(no subject)
Notes on NYC:
- people are nicer than is commonly believed. And helpful. Especially on the subway.
- the NY subway is totally different from the DC metro. You can eat without people tackling you, and there are no signs to let you know when the trains are arriving. The system is also way more complex - its color coded, but for some reason they assign letters to the lines instead of just going with the colors on the maps. But the trains are really, really fast.
- it was just as dirty as I expected. And there was a TON of gum on the sidewalks.
- there are actually cabs! and cops!
- there is a shit ton of neon, something we don't have much of in DC
- from the ground, its not nearly as pretty as DC. The building are too tall for it to be pretty. Too much glass and concrete.
- however, its gorgeous from the top of the Rockefeller center
- you have to pay to get into museums. I'm not too cool with that. I'm used to free museumage. But, the entire Smithsonian Natural History Museum could probably fit in one floor of the American one. Seriously, the place was huge. We were only able to do a floor and a half.
- the Statue of Liberty is much smaller than you think, and father away
- there is a crazy string instrument man in ever subway system in the US
- Sooooo much commercialism
- in the walking we did, there was ONE Starbucks. As opposed to that section of China Town at home where there are 3 or 4 within a 1 block radius
- there was a Dominican Republic parade
- you aren't allowed in as much of St Patrick's Cathedral as you are at the National Cathedral
- the street vendors actually smell pretty good
- the museum had a really good cafe
- lol there was this panhandler guy who had a cardboard sign that said "I had an affair with Hilary Clinton and now look where I am"
- Grand Central Station is disappointing in terms of architecture, unless I just went in from the wrong street
- the elevator up to the top of the Rockefellar Center (67 floors) takes less than a minute. Crazy.
Honestly, it was an ok city. It was interesting, but not as open and pretty(?) - by that I think I mean "having green things" - as DC, and not as quirky as San Francisco, and it didn't even appeal to me quite as much as Atlanta, but its been probably 4 years since I was there. It was too big, too busy, too much concrete and glass and commercialism. The buildings were too tall to see sky or anything else, and I find that a bit depressing. It would definitely make an interesting place to spend touring for a week, but I honestly would never want to live there.
It does make me want to explore more big cities though. I like suburban/urban areas, as long as there's green. I'd like to hit Philly again since I only went in 6th grade, and I wouldn't mind checking out Indy again.Or maybe Columbus, OH. I only went there in the middle of winter, which was a bad decision, but not really under my control. Or Charlotte maybe. Definitely Boston. Would also like to try Toronto. Maybe Seattle & Portland if I get out that way. Vegas. But I REALLY love San Francisco.
And for some reason I REALLY wanted to watch Cloverfield or some other disaster movie set in NY.
Who knows, maybe Chelsea or Greenwich Village would be more my speed rather than midtown/uptown Manhattan.
- people are nicer than is commonly believed. And helpful. Especially on the subway.
- the NY subway is totally different from the DC metro. You can eat without people tackling you, and there are no signs to let you know when the trains are arriving. The system is also way more complex - its color coded, but for some reason they assign letters to the lines instead of just going with the colors on the maps. But the trains are really, really fast.
- it was just as dirty as I expected. And there was a TON of gum on the sidewalks.
- there are actually cabs! and cops!
- there is a shit ton of neon, something we don't have much of in DC
- from the ground, its not nearly as pretty as DC. The building are too tall for it to be pretty. Too much glass and concrete.
- however, its gorgeous from the top of the Rockefeller center
- you have to pay to get into museums. I'm not too cool with that. I'm used to free museumage. But, the entire Smithsonian Natural History Museum could probably fit in one floor of the American one. Seriously, the place was huge. We were only able to do a floor and a half.
- the Statue of Liberty is much smaller than you think, and father away
- there is a crazy string instrument man in ever subway system in the US
- Sooooo much commercialism
- in the walking we did, there was ONE Starbucks. As opposed to that section of China Town at home where there are 3 or 4 within a 1 block radius
- there was a Dominican Republic parade
- you aren't allowed in as much of St Patrick's Cathedral as you are at the National Cathedral
- the street vendors actually smell pretty good
- the museum had a really good cafe
- lol there was this panhandler guy who had a cardboard sign that said "I had an affair with Hilary Clinton and now look where I am"
- Grand Central Station is disappointing in terms of architecture, unless I just went in from the wrong street
- the elevator up to the top of the Rockefellar Center (67 floors) takes less than a minute. Crazy.
Honestly, it was an ok city. It was interesting, but not as open and pretty(?) - by that I think I mean "having green things" - as DC, and not as quirky as San Francisco, and it didn't even appeal to me quite as much as Atlanta, but its been probably 4 years since I was there. It was too big, too busy, too much concrete and glass and commercialism. The buildings were too tall to see sky or anything else, and I find that a bit depressing. It would definitely make an interesting place to spend touring for a week, but I honestly would never want to live there.
It does make me want to explore more big cities though. I like suburban/urban areas, as long as there's green. I'd like to hit Philly again since I only went in 6th grade, and I wouldn't mind checking out Indy again.Or maybe Columbus, OH. I only went there in the middle of winter, which was a bad decision, but not really under my control. Or Charlotte maybe. Definitely Boston. Would also like to try Toronto. Maybe Seattle & Portland if I get out that way. Vegas. But I REALLY love San Francisco.
And for some reason I REALLY wanted to watch Cloverfield or some other disaster movie set in NY.
Who knows, maybe Chelsea or Greenwich Village would be more my speed rather than midtown/uptown Manhattan.