by Maria K.

Created on: May 02, 2007   Last Updated: December 05, 2008

I do not understand New York City. Mind you, that doesn't mean I dislike it. This place has many of the same elements I adore so much about Paris: tightly-knit neighborhoods, great food, interesting street vendors, incredible museums and theatres and awesome architecture. It does, however, lack the leisurely, laid-back atmosphere of Europe - everything is too fast, too frantic, too loud and too much. Unlike Europe, where people do most of their running around in the morning and during early afternoon, New York never taps its breaks, never drops below its top-speed pace. The entire city comes across as a very busy, very high-strung person, who is always five minutes away from a nervous breakdown. While people who live here don't seem to mind, I honestly do not understand how they can keep up with this city.

There is one aspect of New York that I will always be jealous of - the place is eminently walkable. Had we not had so much territory to cover in so little time, I probably would have ditched the subway altogether and just walked everywhere. The nearly-constant being on their feet is, I am convinced, what allows New Yorkers to enjoy all that fabulous food and not balloon to the size of the rest of American population. Like it or not, folks, but this is a fact - I saw a lot fewer overweight people in NYC (and they were a lot less overweight) in four days than I might see on Main Street in Kings Mountain, NC on any given day.

You would think that being in such great physical shape would automatically inspire every person in NYC to be impeccably fashionable. Not so... There are equal measures of people who do look as if they'd just stepped off the cover of Cosmopolitan or Vogue, people who look fairly ordinary and people who come across downright weird. Call me conservative, but a key lime rhinestone tunic worn with hot pink tights and black patent boots just doesn't compute with me, especially considering, how expensive some of the fashion stores are. If you have to buy something - at least buy something that looks good!

Yes, there are places, where you can build your wardrobe and not go bankrupt in the process. However, places like that need to be carefully sought out. The more popular shopping locales, such as Macy's and pretty much anything along Madison and 5th avenues will give you enough sticker shock to last a lifetime. I've learned my lesson the hard way by naively checking out a little purple silk blouse from Yves Saint Laurent for - oh, mere pittance

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