'All men in New York insult you - there seem to be no exceptions. There are exceptions of course … but they are probably dead."
These are the words of Mark Twain but they might have been mine. On past trips to New York, I've been pushed out of taxi queues, blanked when I've asked directions, and roared at when I skated (if that's the right word for my shuffling style) the wrong way around the ice rink.
But on a recent weekend visit to see the famous Radio City Christmas Spectacular, all had changed utterly. Directions? No problem; ask one person and soon you've a crowd willing to help. On one occasion, when I couldn't find a certain street, a dapper passer-by (complete with pooch) said "Cranberry Street? Let's Google it, shall we?"
Within seconds, he had his BlackBerry out and was able to tell me all. With a smile.
The best experience, though, was on the skating rink in Central Park - yes, I was going the wrong way again. But this time an attendant skated up to me and politely explained the one-way system.
I said I needed a wall to hold on to and there was no wall once I had gone a certain distance.
He told me I wouldn't need any support if I followed his instructions which were "head up , knees bent and arms out" - and he proceeded to skate with me until I had (semi) mastered it. Then he bowed and skated away.
While the courtesy was an added bonus, we enjoyed all the other usual things that make New York great.
We stayed in the New York Hilton, right in the thick of things, within walking distance of Radio City, Central Park, the Rockefeller Centre, the great department stores and MoMA.
There's also a brilliant exhibition in MoMA at the moment called Van Gogh and the Colours of the Night. It's not big - something like 39 paintings on view - but all really dark and broody. Of course, the show includes Starry Night but also many other rarely seen pictures, such as The Potato Eaters.
Another great (free) experience was the Chanel Exhibition in Central Park. It's a most extraordinary space-ship-like space, devised by Zaha Hadid, the Iraqi-born architect, and in it is the work of seven artists' interpretations of Chanel's iconic 2.55 bag (so named because Coco came up with the design in February 1955). The exhibits are whacky, but the whole thing is a real Chanel experience, with even the security men dressed in the label's jackets.
Entry is also free to the new Irish Hunger Memorial in the business district in Lower Manhattan. From one side, it appears like any other shiny-walled, ultra-modern structure, but from the other it's as if a chunk of scutchy Connemara field was lifted straight out of the ground and planted in Manhattan.
The Hunger Memorial is next to Ground Zero. You have to hand it to the Yanks: another, taller building is being built there and it's due to open on September 11, 2011. Maybe their spirit of survival is behind their new energy.
There's no energy like the energy on the stage of the gorgeous Art Deco Radio City Music Hall, where the legendary Rockettes perform six shows a day, seven days a week, from the beginning of November until the end of December. For those who've never come across them before, the Rockettes are a dance troupe which has entertained more than 65 million people over the past 76 years.
It's like panto, Riverdance and Star Wars rolled into one scintillating show. Each performance lasts exactly 90 minutes and into that hour and a half are packed scenes and dance routines built around every possible Christmas theme, including the nativity, complete with live camels donkeys and goats.
There's also Santa, his reindeer and his sleigh, the Parade of the Wooden Soldiers, and the Nutcracker Suite. There are even scenes with life-size New York buses.
During each show, each of these extraordinary performers throws several hundred kicks. They also change costumes for every scene - changes they have to execute in 80 seconds per change.
The costumes and sets are superb, but the synchronised dancing is mesmerising. You begin to try to spot a leg out of place, but never do. It's a must-see for the whole family - Sunday Independent
