New York is the great mythic presence of our imaginations. It is a city of many moods. It is a giant character that we all live in the shadow of. It can be a city of cold clarity and a romantic and nostalgic metropolis. It is a small city of individual stories and a giant of money. It is a city of ethnic enclaves and hipster havens. A city of commerce and art. New York is the stuff of life. It is the city that has made sleep useless.

Everyone wants to be a part of it, New York New York. (Image: NYCGO)

Manhattan, bathed in promise, stretched out below you. (Image: Sam Valadi, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr)

Glittering crowds and shimmering clouds at the Cyclones baseball stadium in Brooklyn. (Image: Yelp Inc., CC BY-NC-ND 2.0, via Flickr)

The iconic Flatiron Building on 23rd and 5th was one of the first skyscrapers in a city famous for its high rise canyons. (Image: Daniel Mennerich, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0, via Flickr)

When Broadway says goodnight, it’s early in the morning. (Image: Kevin Poh, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr)

St Pauls Chapel in New York City, the city has a bounty of places to worship. (Image: Travis Wise, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr)

Leave Manhattan and head to Queens, the most ethnically diverse neighbourhood in the world. (Image: Brad Clinesmith, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Flickr)

The site of the 1964 Worlds Expo in Queens, also the location for the climax of Men In Black. (Image: Nathan Boltseridge, CC BY-NC 2.0, via Flickr)

Manhattan from the beach on Staten Island. (Image: Mariano Mantel, CC BY-NC 2.0, via Flckr)

This is the original, Nathan’s hot dog stand in Coney Island. (Image: Adam Kuban, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0, via Flickr)

The city is a city of monuments. The Gay Liberation Monument in Christopher Park, Manhattan. (Image: Ted Eytan, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Flickr)

The Central Park memorial to John Lennon is a pilgrimage site for fans of the Beatle, who was gunned down at his apartment across from the Park. (Image: Simon, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr)

The most sombre of New York memorials, the 9/11 Memorial at Ground Zero. (Image: Stephen Wepler, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0, via Flickr)

The Lullwater Bridge in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, the bigger less well known of the city’s parks. (Image: Phil Roeder, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr)

The annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is the best known of the city’s many parades. (Image: Peter Roan, CC BY-NC 2.0, via Flickr)

There also parades celebrating, among others, veterans, New Yorkers of West Indian descent and mermaids.