The city they are visiting is different from the city New Yorkers live in, even different from the city as experienced by other tourists. But it is also nothing like the one experienced by the untold thousands of sailors in untold thousands of ships who have come before them over the decades.
Once it was strip clubs and bars and tattoo parlors and girls. And while there still may be some of that, sailors who sauntered around Midtown on Memorial Day gave some surprising answers when asked how they experience New York City in the two or three short days they are here.
They mentioned frozen cappuccinos, and Off Broadway, and the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art, and architecture — specifically, terra cotta facades.
In the past, I'm sure that there have been sailors who have indulged themselves in some of the finer aspects of New York City-even in the seedy days. That may even be more the case today with the increased access most people have to "culture." But I've known many a soldier, and the salty side is still there. If the Times needs to envision all sailors as metrosexuals, good for them. It's nice to see this side of the military, even if I know that there is still plenty of trouble being found by the young and single sailors.
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