Reply #19: So a few days in one of the world's great metro areas...

[Atman]

...and you've made up your mind?

I live halfway between Boston and New York. You made the classic tourist mistake of coming to town and trying to do it in a few days. See every sight you can see. Cram it all in. That's not what any city is about. New York may have been fun for one OP only back when it was crime-ridden and seedier, but then, some still think it is too big and dangerous. That's part of the beauty of it. Seedy and touristy...your choice. Plenty for everyone in NYC. I love it, mainly because a) I don't live there full time, although I am close enough to visit in a few hours, and b) it's freakin' New York City, man!

Your impressions of NYC kind of remind me of seeing an Oscar nominated movie after the Academy Awards show, when everyone has been hyping it's greatness for weeks/months...yet, when you finally see it, it's kind of a let down. How could anything live up to the hype? NYC is so overhyped and oversold...no wonder you were somehow let down. It's a city. A bunch of buildings and shops. You can find seedy clubs, sex, drugs, rock and roll, parks, museums, galleries, food, anything you want, anything. But not all of it in just three or four days. Cut NYC some slack, eh?

I lived in Boston for a while, and my family is from the Boston 'burbs. I'm not sure what you're expecting from a city. Boston is tons of fun. But like San Francisco, LA, NYC, Chicago...it's just a city. Different buildings, different grid, different history. Dig it. Go with it. Enjoy it. Groove on it. But just don't expect so much. Any city is ultimately just a sprawling mass of concrete and steal. You have to work it.