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I made my first trip to the Big Apple over the weekend. It was a very quick trip - less than 24 hours total, with a side trip to New Jersey, so I didn't have much time to form a full and informed opinion. I will say, however, that without a doubt I absolutely prefer Boston to NYC.

First impressions - it was hot, humid, dirty, and crowded - worse than Disney World on Christmas crowded! The entire area around Times Square was just wall to wall people, mostly tourists. I thought people in New York were supposed to walk fast, but these were your garden variety, Kodak toting, aimlessly wandering tourists. Crossing the streets entailed doing awkward two-step over and over and over because you were just walking into a wall of people.

Don't get me wrong, I love to interact with people from different cultures and backgrounds. But it seemed on every corner in NYC there was a different freak show going on. For instance, while standing at a crosswalk near Times Square (which in reality is an unimpressive bunch of big screen tvs showing ads), the Naked Cowboy was standing right behind me. I don't know about you, but a man strolling the street wearing only his hat, boots, and tighty-whiteys is just not my cup of tea. Boston is just as interesting a city, minus the totally batty people. Add in the disgusting hot, humid weather and I was less than smitten with the city.

Enough whining, onto the fun parts. The real purpose of my trip was to see Paul McCartney, or Sir Paul as I like to call him, at Yankee (blech) Stadium with Andrew, one of my best friends from undergrad. Luckily, two of my old BU roommates who live outside NYC were able to come into the city for the day and meet us for lunch. We had lunch at the Hard Rock (which was good, even if the waitress was a total moonbat who was probably stoned). We spent about two hours catching up and laughing away, picking up right where we left off. Only being able to see friends a few times a year, as opposed to almost every day, is one of the yuckier things about post-grad life.

After lunch, Sam and Bre headed off to get their respective trains so Andrew and I wandered the city some more. We headed up to Central Park, where we saw Sheep Meadow (inside joke) and Strawberry Fields, where the memorial to John Lennon is. The beautiful memorial is part of a larger peace garden and is right near the Dakota Apartments, where John was killed. As Andrew and I are both big Beatles fans, it was a special place to visit before heading to see Sir Paul.

We then, after some more "meandering" through the park (thank goodness for iPhones, what with their handy internet and compasses) heading up to the Bronx for the show. Though I am a die hard Red Sox fan, I will hand it to the Yankees - they have a very nice stadium. Clean, spacious, modern, and surprisingly orderly. We had nice seats up along the third base line/left field area. The concert was amazing. Andrew and I saw Paul two years ago when he played Fenway Park in Boston, and this show did not disappoint. Billy Joel even came out and sang "When I Saw Her Standing There" during the encore! It was a wonderful night, with wonderful company, wonderful weather, and a wonderful musical legend.

We then headed back to Andrew's house in New Jersey for the night, complete with a commuter rail car full of drunk Joisy people. After a lovely breakfast it was time to head back up to NYC to catch the bus back to Boston. I'm sure New York is a lovely place to visit when the weather is better and there aren't quite as many tourists (perhaps I'd be better off going in the fall), but I'd never want to live there. Boston, you're my home.