Here's my family in Washington Square:
And this smiling girl is my little niece Marina, who you can't see very well in the picture above because she's covered with a hat and a scarf.
Monday, November 19, 2007
Friday, November 16, 2007
My family visiting
My family is here visiting from Catalunya. We are doing all the touristy things. I will post the most relevant things as soon as I have some time.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Central Park
The other day I went for a walk to Central Park. The park, as New Yorkers call it, is the heart and the lung of the city. The person who had the great idea of saving that part of the city of building speculation and create a park would have to be worshipped in every corner of the city.
This park, 4km long by 500m wide, is the favorite relaxing place for New Yorkers, with two ice rinks, several lakes, separate tracks for pedestrians, bicycles and horses, even a wildlife reserve. It's a favorite resting place of migrating birds, which find an oasis in the middle of so much concrete. Birdwatchers love that time of the year.
Besides all that, it contains the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and across the street there is the Museum of Natural History. The most expensive buildings of the city face Central Park, obviously, because you don't have another building in front of you, and this green extension opens before you.
The famous Reservoir, in the middle of the park, has a running track around it, a favorite of New York City joggers.
I promise I will take more pictures of it as soon as the first snow falls and I can get Central Park covered in white.
This park, 4km long by 500m wide, is the favorite relaxing place for New Yorkers, with two ice rinks, several lakes, separate tracks for pedestrians, bicycles and horses, even a wildlife reserve. It's a favorite resting place of migrating birds, which find an oasis in the middle of so much concrete. Birdwatchers love that time of the year.
Besides all that, it contains the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and across the street there is the Museum of Natural History. The most expensive buildings of the city face Central Park, obviously, because you don't have another building in front of you, and this green extension opens before you.
The famous Reservoir, in the middle of the park, has a running track around it, a favorite of New York City joggers.
I promise I will take more pictures of it as soon as the first snow falls and I can get Central Park covered in white.
Veterans Day
Monday it was Veterans Day. Most people in Spain, obviously since we weren't in that war, don't know that November 11th is the anniversary of the signing of the armistice which ended World War I. Since it fell on a Sunday, the holiday was moved to Monday. November 11th is also a holiday in France and England. I figure it isn't in Germany :-)
In any case it is one of those half-holidays that Americans have. Half-holidays because some things close and some others don't. There was no mail, but the university was open normally, stores were open too, but banks weren't. In each of these half-holidays, there's a list in the newspaper of things that open and things that close. There's a few of these, Presidents Day (George Washington's birthday) and Martin Luther King's Day, for instance.
Now. For a super-holiday, that would be Thanksgiving. That's next Thursday. I will tell you about it, and its curiosities, of which it's got many.
In any case it is one of those half-holidays that Americans have. Half-holidays because some things close and some others don't. There was no mail, but the university was open normally, stores were open too, but banks weren't. In each of these half-holidays, there's a list in the newspaper of things that open and things that close. There's a few of these, Presidents Day (George Washington's birthday) and Martin Luther King's Day, for instance.
Now. For a super-holiday, that would be Thanksgiving. That's next Thursday. I will tell you about it, and its curiosities, of which it's got many.
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Atlantic City II
Atlantic City is a depressing place. There's few places in the world where you can see differences in class as clearly as in Atlantic City.
Atlantic City was founded around 1950, when someone thought that a beach hotel, just 40 miles from Philadelphia, and 120 from New York, could attract Summer tourism. The railroad company extended a track from Philadelphia to Atlantic City, and the city was born. During many years it was a prime Summer vacation spot, where people would go, by train, and spend extended periods of time in Summer, enjoying the sea breeze.
But in 1950, with the universalization of the automobile in American life, and the accessibility of plane traveling, people could choose a great variation of touristic destinations, and wasn't subject anymore to places accessible by train. This marked the doom of Atlantic City as a tourist attraction. By the 1960s there weren't many tourists in Atlantic City and the economy fell to miserable levels.
So someone thought that allowing casino gambling in Atlantic City would revitalize the economy. Obviously all those new tourists would make the economy surge, attracted by gambling and the vice attached to it. Thus, in 1976 the first casinos opened in Atlantic City.
So what happened? Economy went up, yes, for casino owners, and maybe for the government in taxes, but the regular habitant of Atlantic City didn't notice it in the wallet, adding the aggravation of having next-door casinos tempting him with lights and mirrors to go spend his hard-earned dollars at the gambling tables.
So, the most shocking feature of 2007 Atlantic City is the big contrasts. The proximity of the luxurious casinos with nearly derelict houses. Walking on the city, away from the Boardwalk (that is, away from the casinos) is really a saddening experience. Here's an example, where you can see two big hotels (the Atlantic Palace and the Bally's) next to these three brick houses, in much worse shape. People living here aren't precisely rich.
Do you think that if the city was going well economically, there would be these nice empty plots of land just half a block from the Boardwalk? I don't think so.
Atlantic City was founded around 1950, when someone thought that a beach hotel, just 40 miles from Philadelphia, and 120 from New York, could attract Summer tourism. The railroad company extended a track from Philadelphia to Atlantic City, and the city was born. During many years it was a prime Summer vacation spot, where people would go, by train, and spend extended periods of time in Summer, enjoying the sea breeze.
But in 1950, with the universalization of the automobile in American life, and the accessibility of plane traveling, people could choose a great variation of touristic destinations, and wasn't subject anymore to places accessible by train. This marked the doom of Atlantic City as a tourist attraction. By the 1960s there weren't many tourists in Atlantic City and the economy fell to miserable levels.
So someone thought that allowing casino gambling in Atlantic City would revitalize the economy. Obviously all those new tourists would make the economy surge, attracted by gambling and the vice attached to it. Thus, in 1976 the first casinos opened in Atlantic City.
So what happened? Economy went up, yes, for casino owners, and maybe for the government in taxes, but the regular habitant of Atlantic City didn't notice it in the wallet, adding the aggravation of having next-door casinos tempting him with lights and mirrors to go spend his hard-earned dollars at the gambling tables.
So, the most shocking feature of 2007 Atlantic City is the big contrasts. The proximity of the luxurious casinos with nearly derelict houses. Walking on the city, away from the Boardwalk (that is, away from the casinos) is really a saddening experience. Here's an example, where you can see two big hotels (the Atlantic Palace and the Bally's) next to these three brick houses, in much worse shape. People living here aren't precisely rich.
Do you think that if the city was going well economically, there would be these nice empty plots of land just half a block from the Boardwalk? I don't think so.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Atlantic City
This weekend we went to Atlantic City for a little casino gambling. Atlantic City is known as The East Coast Las Vegas, because it is the only place where casino gambling is legal. Well, there are a few more casinos, mostly belonging to the original indian tribes, but in Atlantic City there are a lot of casinos and it does look a little like Las Vegas. Albert and me, we like to go to a casino every once in a while (not too often), and it is already traditional the yearly visit we do to the Casino de Barcelona during the Christmas vacation.
Atlantic City is on the coast, next to the beach, about two and a half hours South of New York. The main street is the Boardwalk, where most activity is located. As the name indicates, it is made of wood planks. See the picture of a casino, and the ground made of wood. To the left you can't see the beach, but it's there.
We had fun, gamble a little, lost some money, and had a few laughs. On our way back we took a little detour to stop by Delaware for a little shopping, since Delaware has no sales tax (Value Added Tax or VAT, as they call it in the UK). One of these days I will tell you stories about sales taxes in the US, which are quite interesting.
Atlantic City is on the coast, next to the beach, about two and a half hours South of New York. The main street is the Boardwalk, where most activity is located. As the name indicates, it is made of wood planks. See the picture of a casino, and the ground made of wood. To the left you can't see the beach, but it's there.
We had fun, gamble a little, lost some money, and had a few laughs. On our way back we took a little detour to stop by Delaware for a little shopping, since Delaware has no sales tax (Value Added Tax or VAT, as they call it in the UK). One of these days I will tell you stories about sales taxes in the US, which are quite interesting.
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