Manhattan Morning
New York has a reputation as a 24 hour city. You can get, go or see anything at any time, around the clock. Dinner at 3AM, breakfast at 3PM, an AA meeting at 2AM or a gospel preacher in the subway at 4PM.
But to find the real magic of the city, you have to be willing to haul your sorry ass out of bed before the paper hits the front door, and be willing to be out on the sidewalk right behind the person who delivered it.
There's something strange and wonderful about New York before the rest of the city gets going. That brief hour between 7AM and 8AM is my favorite hour of the day. The city is certainly never silent, but that's the hour it has kind of a quiet anticipation. Traffic is still light, few horns or sirens, no blaring radios, screaming babies or rumbling diesels. Yet you know they're just around the corner or up the street, because it's already full blown daylight. Everybody is waking up and planning their attack on the day. They're just not in your face yet.
I enjoy walking down Broadway or 8th Avenue as the city wakes up. Everybody moves at a slower, more relaxed pace. It reminds me of animals waking up from hibernation, venturing out bleary-eyed into the world, trying to get their bearings. There is almost an unspoken fellowship among the early risers, and a secret mutual understanding of how special and soothing these fleeting moments really are. To me, even a springtime afternoon in the park is not as relaxing or mind clearing as this early morning walk through Manhattan.
Then, as 8:00 comes and goes, the pace automatically quickens. More pedestrians, cabs, cars and buses whiz by. There's a noticeable increase in the number of trains rumbling beneath the street, and the coffee shops and bodegas buzz with people grabbing their morning coffee and bagels. By 8:30, the quiet is a mere memory. The city is at full throttle.
And then, people like me blend into the fabric of the high speed landscape, off to do whatever it is we do, but with a secret hidden smile that we've just been part of New York's best kept secret.
But to find the real magic of the city, you have to be willing to haul your sorry ass out of bed before the paper hits the front door, and be willing to be out on the sidewalk right behind the person who delivered it.
There's something strange and wonderful about New York before the rest of the city gets going. That brief hour between 7AM and 8AM is my favorite hour of the day. The city is certainly never silent, but that's the hour it has kind of a quiet anticipation. Traffic is still light, few horns or sirens, no blaring radios, screaming babies or rumbling diesels. Yet you know they're just around the corner or up the street, because it's already full blown daylight. Everybody is waking up and planning their attack on the day. They're just not in your face yet.
I enjoy walking down Broadway or 8th Avenue as the city wakes up. Everybody moves at a slower, more relaxed pace. It reminds me of animals waking up from hibernation, venturing out bleary-eyed into the world, trying to get their bearings. There is almost an unspoken fellowship among the early risers, and a secret mutual understanding of how special and soothing these fleeting moments really are. To me, even a springtime afternoon in the park is not as relaxing or mind clearing as this early morning walk through Manhattan.
Then, as 8:00 comes and goes, the pace automatically quickens. More pedestrians, cabs, cars and buses whiz by. There's a noticeable increase in the number of trains rumbling beneath the street, and the coffee shops and bodegas buzz with people grabbing their morning coffee and bagels. By 8:30, the quiet is a mere memory. The city is at full throttle.
And then, people like me blend into the fabric of the high speed landscape, off to do whatever it is we do, but with a secret hidden smile that we've just been part of New York's best kept secret.
posted by Bill at
8:51 AM
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