Wanna know a dirty little secret about me? While I’ve been in a bunch of the world’s greatest cities, everyplace from Paris to Chicago and London to Washington DC and Brussels to Marquette, I’ve never been to the one city many people claim to be the greatest on the planet.
I’ve never been to New York City.
I was having a discussion with someone over the weekend about how Billy Joel's residency at Madison Square Garden will be ending next year, and how it would now almost be impossible get tickets to see it, and while doing so my little secret slipped out. And from the way she reacted, you would’ve thought I had just admitted I was a serial killer or habitual puppy kicker. Nope, I did nothing that bad. I just haven’t been to New York City yet.
Now, you think I would’ve been there, if only because “King Kong” is my favorite movie of all time and the Empire State Building plays such a huge part in the film (not to mention the fact that Marquette’s Louis Kaufman was involved in getting the building off the ground) that I would’ve made a pilgrimage to see it...but no. I haven’t. I haven’t been there to see any of the studios where from legendary old-time radio shows were broadcast. And I , sadly, now won't be going there to see one of Billy Joel's legendary monthly shows.
I know--what kind of person am I, right?
The only place I've ever been in the northeast U.S. Is Boston, and that was for a whole 36 hours (and to see another music legend, Brian Wilson, in concert). I haven’t been to New York (even an airport in New York), or Philly, or the Green Mountains of Vermont, or the shores of Rhode Island. I don’t know why I haven’t; I guess I just never had a reason to head in that direction. And that’s weird, when you consider my interest in history and the fact that most of the important events in American history actually took place there. So you think New York would be a reasonable place to visit, right?
But for some reason, it hasn’t been. At least not yet. I haven’t had a reason to visit there for work, and I haven’t been there for a “vacation”.
I do know I want to pay NYC a visit some day; I don’t just know when that some day will be. So I guess what some people call the greatest city in the world will have to wait a little while longer. But one day I will get my priorities straight, and I will drop in, if for no other reason than to have friends stop giving me strange looks when I explain that while I’ve been everywhere from Berlin to Los Angeles, I have yet to visit the City That Never Sleeps.
(ps—if you're curious, RB Leipzig did indeed defend their DFB Pokal over the weekend, defeating Eintracht Frankfurt 2-0. One the goals and the assist on the other? From none other than the player I mentioned Friday, Christopher Nkunku!)
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