An alternate travel guide to New York!

[korgg]

Hello !

If you noticed my signature, you may know that I am in New york at the moment. I just want to share some of my impressions on this trip, since this is the first time when I go abroad. Maybe someone would find it useful in a way. i'll have to make some more posts, because i dont want to break the format and someone to scroll like hell until the end of all posts. :) (fell free to merge them if you think is necesary)

So let me start with the beginning.

I got my visa. A ten years one .. Kind of nice. With me came another four colleagues.

I left Bucharest on 13 of march.. Used Alitalia plane. Well that is not a company I recommend. They are at least morons. A shaky plane, horrible food, horrible wine got to Milan, Italy. There I had to wait an hour until the next plane. Which resulted in a delay of 16 hours. They put us in a hotel (4 stars more or less). Well someone should appreciate the trouble. They changed the plane and away we went. Over nine hours of flight. Again horrible food. I couldn't even get a decent nap .. My stomach was about to become a fruit cocktail.

Anyway. finally we got close... They gave us some forms for the customs to complete. but they ran out of english ones. No problem since i understand quite well all latin languages. And some of them I even may speak. Definitely. no crew member had any clue of English. I asked them why my headsets were not working ? They tried to tell me that they have some financial problems and they wouldn't afford it for the moment. Well what about the lights or the air vents ?? Nothing !! Really. That was what they told me. Later, in New York, I accessed their web site. No on-line forms to send them .. Only an address to send them letters. Ok ... No problem.

Finally we landed.. We managed to get some english forms, since I got mine completed wrong!

The US customs:

I waited about an hour to get my turn. No problem. When my turn came, the computer brake. They sent me to another custom officer. Also the same story there. the third one was the same..But seems that some server of theirs broke. But, until they realized that, they told me that may be something wrong with my visa. You can imagine that my face turned white. I told them that that visa was there only for a week and couldn't be anything wrong..I tried to keep my calm.. Finally they sent me again to the first custom officer. And finally I got in the US.

I forgot something. At the embassy they stapled my passport with the papers I got for them. Same here. they stapled a paper with the maximum period i was allowed in the US. Come on, this is rude !!! Finally I got my luggage and went off the airport..

First impression: STINKS !! New Jersey at least. We tried to find some means of transportation to New York. You may be thinking this is easy. NO ! Find the bus station, wait another half an hour, pay 15$. When we got off the bus the driver was kind enough to help us get the luggage off. He broke most of the wheels of our cases. And yes, he didn't speak english. As most of the new yorkers don't speak it. knowing english if a useless fact. If you know spanish, maybe. I'll get back to this later.

We left the bus and headed for the place where we were supposed to stay. We already new how Manhattan at least was organized. And they deserve many good words for that. Not the random street numbers as in Bucharest (where after 1 never comes 2. but 190 or so). One of the things We noticed was that you cannot get lost in New York. They have the 5th avenue. On the left there is the East side and on the right the West side. Almost all streets have numbers (consecutive ones).We walked a lot. The city looks very nice. Those huge buildings with modern architecture among the classical ones is quite interesting. I was amazed at the beginning. We got home eventually. A nice apartment, near Empire State Building. By the way.. in New York there is no smoking in the buildings. That was really bad news for my friends. After we rested a while we went out. We were really hungry. But we made the mistake to calculate prices in our currency. Everything seemed high. Anyway me and other two colleagues went to, where else, MacDonald's. In Bucharest i was only once and the was horrible. We thought here would be different. No . The guy that served us didn't speak english, but something else. We got something "easy",. Rubber ! That is the word that best describes it. In fact in Manhattan you can spot a MacDonald's or a Burger King two or three blocks away, only by using your smell. You just cant breath near those. And they are successful enough to survive. there is no small coffee. The coffee glass has half a liter of coffee. And if in th morning you dint carry a huge glass of coffee you may get some strange looks :D .. Just kidding !

It doesn't taste so good. I tried to stay within a coffee a day, because too much would make me sleepy around noon.

Now the first day out:

It was nice. We went along Broadway street. Lots of shops there. Prices of any kind. Of course we didn't buy anything that day, just went around the city. They have small parks at some intersections. New York lacks trees and usually any plant. Not enough room for it :) . They have kind of lot of churches but usually they are closed. And when I saw one open I was not in the mood the enter. The city is crowded, especially during rush hours. They even have special prices for trains during these hours (more expensive :D ). Anyway our first day was for seeing the city. It was nice. We got home tired as hell.

Well, now would be a good time to specify the purpose of this travel. I work at a firm, as a programmer for mobile platforms (phones in general). I am part of a department that makes applications for Verizon Wireless. The problem is that we develop the applications in Romania, but we cannot test there if they do well when the phones are activated. And for this we made an exchange of experience with a sister firm from US. Anyway, too many details are boring. ;)

But lets talk about New York. As days pass by we got to know pretty well the city. It is easy at least on the surface. The Metro may or not be another problem. At first we were quite lost but we managed to get it right eventually. Speaking of the the metro, the stations look very ugly and the smell get you down. But it's practical. And usually you don't wait too much. And oh yes... EVERYONE HAS AN iPOD ! I think they brain wash them :D .Wow you don't have an ipod yet ?? WHYYYY ?? These were the first questions we were asked. We got amused for a while, but soon is begun to be quite annoying. We started to see what New York is all about. I'll tell you too. It's about making money. That is all. No more, no less. We were told by many people that there everyone is fat. Well, not everyone, but I tend to say that the statistics that said 60% of America's population is fat is a little, well too small. Personally I give at least a 70 % . And the women are, well not so beautiful. I'm not mean or anything like that. But most of them are really fat and big. But they do have theirs . I've seen a few and they look pretty good. And the typical american female is.... how do I say this? Well,... brown hair, spots on the face, tainted and all are the same.. Sometime I believed that they all are sisters. Really !. Eh! I already have a girlfriend so i didn't care about that much :D. The people are in general closed in themselves, which is not so nice. You see in New York all kinds of people.

So how someone makes money there ? (here, as I am still here).

Working at hotels, having their hot dog mobile stand, their own shops, working at some firm making long coffee breaks, being late and blaming the metro. At first I was amazed on much they can loose time and do absolutely nothing. My colleagues from NY are the best example of that. Now they are not anymore. Except for their boss, whose only duty is to read the mail and take a note into a document keeping it updated, and not even this doing it right. Doesn't matter now. I'm not used to this kind of style. In movies this kind of person would eventually get fired. Not the case in this city. It takes a while to get used to their style of talking English. They used excessively expressions like “i was like drunk ” or all sorts of this kind of verbal ticks . It's at least embarrassing. Well it should be ! :) And their casual conversations are dry. They talk sometimes to each other just because they have to, or to save some appearances. I didn't like that at all. They dress kind of weird. Some dress with some style, but many more others wear some old shoes, snickers that I would've thrown them away half a year ago. It's strange because some are well dressed until the shoes :) .

I liked though that once you get to know someone you begin to talk more open to him.. Some of my colleagues are quite good friends to me now. Of course, it took some terrorizing them for a while, and then we got them to the only place in NY where you can eat good. The Romanian Garden in Queens. We got them some romanian food cooked there and also romanian beer. They were fascinated ! The american beer is tasteless and does not provide you with the essential information on the quantity of alcohol it contains. It says fat free although . As any food you buy here. Fat free, Low fat, No calories etc etc. You have to look a long time until you find some regular milk with all the fats and whatever. I cooked here, since buying food already made was not an option. It tastes like hell. And everything has corn. Corn sweetener, corn oil, corn products in juice, everywhere. There is nothing without corn. Thanks god they had also canola oil. Food is quite cheap, if you know where to look. I mean, that with 50$/person a week we got food cooked by me :D , beer and some soda and juices. But we had to go to Harlem to get it. Food is terrible. You just cant find some real food that has everything with all the fats I was used to. For me it was a shock. And I got some weight I think, because I feel a bit heavy. And i am not glad about it.

Well now that you know about my food problem, let's move on.

What next ??? Well let me tell about some stores and the New York style of dressing. All young man wear those kind of blue jeans that have a really low cut. I mean their b*t is on their knees. .. I went to buy myself some blue-jeans. I wear 32 with 34 long and believe me that I found some after half a day of walking the stores. They only have 42 with 32, low cut the kind I've mentioned and all sort of weird ones. My opinion is that if a fat man enters Old Navy let's say, with his eyes closed and gets some clothes like that, he can't miss. :D ..I'm not far from the truth. In this kind of stores usually you all the attention of some personnel which I liked. And yes, I wanted to buy a hat. But not just any hat, one that didn't say NY, FBI,NYPD and all the great institutions they have. Well that was not easy.. Everywhere hat with NY letters. Come on people, a little originality never hurt anyone. Even t-shirt are the same. I refused to buy any. And all the people wear quite the same hats, t-shirts etc. Come on !!! I had to go to China Town to find something. I can't stand this lack of personality on people. How Am I different from any other??. By the clothes in the first place. I went to the Mall. An entire shop that sells only hats with the NY letters on them. I couldn't believe my eyes. From the floor to the ceiling. If they want to be so dumb let them be. This is a place to make money and that's all.

Not like that stays the business with IT&C. I bought a laptop, a camera, a camcorder, an mp3 player, a memory card,headsets, memory for my laptop. There are generally two kinds of stores.. The big ones, which offers you warranty in store and accept returning the product in 30 days, replacing it and all that stuff, and cheap too, and the small ones which have no prices on sight and try to get more money from you as they can and they do no refund. No nothing. I suggest to stay away from this ones. The small price may be attractive, but you should be very well documented of what you want.

Those big stores have quite good prices and they are huge. I mean, you can get quite everything you want from there. I lost many hours in those :D .

Anyway, I still have to go to some others stores that I haven't visited yet to get some snickers or something. But I'm on my final days here and the money are quite gone. :(

Places to see:

There is the Empire State Building. Well I refused to go there. I like something else, not that old building, that is not even interesting. Chrysler Building look a lot better.

The Zoo. I'll go there tomorrow, but I;ve heard they have tigers, which is enough for me :).

The Museum of Sex . Also tomorrow. Come on ! It is always something interesting in such place.

The Wax Museum. I don't have to tell you why.

The bay area in downtown Manhattan. Take from the 23rd street and walk downtown by the river or whatever that is. It's very nice and relaxing pass by Manhattan Bridge, Washington Bridge and most nice Brooklyn Bridge, which is a must. Probably best place in NY that really has something quite special. And for better view go to Washington Bridge at the night to take some awesome photos with Brooklyn Bridge. The river side in the downtown really deserves some attention. I really liked it there.

Lwt's not forget the US symbol The Statue of Liberty. Didn't go there also. I've seen it too many times in the movies, and you pay don't know how much for two minutes up there. That's all.

The Romanian Garden in Queens (Sunnyside area), a peaceful area and a great restaurant ;) . Ask for “mici” with fries :) and Ursus beer. You wont regret it!IN fact anything else that isn't american :) .

The twin towers site for history sake. Nothing special there anymore.

And Central Park. The only green place in New York. It's quite big and they maintain it very good. It is a wonderful place for relaxation. It has a lot of birds, squirrels, lakes, wild ducks, observatory places, plants that look wonderful in this period of year, etc etc. Really deserved the walk there.

Maybe the really big stores, as they are known world wide and you may be tempted to see what's up there :) .. Especially if you are a woman :D .

I shared with a friend of mine from US these impressions and he was amused. He told me that New York is like no other city in the US, and that i shouldn't generalize my thoughts. Which I did ! :) ..

Well for now that is all. I'll continue when i have the time, because i'm going to test some pizza which should be ready by now :D ..

[expertec]

Wow... thanks Korgg. Fascinating stuff! :D

[Thos]

That was superb, Korgg. Everyone's impressions will be different, but it is fascinating to read those of a first time visitor from Romania. Especially the impressions of the food. Burger Bars generally have their detractors but were there not other restaurants or small cafes which served acceptable food? And it highlights the obsession with not eating fats, which is usually the reason that food tastes good.

I hope that there is more to come from your visit and I hope you kept the "exit" slip so you can go home to Romania eventually!

Thos.

[Gandalph]

So all in all, you are quite liking the place then. :lol:

[korgg]

That was superb, Korgg. Everyone's impressions will be different, but it is fascinating to read those of a first time visitor from Romania. Especially the impressions of the food. Burger Bars generally have their detractors but were there not other restaurants or small cafes which served acceptable food? And it highlights the obsession with not eating fats, which is usually the reason that food tastes good.

I hope that there is more to come from your visit and I hope you kept the "exit" slip so you can go home to Romania eventually!

Thos.

Well I tried something called "burger bbq" . I wasn't impressed at all . My friends hated it. Also we tried some chinese restaurant. That was a lot better. I liked it a lot. In both places we got two kinds of meals. We went to other places too but still no impressions. We tried an italian pizzeria. Personally I liked it. And please don't say italians can cook . I found out that in Milan. They haven't any of the abouts of cooking.

Oh yes! I my exit will be in a week from now. I really don't intend to stay here.

As for Gandalph: I don't know man. You interact more with people which are as they are. I never liked too much crowded places and excessive politeness (as they are afraid not to be sued :D ) I like some parts of the place. As in Bucharest, I don't like the city at all. But I got there for the money. And for me that is enough. If I get the chance to move to New York to work there for a period of time I wouldn't say no. But doesn't mean I like the city.

[korgg]

I think I forgot about the bread. Oh yes ! "The italian white giant" if i remember well. Well I don't have words to describe the taste of it. first of all it smelled like hell. Trying to eat it would have the ugly effect to get stick to your mouth. Trying to get some butter on it (actually was called "I Can't Belive It's Not Butter") would result in putting the butter directly to the table. Finally we got some bread with a little taste of honey which is far more eatable.

This little add-on comes after you showed some interest in food :D ..So you know what to avoid. :D

ps: lots of people asked me if I wanted to go back. Well yes. Illegal is not the way to do it. Some looked a little surprised. Wow you're in the land of "freedom" and don't wanna stay? Well, simply put NO. I also disliked that they shorten the words. It just sound so wrong. By the way, it took me a week the figure out what ride means in their terms. It sounds at least weird for me to hear "Thank you for ridding with MTA". And maybe, I am wrong here, but I thought, I've seen a sign saying "Late nite the train....". Shouldn't that be "Late night ...." ??

Well there are a lot of things I wanna say about, but my head is a mess rigth now. I'm going shopping :D

[Thos]

I look forward to your next notes from your diary.

It is clear that you have found out what several people say on this forum, that the development of "Americanisms" has mangled traditional English. Spellings of "night" (nite), "through" (thro), "colour" (color) are irritating but are merely phonetic variations.

Your thoughts on food though, are interesting. Many people of all nationalities, would say that Italian food is the most enjoyable national food. And I am not talking only of pizza. New York has a huge Italian population and I must say I, personally enjoyed all the Italian restaurants I visited whilst I was there.

Best wishes for the rest (or should I say the "remainder) of your stay in The Big Apple.

Thos.