Travelogue 11: What Central Park & The Met Taught Me About Perspective

Every time I return to New York, I discover something new about the city—and about myself.

This is the second time I’m writing about New York, and it continues to amaze me. For us, it feels like a second home, our children live and work here and so every visit blends family warmth with the energy of the city.

We landed from a sweltering 50°C in Dubai to a cool 20°C in New York. Each morning, I would head straight to Central Park and walk around the reservoir.

Central Park has always had a special meaning for me. As a teenager, I had a cassette of Simon & Garfunkel’s legendary Concert in Central Park—with songs like Bridge Over Troubled Water, The Sound of Silence, and Cecilia.

Walking through the park now, I understood why it’s such an essential part of New Yorkers’ lives—a place to breathe, reflect, and recharge.

After my walk, I often stopped at “Birch Coffee”. Their brew might just be the best I’ve had in the city.

Another highlight of this trip was The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Its scale is staggering : over 1.5 million works spanning 5,000 years of history. From Monet’s water lilies to Renaissance masters like Caravaggio and Titian, every gallery felt like a journey through time.

New York has a way of making every visit personal. This time, it was the quiet beauty of Central Park and the grandeur of The Met that stayed with me—reminders that in this fast moving city, there are always spaces to pause, reflect, and be inspired.

In many ways, that’s a lesson for leadership too: amidst the noise, make time to slow down, find perspective, and draw inspiration—because that’s where the real clarity comes from.