No city has ever inspired me to the same degree as New York. London is a great city (yes, Simon, great), but the buildings and the feel of the place back in 1995 when I arrived didn't arouse the same level of passion and intrigue as New York does now.
You may know that I'm a big fan of buildings; and I believe buildings contribute hugely to a city's character and "greatness". London has some great buildings, tall and otherwise. Working in Canary Wharf caused quite a bit of neck-cricking and I often just walked around the place at lunchtimes marvelling at the buildings, both complete and in progress. The original tower itself (1 Canada Square) is impressive, the Ogilvy Building (10 Cabot Square) is beautiful and the Jubilee Line Canary Wharf station is awe-inspiring - if you've not been, go. Then there's the contrast between the old and the new in the City - the Royal Exchange, the Gherkin, the NatWest tower/Tower 42 (never been that impressed myself), the Bank of England (again, overrated), the Lloyds building, St. Paul's. And there are countless others - St. Pancras Station (I hope they retain its character while they're converting it), the Globe, Tower Bridge, the list goes on.
The list of memorable buildings in New York is a lot shorter - Chrysler, Empire State, World Trade Center (as was), CitiCorp center, MetLife building, Flatiron, Grand Central Station (possibly the greatest station in the world, with the possible exception of Clapham Junction), the Brooklyn Bridge, after which you're struggling (or at least I am).
Maybe it's their physical prominence which increases their significance - I'm sure this contributes to the appeal of New York. Maybe the other attributes of the city increase the inspiration and intrigue - the fact that Manhattan is an island pretty-much fixed in size (I say pretty much due to the reclamation that's happened on the south-east); the scale and sacred nature of Central Park. Whatever it is, the city is inspiring. Looking south at night from our apartment over the skyline of midtown can't fail to trigger this - the leviathans of the GM Building, Chrysler, CitiCorp, MetLife, Empire State (left to right) in the background, with the hotels running the length of 59th Street (across the south side of Central Park) in the foreground, the traffic steaming up 10th/Amsterdam, the planes tracking the New Jersey coast as they approach Newark from the north.
I'm looking forward greatly to living and working in this phenomenal city.
