where in nyc did you live?
while i agree that what's seen on TV is vastly different than reality, i don't understand why you didn't fall in love with the city.
were you in the outer boroughs? queens, bronx -- flatbush, maybe? then i could understand. if you lived anywhere in manhattan (harlem and spanish harlem included), or in the closer BK areas (the slope, williamsburg, greenpoint), you shoulda had a good time.
nyc is vastly superior to boston.
In regards to what? Dining and Nightlife? That is true. Certainly not, Hospitals, Colleges, Schools, Cleanliness, Public transportation, Outdoor activities, crime rates, proximity to the ocean and median income. In NYC, you are either really rich or really poor. There is a lot of money in Boston and the city is far cleaner and safer than NYC. Boston has a pretty good nightlife and an exploding resteraunt scene currently. It's not anything close to what NYC has, but thats not important to me. Also, unlike NYC metro Boston has no bad areas within the major metropolitan city. There is no walking in and out of bad areas sandwitched between the good areas in Boston.
NYC is much larger than Boston, and there is so much more to do, but once you get over that (imo) it's really not that great of a place to live. Having lived in both places (and not just visited), that is my personnel opinion. Everyone is different. I value cleanliness, the ability to walk the whole city and close proximity to beach and skiing. I have been to the hamptons, and they offer nothing that the Cape and the Islands cannot provide.
