1,2,3 ... Come to New York !

I saw this movie called The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 last night, and I think it is a very very good New York commercial. We get to see the very good and reliable metro, the impressive skyline, the feel of the streets, the top notch law enforcers, the bridges, and even that great helicopter ride, which you can do too for a reasonable price! The movie really got me thinking again about New York and how I would like to go there again sometime. It's just one of those places that stay with you, it has an unique appeal to it that makes it an unforgettable city.

So, not a bad movie, great cast ... yes, the commercial worked, I want to go there ... like now!

The Island of Peace

It's time to wrap up on the USA series ... and I thought it would be very nice of me to keep some best for last , although it may not be considered as the most interesting for some ...

New York is crazy, and I already said that ... I would definitely not want to live right there in the heart of the city ... But US of A has also some other things to offer ... there's also peace and quiet, and relaxing places (gotta love that R&R), which I got to get a glimpse of ...


... why do seagulls watch the sea?



... M country is real ...



And to wrap up ... a picture of my aunt Donca, who has been nothing but the best, and Andreea, my lovie lovie :) (hearts flying around)




USA is an interesting place to see, even just because it is DIFFERENT in so many ways. A final tip if you go to NY: learn Spanish ... and take it easy with the corn syrup ...

bye bye U S of A ... see you around ...

Famous and Friendly

Don't you just love it when the famous people are nice ... ahhh ... yeah ... I met them all while I was in the US of A and they were all very friendly to me ... so here goes ...



Hugh told me another one of his lame jokes, but I laughed anyway ...


I freaked out a coupe of astronauts ...


Superman stood up between me and all those freaky Martians that were after my brain ...


And this big guy helped Andreea solve a little problem with Frankenstein ...

Riding the Chopper

If you go to New York ... you just must gotta no doubt or question about it take the chopper ride ... it was very very cool ...

Not only do you get the best view of NYC, but also the space mountain treatment ... wheeeeeeEEEEE



It was my first helicopter flight and I must say I LOVE IT!! It really did my day ...

I hope you can get your day done someday like that too ...

The road to Chinatown

The road to Chinatown leads down a dirty alley ...
who dares go there's not wise ... if only dare I say ...
nor brave ... nor well informed ... nor on his lucky day...
he's just a clumsy tourist, who's surely lost his way ...
the SMELL's the only friend, who tells him GO AWAY!


... not to mention the fact that someone may jump you for kidneys ... do not go there at night! ... I repeat, DO NOT GO THERE AT NIGHT!

maybe this is where you would've seen a pic of the scene, if only were I not too AFRAID FOR MY LIFE to even think about showing off the camera!!

thank you SMELL, next time I will listen to you ...

Artsie Fartsie

Now ... I may not be an art critic ... heck, I might even say I am not an art person ... but sometimes "art" is stupid ... and some "artists" leave me speechless confronted with the absurdity of a stupid lifeless piece of crap ... and here is a FINE example ... as seen at the Metropolitan Museum in New York ... ART ... please feel free to contemplate this so interesting so breathtaking so inspiring piece of crap I'm staring at trying to concentrate myself hard out of remembering the "artist"'s name ...

... and here is a piece of art I did like just so you don't say I'm a dorkey monkey that hasn't seen a painting in his life ... unfortunately it's blurry and cropped ... but I find it freakishly impressive ...

The Apple is big and sour

Mkay ... and here we go ... I have been postponing this post long enough ... time to get down and dirty (quite dirty actually) with New York City ...

For a long time have I had this image about New York ... a very crowded street, with people walking on both sides of the road, one big mass of people moving like one.

Well ... it's not really far from the truth ... First contact was pretty violent, as we got there on one of (arguably) the busiest days of the year (Labor Day weekend), there were just SO MANY people walking around Times Square ... it was crazy ...

What hit me was the fact that the metro rail was quite dirty, in no way comparable to Washington, or Paris. The dirtiness seemed to continue, as the streets were in no way squeaky clean ...

The city is best seen from the distance, with a quite impressive skyline ...



... the view from the top of Empire State Building is a must see ...





... but the Brooklyn Bridge view is not all that bad also and is another must ... the picture doesn't really do it justice ...


Apart from this, we've seen lady Liberty and it was nice ... Metropolitan Museum, Museum of Natural History, Madame Tussaud's ... and so on and so forth ... we'll get to those later ...

Oh yes, and if you get to NY, make sure you take the night tour ... it was tons of fun and I really hope you are lucky enough to have the same guide we had ...


And now for what I believe is the single biggest problem with NY ... the people ... The place is crowded by immigrants .. I mean, I have no problem with them, but, common, learn a little English, will you? It's not really normal to (try to) order a darn coffee milk shake (or whatever it was) and end up by pointing fingers in the menu ... Or the fact that people were speaking to you IN SPANISH and didn't get bothered by the fact that you were looking at them with a very puzzled face ... I guess the guide on the night tour said it best ... this is a place where you need to learn to tolerate a lot, because there are so many cultures that come together here ... and you should try to tolerate all of them, because they will hit you in the face at every corner... (the last part is added by myself)

And to conclude, here is the list of DON'Ts:
1. Don't go to chinatown at night (post to follow)
2. Don't go to Harlen
3. Don't eat anywhere else except Italian restaurants
4. Don't forget to know how to speak Spanish.
5. Don't even think you can see two museums on the same day (they're huge).
6. Don't even think about taking the ferry to Lady Liberty later than 10 A.M. (we didn't and you should take our example).

So to sum things up .... go see it ... take a bite ... I found it to be a little sour...