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"Excuse me," she said hesitantly. "Could you tell me how to get to Third Street?"
She was dressed in a jogging suit and sneakers. Behind her stood a man in a logo sweatshirt of some sort holding a little girl's hand.
Tourists.
I love tourists. I love the idea that they have come to visit my city and that I can help host them. And I especially love to give directions.
"Are you visiting?" I asked.
"Yes," she said, "From Omaha."
"Really? I have a brother-in-law there. Okay. Now did you want Third Street or Third Avenue? There's a difference. Third Street is pretty far away."
"Thirty-third and Third," the man said.
"Okay," I said, "so you want the avenue. Just head that way two blocks and you're there."
The woman smiled. "You must be a native," she said.
"No, not really," I laughed, thinking of my own confused early days in Manhattan. "But I've lived here longer than I've lived anywhere, so I guess that qualifies me as a New Yorker."
"Thanks!" they all three said at once and were on their way.
And so was I, feeling pretty good about my city. New Yorkers have a reputation for being tough customers, and some are. But we are proud of our city and happy to have people visit. Yes, we're always in a rush. Yes, it's a rough-and-tumble place sometimes. But yes, we love it when you visit.
How many of you out there have visited New York?
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Edward Grinnan is Editor-in-Chief and Vice President of Guideposts Publications. Edward lives in New York City with two blondes—his wife, Julee, and Golden Retriever, Millie, who has been featured in his blog and popular videos. Edward loves cycling, hiking with Millie at his house in the Berkshire Hills and Wolverines that hail from Michigan.
Your Comments
I love New York as a place to visit. Growing up in
Philly we use go make day trips there to visit relatives. I love the fast paced life for brief periods of time. As a child I got lost in the city. My parents were frantic. They reported me missing. A very kind woman took the time to help reunite me with my parents. I'll always love NY, but I don't want to live there. I just want to be a frequent visitor.
I visited New York via Kennedy International Airport on January 12th, 1991. It was a stop-over for Wisconsin's Army National Guard's 13th Evacuation Hospital on our way to Saudia Arabia to support Operation Desert Shield. Sadly, I missed all the sites and did not meet any New Yorkers.
I've been to New York City twice--once in the 70's when I was 15 and 3 years ago with my family. Our 2008 trip left us with memories we certainly hadn't planned in advance. My husband is a lifelong Yankees fan and wanted to see the old Yankee stadium in its last year before it was torn down. So we drove into New York and headed straight to the Bronx for our tour of Yankee Stadium. We found a place to park or so we thought. We didn't know that No Standing meant no parking. When we came out our car was gone. We found out it had been towed away and had an interesting taxi ride to the heart of the Bronx to retrieve our car, which was a whole interesting experience in itself. Then we had to find our own way back out of the city. It was not a pleasant experience and cost us a lot, although we managed to talk them out of the $115 parking ticket. The towing fee was enough. However, our memories of New York are fond and we do hope to come back someday--except we plan to not drive and to stay in the heart of the city itself so we can just travel by subway.
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