Often asked question

Question: What will you miss most about New York City?

Answer: Hmmm ... that’s a hard one. But I would have to say the Manhattan skyline.

Manhattan has been compelled to expand skyward because of the absence of any other direction in which to grow. This, more than any other thing, is responsible for its physical majesty. It is to the nation what the white church spire is to the village--the visible symbol of aspiration and faith, the white plume saying that the way is up. The summer traveler swings in over Hell Gate Bridge and from the window of his sleeping car as it glides above the pigeon lofts and backyards of Queens looks southwest to where the morning light first strikes the steel peaks of midtown, and he sees its upward thrust unmistakable: the great walls and towers rising, the smoke rising, the heat not yet rising, the hopes and ferments of so many awakening millions rising--this vigorous spear that presses heaven hard.

--E. B. White, Here Is New York

Photo of Manhattan skyline taken at 12:25 pm on 9 December 2009 while riding the Q24 bus on the BQE (Brooklyn-Queens Expressway).