West Village, New York.

Today was so much fun. Thank you for suggesting the expedition to the Bohemian Capital of America, The West Village, New York City!

Valentinian

Sometimes, I feel like your surrogate android visiting all these places you suggest, while you stay home and read my report. Anyway, back to the Village. It was everything you described, an urban oasis in the middle of the city, reminiscent of London but with Americans instead.

The quaint arbor shaded brownstones exuded a stately, quiet, bohemian, charm and character. Colorful and cutting edge retailers had set up shop, turning delightful historic buildings into a captivating and edgy melding of the very old, and the brand new.    

I think at this point it is time to ‘fess up and admit that you were perhaps right about me, after all. Sigh, perhaps I am just a ‘fuddy duddy,’ duddy fuddy or whatever it is. But in your eyes dammed and doomed forever to small suburban villages, on the outposts of “cool.”

Sorry! I tried tooth and nail to fight your pigeon-hole, stereo-type of my suburban inclinations, and prove that I am as BoBo as the rest of them. But as I fight my way through the sensory overload, and cacophony of noise in the city: ever present backdrop of honking horns, sirens, disparate conversations, jostling crowds, and the stop-start walking pace as I negotiate with the herds of people, I realize I don’t quite cut it.

 

It’s not that I have renounced my opium den type of rave days, and done anything as reckless as becoming “grown-up.” Heaven forbid! It’s just that I am simply not willing to compete with ten million others to live in the coolest spot.  

In the final analysis, I admit I do prefer the serenity of a natural resort, with oceans, mountains and trees and preferably both, to the over-stimulating and constantly congested choice of life in a big city.

Now, there is no question that New York is one of the coolest cities. Not only that, but it has rapidly become one of my favorite cities, next to London, Boston, and San Francisco. However, for me it’s a theme park roller-coaster ride, scream out loud, and push my senses to the max, adrenaline juice, kind of experience.  Like most theme parks, I only want a day pass of living on the edge. For the rest of the time, I will take my quiet, sedate, yoga friendly, hippie, contemplative, suburban village type haven.

Ella Quent 2010