosphere in Greenwich Village is so different to the chaotic hustle in Midtown. It has a residential feel: the skyscrapers have dispersed and the architecture is more antique and historic. There is much less traffic here too, allowing me to absorb the sights without the distraction of road noise.

Washington Square Park is a large open space nestled amongst the New York University campus buildings. We enter from the southern end of the park, snow covering the once lush green lawns in its entirety as well as much of the path and the benches spaced at even intervals along it on either side. We find a bench to sit down on and eat our Krispy Kreme donuts we purchased from Penn Station earlier and people watch. Young children play on the small playground, locals walk their dogs and NYU students hang out. I move my gaze to the white stone monument standing at the northern edge of the park, the Washington Square Arch. This structure is my favourite element of the usually green space, it is the unique trait that defines the park. Dozens of people walk underneath it in the short time I admire it.

After four visits to New York I am still mesmerized by this amazing city. You never tire of drinking in the sight of the New York skyline and absorbing the most famous landmarks. To quote an old cliché, “I love NY”.