In 10 days....

This is my favorite building in Manhattan.

I love the story of how it was built, and why the top is shaped the way it is.

To read about the Chrysler Building click here.

I will be walking the streets of my favorite city. I can already hear and feel the subway as I walk along the streets. It's like nothing that I can explain. This city just brings out the best in me. I love it! I love to walk into a subway and see so many ethnicity's. It truly is a melting pot of the world. In one ride, you can hear so many different languages being spoken. I love walking down the street at night and looking up into the buildings. I always wonder if people are still up their working. If that building has a residence area. When I walk down Park avenue at night I wonder if people are home hosting some fabulous cocktail party on the penthouse overlooking the city. I love to see the magazine stands on the corners and the hot dog and bagel carts every few steps. The noise is like a song to me, and no, I'm not just saying that because of August Rush, it's true. All the combined noise is what makes the city so exciting. I love when the light turns green, and hundreds of people are crossing all to a different destination. It's an awesome place to people watch. And I hate the stereo type that "New Yorkers" have of being un-friendly. That is not the case.

This will be my fifth trip to the city, and I have never once experienced any un-friendliness. If anything, it's been the total opposite. I have had many conversations with "New Yorkers" on the subway. From a Julliard violin student that was making some extra money playing at a wedding at the Plaza, to a construction worker on his way home to Brooklyn after a long days work in Manhattan. Maybe it's because I'm a talker. I like to talk to people, rather than just wonder. Take the case of the violin player. Yes, I saw her walk in with her violin in tow dressed in a nice black shirt, skirts and heels. I could have just stood there and wondered where she was going, or coming from, but I wanted to know. I wanted a quick glance in her life. I would never see her again. How awesome was it to find out that she was in her second year at Julliard and that her and some of her friends played at weddings on the weekends to make some extra money. She was on her way to have dinner with her boyfriend, who also went to Julliard and was playing piano at a piano bar. Now that's what I call "city life."

One time Buddy and I had just watched the Mets play. We boarded the subway to get from Queens back to Manhattan. It was so crowded. We barely got seats. Two teenagers that looked a little on the scary New York gangster side stood right in front of us. I was nervous, and not very talkative that time. I kept looking around to the posted subway map because I was afraid to dig in my purse and grab my mini subway map. I didn't want to get mugged. One of them noticed that I kept looking at the map. He finally asked "Where are you guys going?" Oh no....why does he want to know? I'm not sure if it was Buddy or me, but we just said Times Square. Our hotel was walking distance from there. "You can get off on 42nd street." he said. Wow, I thought that was nice of him. Then, he was the talkative one. Pretty soon we found out that he and his friend lived on Staten Island, and that they still had to wait for a ferry to take them home. We learned that taking a ferry was the only way to and from Staten Island. When he asked us where we were from, we said Phoenix. He was like "Wow, that's crazy...Isn't their a lot of drive by shootings there?" Who knew? They had a "Stereo type" of the West coast. We could have explained and said "Well, we actually live in a suburb of Phoenix in a quiet neighborhood and the only drive by's we have our the Schwann's, UPS and FedEx trucks." But why ruin all the fun? Boy did I learn my lesson about stereo typing.

All in all, it was a lesson learned, you know that lesson that your parents tried to instill in you. The "You can't judge a book by it's cover." I will remember that when I go back in 10 days. I do plan on blogging while I'm away. More for my sake, because I truely love the city and I want to remember every detail. My memory isn't what it used to be anymore. And so, my official countdown to NYC begins.