Travel to the Max!

“Is it your first time here?” Asked the hotel clerk.

“Yes she’s a repeated offender.” The other one said.

And he was right, it might be my 6th time in New York, but my travel companion must be at its 100th visit and each trip to NYC with my mom makes me feel like I’ve never seen the Empire State building before, or the Statue of Liberty! I suspect her to be secretly in love with the city, I wonder if Venice, the place she claims to love the most in the world (she had her honeymoon there) is aware of this relationship?

It was my mom’s second stay, but my first at The Jane hotel, like most room in the Big Apple, it was about the size of a shoebox and shared bathroom at the end of the hall. It’s comfortable, has great coffee at the Café Gitane, a Titanic style ballroom, and talking about the Titanic, it’s actually the place where the survivor of the tragedy where sent upon arrival in America. Add to that a complimentary bicycle and a great location in the old Meat Packing District, you got a winner.

Our first stop, the High Line, this old freight line was used in the past to carry all the merchandise that was needed for the Meat Packing District. Today, after a long fought battle between the population, the city hall and the rail owners, it has finally become one of the most hip park in New York. Elevated in the air, it gives us a completely different perspective of the town’s greatest skyscrapers. What makes it amazing is the omnipresent garden that follows us all the way from Gansevoort Street to the West 34th Street. All this vegetation brings us a smell and a sense of quietness, for the first time I am in New York and I feel like I have been teleported from one of the busiest city in North America to the peacefulness of a Buddhist monastery. Along the walls, we can find amazing pieces of graffiti and sculptures, but what is great is that the buildings that are surrounding the High Line truly mixed within the picture.

What makes it a truly particular first time for me, is that it is the one and only path way that allows me to see inside New Yorker’s apartment and office. Along the walk you can see them eat, watch television, run on their treadmill even work at their desk. But New York is New York they don’t mind, there is always a show going on! For them I might be the hundred person by their window, but to me it is the first time that I feel welcome in their intimacy.

I wish this experience to any first timers who would like to feel the NYC vibe.