Oh my, oh my

The Empire State Building from the Top of the Rock.

Let me say it now - I have never met a city that I have loved so much on first sight as I love New York.  I'm currently writing this from the hotel room here - it's my last evening here after a weekend of sensory overload.  I'll post a longer writeup later, but for now I wanted to share two quotes that I read years ago and squirreled away in my mind to reference back to when I finally made it here.  I didn't even make it to Grand Central but I feel like walking the streets alone has been enough to feel the value of architecture.

"New York is the city where the future comes to rehearse"
- New York City Mayor Ed Koch in 1986

“To pass through Grand Central Terminal, one of New York’s exalted public spaces, is an ennobling experience, a gift. To commute via the bowels of Penn Station, just a few blocks away, is a humiliation.  What is the value of architecture? It can be measured, culturally, humanely and historically, in the gulf between these two places.”
- Michael Kimmelman, architecture critic for The New York Times

And yes, the future certainly comes to rehearse here.  Already planning my next trip.