Start spreading the news… New York is THE city I feel I belong to the most. It’s really strange given I’ve never lived there …. and yet, something about the place speaks to me. I love it, and don’t know why…I see all its faults, cracks and limitations, quirkiness, ugliness and occasional heartlessness …and yet I truly and absolutely love it. The first time I went there I fell in Love with the city instantly and, at the time, put it down to its similarity to London, where I grew up and came of age. Yet, somehow, New York is more ME than London: less majestic, less historical, equally gritty but somehow, more alive. A recent trip to London made the comparison easier this time: whereas London is my first love….New York is the forbidden steamy affair! I just irrationally and inexplicably  LOVE New York. Shopping may have something to do with it. Midtown is a shopaholic’s Nirvana and during my very brief 30 hour trip I still managed an interlude to 5th Avenue…One and a half hours later I came out with a big smile on my face, one top, one pair of nice trousers, one bag and 3 pairs of shoes…. You couldn’t have enough choice for that mad spree anywhere else… So now I am enjoying my Parisian evening listening to Sinatra and musing over how cultured, elegant Paris is my home, yet New York has my superficial materialistic heart 🙂