New York - the city of lonely hearts

A few years ago, New York was named the best city for single people. The publication Forbes has made this conclusion, taking into account the number of idle people, the level and cost of living, the possibilities for a successful career and the availability of a favorable infrastructure for leisure. But if you look at these statistics from the other side, then New York can be called the best city for creating a family. Moreover, according to the same source, the current economic recession has not reduced the activity of single New Yorkers in an effort to find their half.

Paradise for lovers

New York can be called the world of bachelors or a paradise for lovers, it all depends on the point of view. More than 4 of millions of single men and women live here, and almost two thirds of them seek to get married. Residents of the city are friendly, sociable and inclined to talk with strangers. Not for nothing the American small talk refers to one of the main features of a local character.

Try, arriving in New York, stop at a busy intersection and, expanding the map, delve into its study. Exactly in 10 seconds you will hear a friendly offer to help you in your predicament. You will not have time to answer how the other shoulder will have another kind assistant with his “exclusive” opinion on how best to walk a few blocks or find a subway station around the corner. Whether to accept an offer of help - decide for yourself. Perhaps it is better not to hurry, because even more interesting meeting is likely at the next intersection.

To be honest, locals rarely meet on the street - more often in the office, at a party with friends or on the Internet. A few years ago, a meeting in a bar could mark the beginning of a romantic story, but now online dating predominates. This is the spirit of the times, especially since the meeting is only the beginning of your journey together, short or long, but certainly unique.

In New York, this joint journey can be unusually diverse, romantic and entertaining. Traveling to the ideal places for lovers, you can not notice how the years fly by, and, once having jumped along with your “only” favorite cafe, you will meet your grown-up son at a nearby table in the company of a beautiful stranger. The city does not allow you to think about age, it just does not have time, so much you need to catch, see and feel.

Romance in the sky

In New York, many legendary places that have become symbols of the capital of the world, but not everyone knows that many of them have secrets that give them true charm. For example, Times Square is a sparkling intersection in the heart of Manhattan. Everyone, coming to New York, will definitely visit him. But not everyone will go to the Marriott hotel and, taking a high-speed transparent elevator to the 48 floor, sit down at the table of the revolving restaurant The View. After all, this place is not known to all. Soft lighting, pleasant music, original cocktails and delicious food will complement the extraordinary pleasure of the fantastic panorama of the night city.

In just an hour, and that is exactly the total rotation around the axis, you can see all the skyscrapers of the metropolis and even look into the state of New Jersey, which is located on the opposite bank of the Hudson. This restaurant has long been popular among young people, and not one girl's heart sank when she was invited to spend the evening in The View. Because it is here that New Yorkers love to make a marriage proposal.

Apparently, it so happened that the indigenous people choose a dizzying height for the decisive step. Spending sun on the 86 floor of the Empire State Building is also considered a lucky omen for lovers. When a fireball, hovering above the horizon, colors the mirror walls of skyscrapers with golden-pink light, and thousands of multicolored glare fireworks scatter through the narrow streets of Manhattan, when it seems that the city at your feet flashes magical fire, you need to get a little ring, and at that moment The last ray of the sun reflected in the eyes of his beloved, utter the cherished words It is authentically known that not a single lover was refused, standing on top of the main skyscraper of New York.

Music of love and Russian motives

It must be admitted that New Yorkers are very sentimental, romantic and responsive, although they often try to hide it. I did not see here a single concert or theater performance where the public would not welcome standing artists. The shouts of “bravo” and stormy ovations testify, of course, to the high skill of the performers, but the good hearts of the audience are always open to the beauty.

Historically, New York has not been characterized by the usual harmony of the cityscape - it is not surprising that the world of beauty and art has centered around Central Park. It was he who became the axis around which the life of the city revolves, at least life associated with beauty.

Concert halls, theaters, museums, magnificent houses and gourmet restaurants - isn't this a wonderful world for lovers ?! What better music can bring hearts together and unite souls?

Not far from the revolving restaurant in Times Square, two blocks from Central Park is Carnegie Hall - America’s main philharmonic hall, erected by the “steel king” and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie in 1889 – 1891.

Interestingly, Peter Tchaikovsky was invited to conduct the opening of a new concert hall. Later, Antonin Dvorak, Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss, Sviatoslav Richter, Anton Rubinstein, George Gershwin, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong and many others, including the Beatles, performed in a building styled as an Italian palace of the early Renaissance.

But not only Tchaikovsky recalls in this area about the close connection of New York with Russian culture. Next to Carnegie Hall is the famous Russian Tea Room restaurant, opened in 1927 by former artists of the Mariinsky Imperial Theater as a meeting place for post-revolutionary émigrés. Gradually, the institution became very popular among Americans and turned into a sort of “la rus”, far from the true national roots. In 2002, it was closed and only in 2006 it resumed its work, replacing three owners in four years and becoming even more expensive and popular.

A short walk in the direction of the theater Broadway will lead you to another famous restaurant "Russian Samovar". This place, unlike the previous one, has preserved both the Russian owner and the staff, as well as the national cuisine. For a long time, his co-owner was the famous dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov. Joseph Brodsky, who loved to spend evenings with friends, did a lot for this establishment. The walls are heavily hung with autographed photographs of famous regulars. It seems that all the loud and glorious names of Soviet and Russian culture are recorded in the visitors' book: Vysotsky, Yevtushenko, Rozhdestvensky, Akhmadullina, Khvorostovsky and many others.

Photo: Tatiana Borodina

And now, after a performance at the Metropolitan Opera, actors often gather here and arrange a “concert after the concert,” performing arias and accompanying themselves on the piano and violin. Music will continue to guide you around the city. On the west side of Central Park is the Dakota, a beautiful old apartment building that was home to one of the most romantic couples of the 1980th century, John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Their happiest years passed here, and here in XNUMX John Lennon was killed at the door of his home. In Central Park, right across from the Dakota, Yoko Ono created an unusual memorial in memory of their love. There are always a lot of people, flowers and music around the “Strawberry Glade” - a small circle laid out in mosaics right on the asphalt of the alley.

The Beatles belong to New York just as much as the UK. It was here that John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Star turned from popular singers into a living legend when they first came to America in 1965. 55 of thousands of spectators (a quantity unprecedented in those times) gathered in the New York stadium “Shay” to listen to famous musicians. The success was enormous.

After 45 years, the newspapers will call this concert a historical one, which shaped an entire generation and radically changed the world.

Stone jungle or paradise

Central Park, created in the middle of the XIX century, can be called an oasis of calm and love in the city of insane rhythm. It attracts people with a romantic aura, elegant style and natural beauty of nature. And it is not surprising, because this rectangular green array, 4 km long and 800 meters wide, is designed in such a way that, once here, you immediately forget that you are in the middle of a densely populated city, in a dense ring of huge houses. It is easy to get lost among the winding alleys, giant trees and stone labyrinths.

The saxophone solo is the voice of Central Park. Walking here recently, I counted six saxophonists playing in different corners of it and not interfering with each other. There are forty completely different bridges in the park: from rough ones made from local slate, stylized as castle ruins, to lacy metal ones, arching their backs like black cats frightened by a midnight passerby. They take you away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life inland to the beautiful Belvedere Castle, built in 1865, to lakes on which small boats glide, to coastal restaurants overlooking “little Venice.”

An evening skating rink flooded with bright light or an outdoor theater with annual summer productions of Shakespeare's plays, free concerts of world opera virtuosos on Bolshaya Polyana right under the starry sky - isn't all this created for love? The carriages pulled by beautiful, well-groomed horses look completely organic and not touristy. They can add variety to your exploration of the park and take you to the eastern side of the park to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a grand collection of paintings and sculpture. The permanent exhibition contains more than two million works of art and spans more than two million square feet. But this world-famous building also has its own little romantic secrets. For example, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor roof garden is a charming Irish cafe in the sculpture garden on the roof of the museum. From here you can enjoy an extraordinary panorama of the park combined with exquisite sculptures in the rays of the setting sun, and light snacks and drinks will give you strength for a further walk through the ideal places for lovers.

Legendary times

It’s impossible to leave the Museum Mile without looking at another great place. Unique to New York Palace, which is located five blocks from the Metropolitan Museum on 71-th street. The house was built in 1914 for the family of the king of the coal and steel industry Henry Clay Frick (1849-1919). Coming from a poor American family, by the 30 years he had independently earned the first million and laid the foundation of his steel-making empire. But he became famous not only for this.

The main work of his life was the creation of a collection of paintings. They are kept in his house, which in 1935, according to his will, was turned into a museum and called the “Frick Collection”. In the world of private collections of old Western European painting, it is considered one of the best. It features many great masters - from Cimabue, Piero de la Francesco, El Greco, Goya and Raphael to Picasso and Poussin.

A masterpiece is not only each of the works exhibited in the museum, but also the building itself. It was built according to the project of architect Thomas Hastings as a residential palace-house in the style of European palaces of the 18th century and amazes not only with luxury, but also with harmonious harmonious beauty, delicate taste, rich imagination of the architect and customer, who contributed a lot of his own ideas to the project. Each room is attractive in its own way, each with a unique style and design, a strictly thought-out collection of paintings, sculptural compositions, rare furniture, vases, antique bronze. There is nothing accidental. And one more feature - a certain intimate atmosphere of rooms, galleries, winter garden. Here you feel more like a guest at the hospitable host than in the halls of the museum.

Much in New York reminds of the legendary times of the late XIX - early XX century, about strong personalities, grandiose projects, dizzying accomplishments and great tragedies. One of these unforgettable catastrophes of the century was the death of the Titanic. This tragic event, fanned by an aura of romance and mystery, is perceived as a symbol of the era when the world entered an era of intensive technical progress. The ship, an engineering miracle of that time, which left the British port, did not come to New York.

But the city waits and remembers it still. One of the local museums offers dive into the liner short story. To look at the unique collection of artifacts from the Titanic, you need to buy the exact same ticket as the ones that were tested on the 10 port of April 1912 of the Southampton port of XNUMX. Each visitor will become not just a visitor, but also a passenger. The tickets show the names and cabin numbers of those who actually sailed on the ship. Only after going through the whole exhibition, you can find out whether you survived or turned out to be among a thousand and a half dead. Approaching the end point of the excursion, where you learn about the fate of the passenger, whose ticket you hold in your hands, you catch yourself on the fact that your heart is pounding stronger, and your hands get a little cold, because your destinies touched for a moment.

Spring for lovers

The gray New York winter has passed; the city is shrouded in a delicate pink and white haze of flowering trees. At other times of the year it is impossible to imagine how many of them there are in New York. The happy time has come for serene walks through the ancient places of the city, the history of which began 400 years ago. The narrow streets of Lower Manhattan are the perfect place for lovers. Houses from the beginning of the last century evoke a romantic mood, and small cozy restaurants are so good that they can threaten the slimness of your figure. Still, you shouldn’t miss the chance to taste delicious food in a new place.

Photo: Tatiana Borodina

Let's go to Stone Street, which got its name back in 1656, when New York was called New Amsterdam. True, not a single building of the XVII century was left on it, but on the other hand, it has retained its historical atmosphere, and, moreover, there is a restaurant in each house. All of them are worthy of attention in terms of kitchen quality, service and interior. But it is especially interesting to go to Ulysses Folk House, it is distinguished by its brunches for a moderate fixed fee, here you can try all the dishes from the restaurant’s long menu, including oysters, roast pig, dozens of fine cheeses, 20 cakes and pastries, even one alcoholic drink .

And finally, in order not to forget that New York is a modern city, in which something new happens every day, I’ll tell you a secret that a bar has opened on 37th Street, not far from 5th Avenue in the style of Sex and the City. Lydia Marx, the set designer for the world-famous series, designed it on the roof of the Strand Hotel in the Garment district. The view from there worthy expands the list of the most beautiful panoramas of the city. The beauty of this bar is that it is still known to few, but is already loved by connoisseurs. Well, another ideal place for lovers has been added, which means that the path that the two of them have to go through can become even more pleasant, joyful and romantic.

Read also on ForumDaily:

Brightness and poverty Brighton Beach: how the legendary "Little Odessa" lives

New York's top museums for kids

Top 10 Free Entertainment in New York

New York's top 10 restaurants with breathtaking views

Go to the page ForumDaily on Facebook to keep abreast of the latest news and comment material. Also follow the social network for events in your city - Miami, New York и San Francisco Bay Area.