New York
Facts one needs to know when coming to New York:
1) It's full of manhatters. about 7 million of them.
2) Geography: there are 5 boroughs in New York City:
-The Bronx (the only one on New York Sate mainland),
-Queens and Brooklyn on the western edge of Long Island, outside the state of Long Island though.
-Staten Island, named after the famous Ferry from Manhattan to.... Staten Island, off the Coast of New Jersey.
-Manhattan: an Island south of the Bronx, and west of Queens and Brooklyn. In the late 1600/early 1700 some cute Dutch guy bought it from the indians for about 60 Euros and a bottle of Whiskey (must have been Irish). Good placement! I guess it beats your average Dow Jones! The Island is about 9 miles long North-South and 3 miles wide East-West. Streets go East-West (their numbering increase when going north) and Avenues go North-South (their numbering increase when going west). Once you know this you can't get lost. unless you don't know how to count... Broadway is the only diagonal avenue. It corresponds to the old Indian path, a meadow that used to run the whole length of the island. Manhattan itself is divided more or less in 3 parts:
The north, aka Harlem..
Midtown, with its own skyline, the Empire State Building, Central Park, Rockefeller Center, Macy's, 42nd St, Times Square, etc....
The south, aka Downtown, where are the lights of life..... Nice place, 2 or three nice spots to live in: around Union Sq, Greenwich village, and Tribeca (TRIangle BEyond the CAnal). Where one can find Wall st, the World Finacial Center, and... Ground Zero.
3) Taxis: they speak an approximate english. You'd have better chances with Russian. Unless it's a Chechen, you can try "Slava velika narodna rossisskaya". Lots of dyed-in-the-wool newyorkers have moved out of the place since 9/11, I was told. Business is not as good as before. Still, it seems it's a good place to start a new life, and move on after a few years.
4) Toilets: they're called restrooms over there (personally I wouldn't rest too long in there), or Men's/Women's lounge (but you can't have lunch in there).
5) Money: Careful: all Dollar bills are very similar. And you have to tip (about 10%, depending on your satisfaction). And they have a sort of VAT there too (about 10%) not included in the price. So you end up tipping George Bush as well.... Satisfied or Not! All this to say New York can be expensive. A little more expensive than Dublin, but not that much really. I suppose a tourist is a consenting victim in any town or country. I pity American tourists in Paris....
Enough Talk
Ladies and Gentlemen: The Empire
State Building, surrounded by the Midtown skyline. So many visitors it took me
an hour and a half to get up there, using the normal channel: Cellar, wait 1h,
Lifts, wait 30 mins,more lifts, walk up the last 6 floors. I should have taken
the staircase all the way!
The Spire of the
Empire State Building. Ready to blast off to the moon at any notice!
The following pics are taken from the terrace around the
spire of the Emspire State Buidling:
I liked the top of that
building. I found it Kind of creative.
I like the colors of
that one. It could be dubbed the Benetton Tower, or the Kodak Tower
It's not hte big
tower I was aiming at, but St Patrick's Cathedral, Top left quarter.
Inside Paddy's
Cathedral
Panorama looking
south from The Empire State Building.
Would you live
there?
Perhaps if you were a stonemason, you'd call it paradise.....
Times Square. If you look at the top half of the picture, in
the Middle, you'll see a giant 3D "Cup Noodle" cup (underneath TDK).
The smoke above it is real smoke!
Taken from the terrace of the Novotel Hotel
Click here
for a Cruise around the south of Manhattan!
