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Article written by Bruno Contigiani ( Slow-living president) and published by Panoarama Travel, an Italian magazine of tourisme. Christmas is approaching and many people are dreaming about leaving to profit for the first
or another time of the hectic life in the Big Apple.
Recalling a famous song by the famous Italian artist Mina “I am what you want me to be”,
I would like to suggest an alternative and new way to image, dream first and leive then the splendid New York. As N.Y. is only partially an hectic city.
If you slow down, if you consecrate enough time to live it, if you calmly listen to it and
let is come out, you will immediately perceive how welcoming, gentle, curious, happy and
collaborative the city is.
The first decision to take is to start in the best possible way,
thus staying in Manhattan at least 7 to 10 days otherwise you will not have enough
time to live the atmosphere and such a unique extraordinary metropolis soul.
The second problem to solve before leaving is: where should I stay?
It is certainly better to select a bed & breakfast or a small hotel located in areas which
are not jammed by tourists, businessmen, shopping-hectic women or insisting souvenir sellers.
I am thinking about South Harlem, Alphabet City, East Village or a small place on the Columbia
or the Amsterdam, close to the famous Columbia University.
If you do prefer other well-known streets, then why not the Madison between the 80th and
90th streets or at the same level the First, Second or Third avenue. Life is calm, you can
speak with residents, you meet in the bars, by the news-stand, the automated laundry,
the barber (and why not, seize the opportunity to have your hair cut, only for 10 dollars)
or the nail shops. You can meet university teachers, young graduates, writers or musicians
looking for an alternative way of living taking personal expectations and human
relationships into account, and not only caring about the salary at the end of the moths.
And stop to speak with people living there… the best way to discover and fall in love with
N.Y. When you land at the JFK, think about decompressing from modern life style: queue, do
not keep on thinking "how long will it take? it is not possible in such an international
city... to waste so much time, far better to go to Hong Kong, see how many people..
it would take ages”…Simply care about the kindness of safety/service people caring about
you correctly filling the immigration forms while you will be already testing how
imperfect your English is, as you already feared.
The unique New York symbol is the ever-present yellow taxis, then take immediately
the satisfaction of getting one: on the sidewalk, raise your arm, and a taxi will
immediately stop, the cost is quite accessible and then forget about them. If you want
to really live the Big Apple, then walk or take a bus. Possibly you will be immediately
struck by the New York people tired allure, and if you then look down, you will
immediately get that they were shoes, sandals or even flip flops (according to the season,
clearly) which are comfortable and not nice to see: do not joke, but copy them!Then face
the straight and wide avenues, as curious explorers and move to the perpendicular street:
new shops to discover, cultural places, small gardens and much more, not reported on any
guide, however rich of history and fascination.
Get on a bus, and the professional kind drivers will be at your disposal, sharing their
time: they do not leave until all the passengers did not rubber-stamp, they are efficient
and thoughtful with the numerous invalids to get in on their wheelchairs: they lower the
platform and they fit the small chairs to the stops with the belts. Climb on a bus at a
stop North or South Manhattan and stay onboard until the terminal: a valid alternative to
double-deckers while still visiting the city from the inside, together with its citizens,
avoiding, among others, the photographic safari effect Then a bit of rest… possibly you
will have discover the Zen metropolitan gardens. A few words on Central Park: get there,
look for the pond with turtles where young New York people take the tortoises saving them
from the cold Hudson river, where throw from the kind Buddhist monks, who once more saved
them from the Chinese restaurant kitchens. Take your time to walk around the central lake,
do not run, simply walk. However do it counter-clockwise. Once more you will realise that
Central Park is a sort of big alarm clock, with an external ring, daily wound up by people
running around the lake (the same lake as in the Catcher in the Rye).Sit on a bench to
think: how strange is the speed in New Yokr or profit from the new Zen metropolitan gardens
, magic and welcoming spaces suddenly opened between a skyscraper and the following, well
floored, with tables and chairs, sometimes flower cascades, and water fountains.
Extremely cared for and cleaned, they offer tourists and residents as well a short
restful stop. People eat, read, work on a PC, organise short meetings, meet friends,
get rid of his shoes, hardly decide whether to sit or not as wondering whether on a such
a central place the service will be more expensive or not. But magically no service is to
be paid, because wealth is free, kindly offered by the city of New York to people, without
consumption but only to profited from.
But not all that glitters is gold in the Big Apple too, but the slow traveller is always
positive and does not comply about inefficiencies, caring about them only if it is
possible to change them.
Visit museums only if you will and not to tell people in Italy that at the MoMA there is
your coffeemaker. The atmosphere you breathe inside such unique emotional and cultural
containers is the same as on school trips: you have to, but what boring!
New York would not be New York without water, because quite often too attracted department
stores, Brodway and the living Fift Avenue, you forget that Manhattan is a island. Do not
forget to have a walk on a long Hudson dock, on the West side, and get on a trip on a line
ferry.
And if you still have time and are addict to any place mentioned on a tourist guide.. have
a quick tour… all the rest will be there to be lived and discovered next time you come
back to New York.
Have a good journey!
Bruno Contigiani
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