-
Photos
Archives
Categories
- Beginnings (6)
- Development (6)
- Diary (9)
- Family (3)
- HTML/CSS (1)
- Human Being (1)
- Implications (2)
- Industry (3)
- Life (60)
- Philosophy (27)
- Politics (6)
- Pop culture (7)
- Thoughts (8)
- Travel (48)
- Web (6)
-
New York, New York
- del.ico.us
- digg this!
- Last edited: 11:03, Jun 27 2007
- Skip to comments (12)
If I lived at the time of the Roman Empire I would have visited Rome. In the age of the American Empire I am visiting New York, and so far I am impressed. New York city is the real centre of the universe - even the billboard at Times Square said so.
Bright lights, big city. Broadway and skyscrapers. Central Park, the Statue of Liberty and more museums, art gallerys and festivals than you can shake a stick at. Oh my god has this city got so much to offer.
Lets start with a parable; I tried to buy a bagel the other morning for breakfast. I was standing in line trying to figure out which flavour would complete my perfect New York bagel experience, it had to be ‘just right’. I balked at the chalkboard price of $9.50 US for one but because there was so much information I nearly missed the cheaper priced bagels. By the time I had figured out which bagel I wanted I had been pushed in front of in the queue and had to wait five minutes longer. I did get my bagel in the end.
The amount of things to do in New York is daunting. Upon landing and realising the size of the city, fear immediately kicked in. If I did’t know everything right now, I might miss the truly spectacular event that would have been the most amazing thing to have happened on my trip so far, because there are so many amazing things happening here all of the time, and if only I had known about that particular amazing thing earlier than too late. I tried to become a sponge and absorb as much information as I could, only to have the city smother me back. Planning is so hard when someone has this knowledge of something really cool to do, or this newspaper says this show is on tonight, or that festival starts on that day, or this walk in the park stumbles upon another free jazz concert after yesterdays free Shakespeare. When will the world just stop or slow down!!!! [After I leave… right]
So I and other intrepid travellers swallow our fears and step out into that big-wide New York where the large skyscrapers seem so small because they are dwarfed by the even larger skyscrapers…
Geography
Before coming here I didn’t really understand New York’s geography. New York is basically made up of four boroughs: Manhattan Island, The Bronx, Brooklyn, and Statten Island Queens. Jersey City which is right next to New York is actually in New Jersey, a different state altogether. The New York of most movies is really Manhattan. Because of it’s condensed nature, it is possible to walk anywhere within Manhattan. You wouldn’t necessarily do it but it is possible, where as it is impossible to walk most places in L.A. or London. The public transport system is so good that mixing it up with walking makes travel sans-car far easier, quicker and cheaper.
New Yorkers: culture, attitude and crime
New York’s population, like any other large metropolitan city is diverse. According to my upbringing of TV and pop-culture stereotypes I was expecting three things when I got here: a fast-pace, rudeness, and to feel unsafe. As with all stereotypes, and especially ones applied to a multicultural city of 16 million people the fit isn’t exactly perfect.
The pace here is quicker than anywhere I have visited. Pedestrians step out en-masse in front of oncoming traffic much to the anxiety of drivers who themselves are pushing through pedestrians at great speeds. If you hesitate in a store when trying to make a purchasing decision, or even just trying to fit as many things into a day as possible, it becomes incredibly frustrating for parties concerned. And never mind working here, I can only assume that people who do a forty hour plus week do all of their activities at night, which would go some way to explaining why everything stays open until 8pm or later. I don’t find New York claustrophobic - the avenues are wide, it is easy to get to the waterfront and have a spectacular view and there are parks and squares everywhere. In Central Park even though there is something or someone around every corner it is still a large peaceful respite in the heart of the city. 
People still rush around on bikes, rollerblades and shanks’ ponies but there are large tracts of space where one can just sit and let the mind relax.
I have encountered few incidents of real rudeness - although New Yorkers do tend to be curt. I think time is a valuable resource to the average New Yorker and I get the impression that they maximise that time by making their everyday conversations blunt. People readily offer directions if you look lost. They will tell you the correct answer once and then look pissed off if you don’t understand and they have to tell you again. Shopkeepers can get angry if you hesitate or are unsure. I witnessed an Israeli friend trying to ask questions regarding laptop prices. Between him and the Italian shopkeeper they had difficulty in understanding each other, so the shopkeeper said to him ‘what are you stupid’, turned to me and affirmed his remark, to which Roy and I left - way to make a sale. On a whole, incidents like that probably happen more in New York than other cities, but that doesn’t make all New Yorkers rude.
New York crime has been cleaned up in the past 10 years. I haven’t once felt as unsafe here as I did in parts of San Francisco, and San Fran wasn’t too bad. Depending on who you ask, ex-mayor Giuliani is responsible for the reduction in crime, crime was reducing regardless of him and he is a bastard, or he was the right man at the right time and facilitated the lowering of what was already decreasing. Obviously it is a large city: stay out of certain neighbourhoods, don’t wander around at stupid times in the morning, keep your wallet from view and so forth.
teen anal cum asian shemale teen bisexuals black Tgirl big tits hot celebrity Adult dating tutorial PS2 Wireless Carriers Shop free porn buy viagra online online pharmacy cialis soft tabs compare levitra and levitra herbal cialis reviews cheapest viagra uk free porn hairy castro huge dick creampie Hot Black Girls Sex videos sexy big tits jump up down bounce busty melons fucking free full porn shemale free porn tits Mature movies generic xanax india purchase generic oxazepam buy cialis on line tenuate on line generic zyban online pharmacy Atehexal diazepam and woman lorazepam on line uk cheap valium find herbal klipal substitute rx pills tramadol money order ed pharmacy viagra cheap buy levitra on line