New York!

I must admit I was a bit sceptic. I was in Detroit last year and it only confirmed my view of the USA as a beautiful place destroyed by lazy fat occupants. But New York proved to be something else! :)

This place rocks! Or should I say jazz, because the jazz scene is phenomenal. For a night out, having some drinks or beer and enjoying live music, try the Zincbar. We saw the Jazz For Obama concert, with the best of contemporary jazz musicians and singers and it was absolutely fantastic! Most of the concert we spent sitting in awe at the equilibrists' skills. I will never ever again think any pop or rock musician knows anything about the instrument they handle... I have to go back and visit all the clubs I can manage!

The food was great too, but damn the portions were huge! No wonder most people in the USA are fat. I say most, because the New Yorkians are quite fit, as many of them use the subway system and in general have to walk to move in the city. The subway has very few escalators too, so you get a good exercise walking the stairs. Bad thing with the subway is that it's usually darn hot. The ventilation simply stinks, it's obviously not dimensioned for the amount of traffic and the fact that all subways are air-conditioned (in normal US manners way too much).

A great surprise was the amount of bike lanes. As examples I biked down from Park Slope to Coney Island, most of the way on a secluded bike lane, lined with trees, and all along the west coast of Manhattan, mostly along a narrow park. A wonderful way to see New York!

One day we took the train up the Hudson river. After about an hour we arrived in Peekskill. This is just a tiny shithole to be honest, but I had to jump into the Hudson to take a swim and then we found a wonderful little brewery! To be honest the food was quite bad, but the beers were great! They make their own beer, as well as serve other local brews, but the few kegs they produce is eagerly consumed within a week or two by people from all around the place. The Hudson, by the way, changes direction of flow 4 times a day, with the tide, and its water is salty, all the way up to Peekskill at least.

Of course I did the shopping, walking Manhattan 10 hours a day running into every little shop in Soho, on Broadway and all. Afterwards I learned, however, that the thing to do is to go to New Jersey. They don't have any tax on clothing and shoes, so the $35 I paid for a pair of Levi's on Broadway, wasn't the best deal around...

If you need a haircut (or just some candy or a fun time) visit the Brooklyn General Barber Emporium on Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The service is great, the barber shop the cutest place you can imagine and the street, all the way between 3rd and 9th Street is as hip as it gets. There are loads of restaurants, bars and shops. I bought a nice bicycle Brooklyn T-shirt for myself as well as for my 1-year old niece at Brooklyn Industries.

Another pleasant surprise with NY was that they actually have realized the climate issue and the benefits of organic materials. The first ad I saw at the airport was about the climate change and there's organic clothes and food all over the place. I guess the bike lanes can be traced back to this issue too. But when I saw 4 helicopters running on the pier close to the Brooklyn Bridge, and then heard that you take a 'copter to the airport, I was upset...

There are all kinds of neighbourhoods in NY. The manic, intense Times Square area. The sterile, concrete, high-rising Upper East-side. The cool, shop-dense Soho and West Village. The student, cafe- and bar-filled East Village. The money-hungry Wall Street. The relaxed and lovely Park Slope in Brooklyn. The tourist-packed Broadway. The hip and happening Williamsburg in Brooklyn. The Coney Island (which isn't an island!) at the southern tip of Brooklyn. The well taken care of parks. But almost everywhere you can also find run-down houses and areas, forgotten by capitalism...

Since I'm studying Spanish I was thrilled to see all the Spanish used. All signs, on the subway etc, that were meant for the neoyorquinos (or new yorkians) had a Spanish translation. Often even was written in Spanish only. Excellent practise!

One thing that I reacted on was how divided the town is though, not only that money flows only into some areas, but also how people hang out with their own only. You never saw Jews, with their small hats and black clothing, mingling with others, as an example. The Chinese stuck to Chinatown. Could it be that in a country without any social security systems worth mentioning you tend to stick to your kin? This is sad, and maybe this could explain the violence in this screwed-up country? I mean, you don't kill somebody you know, only the "other ones", people you don't know...

But I can't end this on such a sad note, so let's go shopping! Paragon Sports is a nice, huge shop for outdoor things. There's a fun store on 33rd Street, run by Jews, that have decent deals, good service and a huge selection of anything electronic - B&H. They have a very complicated system where you line up to get serviced, they then send your stuff on a transport system down to the exit, you go to the cashier and pay (one line for cash, one for credit cards) and then finally can pick up your stuff at the exit. The shop is filled with tourists and men in green clothes and small hats. So, I doubt they have the best deals in town. In fact I bought a camera in a dodgy store somewhere on 18th Street and was easily able to cut the price by 25%. B&H don't bargain.

And as a nice finish, let's eat! :) How about some excellent cookies at Mrs Fields on Broadway (all over actually). When it comes to cookies I prefer the once we found in a street van one day in Park Slope, but how shall I ever find that again? Maybe a lovely vegetarian panini beside the Flatiron building instead? No, why not treat ourselves - L'orange Bleue at Broome/Crosby has amazingly good food, and really creative too. Of course we should have burgers in the USA. P.J. Clarke knows how to do them! And as a finish, why not read a newspaper in the european style Cafe Borgia (I don't understand the bad reviews they've received, I found the place just fine and very charming).

Wow, yeah, it's time to stop. A great place it is, New York!