A Sweeping View

Nobody likes a chauvinist. And its no news that some folks think New York is a pretty special place.

But here is my comment, having just flown in over the metropolis (not for the first time), a little jaded after a long trip and hoping just to land without the pressure drop making my ears go permanently deaf.

In short: if you ever needed to be reassured that New York is the most stunningly beautiful big city in the world, please make sure you come in near dusk and fly across Brooklyn heading for LaGuardia.

The way the islands of the city are connected by bridges that fly across great waters; the way the prow of Lower Manhattan proudly announces your approach to a great city; then the astonishing (ravishing?) forest of skyscrapers leaping skyward north of the brightly lit Empire State; finally the sweep and spread of the outer boroughs spun with diamond-like highways and their own great bridges. . .and you come away knowing you've been afforded a rare opportunity: to gaze in sheer wonder at what is, for all its sins and decay, one of the great achievements of humankind, the structure and the spirit of the City of New York.

Sometimes you just have to come out and say it: I Love New York.

--Renaissance