Stories from the city: part II

And now the city, NYC, the big apple.... (actually I discovered why it is called big apple, nothing regarding the shape of the city as I was thinking before...)
The first thing I noticed was the size: everything is bigger there; cars, supermarkets, streets, buildings, people, portions (god, I am still dreaming of those bbq ribs)... And then I saw the yellow cabs, the trucks, the skyscrapers and the police cars and I had this surreal feeling that I was in a movie, not in a real city... it was so strange!

I booked a bed in an hostel on the 30th street (part of the Chelsea Star chain, nice, I would recommend it) so I was quite close to the center (where center is probably a concept you can apply to the whole Manhattan). The first night I just went to Times Square, before the effects of the long nights at the synchrotron took their toll, but the rest of the visit was pretty busy.
I am lucky to have a few friends which are spending a year of their PhD there and together we did a pretty intensive sightseeing weekend (grazie un sacco ragazzi, sarebbe stata una visita molto piu grigia e solitaria senza di voi!!!!).

A few highlights: Grand Central is definitely the most impressive train station I have ever seen: it makes you think of the gold age of the trains, of the beginning of the 20th century, of ladies in long dresses and little umbrellas sat at a coffee.... I really enjoyed the Metropolitan Museum and I think that the MoMA has the most amazing collection of modern art I have seen so far (sorellina, you have to go!!!). Then Ellis Island is really a must, especially if you feel a little bit an immigrant like I do; the museum is really well organized!! and obviously the view of Manhattan from the top of the Empire State building was breathtaking, but for this the pics are a better way to explain!!!

I found that Manhattan is not so big but more compact, more "vertical" than London (I couldn't help myself from doing comparison between the two cities all the time... they are so similar in their being multicultural and frenetic and then so different in a million little things..). Strikingly, NYC is made of straight lines but as in London crossing one street can suddenly change the environment completely so maybe this is a trait that all big cities have in common. The fact is that they are both really really big cities so it's difficult to grasp their nature, especially with only a few days available... I had the impression that New York is more vibrant than London, especially in areas like the East Village and Chinatown but I am not sure I really would like to live there, in a way it lacks of history, everything is relatively new and I had the feeling as if they are in search of myths all the time, as if they are still trying to build their history. Nothing bad with it, don't get me wrong, although sometimes this makes them a bit overexcited for things that are not so exceptional... I think.

A rushed judgment? Ok ok, I hope I will have the opportunity to go to the states again... so many things still to see.. but the first bit of the big apple was good... ;)





more pics on facebook: http://kcl.facebook.com/photos.php?id=762585025, but you have to register with them if you don't have an account yet, I am afraid.. but then you will discover how addictive facebook can be!