Even if her splendor and magnificence is strikingly obvious
New York is also an endless labyrinth of dark secrets.
There's a myriad of underground bars, clubs, hangabouts
and layers upon layers of worlds within her world.

I'm fortunate to be looked after
by warm and loving Swedes
who's been here more than ten years
and had plenty of time to venture
beneath the city's surface.





They lead me through back alleys
and enter some restaurant from the street.
But instead of stopping we go through the busy kitchen
and down some scruffy looking stairs.
We step out on a small courtyard.
There's a painting on the wall saying "Please be quiet."
We go through another small door in the building
just to suddenly find ourselves
in a perfectly secluded and private club.




Even though they go with the flow
my friends here are no extreme party people.
They got direction and focus in their lives.
It's clearly important to know who you are
and where you want to be in life,
because in its charming and intoxicating decadence
NYC is simply limitless.
So unless we draw limits and set boundaries for ourselves
we'll be quickly drifting down a rabbithole so deep
there'll be no way back.



Whatever your vice is
it's here for you any time of day.
Whatever your pleasure and addiction,
you could be indulging in it eight days a week.
So even if the city is generous and allowing,
It's essential to stay true to ones soul
and set some clear boundaries.
Or you'll wake up one day with patterns and habits
you didn't see coming
and never thought you'd have.