I have always been in love with big city skylines, especially skycrapers, and building architecture in general for as long as I can remember. As a child I used to check out books from the library about skyscrapers, and from a very young age I dreamed of going to New York City – especially for my honeymoon.
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| 3,000 pcs. – New York City – Educa |
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| 1,500 pcs. – New York City – Ravensburger |
Of course what I didn’t know growing up is that I would eventually meet and marry an amazing man who was born and raised in New York (Long Island), and would have absolutely no desire to go to New York City for a honeymoon when he had been there countless times throughout his entire life. So, even though I was slightly disappointed that he didn’t want to go there when we got married in November, 2004, I think we made an even better choice in honeymoon destinations — Italy! 🙂
A couple of years later, I finally got my opportunity to go to New York City for the first time, and I was elated. It was definitely a dream come true, and I literally jumped up and down with excitement as we walked out of our hotel room in Times Square and began taking in all the sights, smells and noise that is NYC.
So, due to that lifelong interest in skyscrapers and building architecture, I guess it’s no surprise that my most favorite jigsaw puzzles to do are those of city skylines, unusual / famous buildings, and even some architectural ruins. The second largest puzzle I had ever done, before starting the Life puzzle, was a 2,000 piece scene of the Las Vegas Strip with all the beautiful and colorful hotels flanking both sides of the street. I loved it.
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| 18,000 pcs. – Skylines of the World – Ravensburger |
Since then, I have purchased two Neuschwanstein Castle puzzles and two of the New York City skyline. I am very much looking forward to doing the New York City ones in preparation for two VERY large city skyline based puzzles. The first one, Ravensburger’s 18,000 piece Skylines of the World puzzle is one that I fell in love with from the moment I first saw it. It is made up of four large puzzles of some of the world’s most famous cities (New York, San Francisco, Sydney, and Singapore).
It is held together with a solid blue border that looks rather daunting. It is no longer in print and hard to come by at a reasonable price on ebay, but I keep looking. I am hoping to find a new or very good used condition copy for less than $200 someday.
Several members of my flickr puzzle group have put this one together and say it’s a lot of fun. I surely hope to find out for myself at some point.
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| 32,000 pcs. – New York City Window – Ravensburger |
The other large New York City based puzzle I’m after is one that just got released a few weeks ago in the US. It is a whopping 32,000+ piece puzzle entitled New York City Window. I have been drooling over this puzzle ever since the announcement was made back in January that it would be released in September of this year. I would have preferred a more typical skyline photograph taken from across the Brooklyn Bridge or a more dusk lighting photo, but I won’t complain. This one is going to be so much fun to put together anyway. I cannot wait to get my hands on it. I plan to try and save up a bunch of Amazon.com gift cards I’ve gotten so that I can pay for it and not make Randy upset that I’m spending a lot of money on another large puzzle. But, I have to do this one! Hee hee