I lived in New York State as a boy, not too far north of NYC. I wish I remembered my first real view of the city, that "fresh eyes" view. But even on my return trips, now old enough to appreciate it, I've found it to be too big to take in, in that all-encompassing way. I don't mean it's too big to enjoy or love...just too big to even pretend to "take it all in."
Of the cities I've seen (and make no mistake, it's not all that many, lol), the one that made the biggest first impression on me was San Francisco. Riding in my parents' car as we come from Marin, emerging from the tunnel to see the sudden vista from on high, the Golden Gate Bridge, downtown, the Ferry Building, the Palace of Fine Arts, the TransAmerica Building, Coit Tower, the Presidio, with the Bay stretched out to our left and the Pacific Ocean disappearing off the edge of the earth on our right...glorious.
That, too, isn't a view of the "whole city", not by a long shot, but perhaps its from that height and at that age that I could imagine it so.
(EDIT: I've also had the sickening feeling seeing San Francisco from my perch up in the Berkley hills after the Loma Prieta earthquake. To look out across the Bay at night and see, instead of a bright, bustling city...blackness. Eerie.)
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