Stand clear of the closing doors, please !
Plenty of great, great cities are to be found all over the surface of the sphere of rock we call earth. In every region of this planet man has constructed large settlements, and each and every one of these is unique. Every land, every city, has its very own, very unique character. Every city is different.
New York City is indeed very different to the great metropoleis of Europe as I have seen them. Stepping out of John F. Kennedy airport, looking for a taxi (admittedly, we were 5 tourists with large suitcases), and we immediately got a lot of How many ? Five people ? You need big car. Taxi only take 5. Only 97$ !
Soon, we were in a large taxi, on the way to Manhatten. The taxi ride wasn't without surprises either, of course: there was a seat too few. I ended up on the floor to enjoy a taxi ride unimaginable back in Germany.
A simple adjective comes to mind quickly when seeing New York: BIG. It's not as simple as it sounds though; I knew it was a gigantic city, but this apple is a very big one in a great variety of ways, and I'm not talking about the fact that there is a mind-bogglingly huge number of taxis, which is, of course, a notable feature of the place. Speaking of taxis, going somewhere by taxi is surprisingly easy in NYC, and not all that expensive either. The subway system is also a nice way to get around the city. It may be a more confusing net than the Paris Métro, but nonetheless, it's a fine system. Flat, $2 fares, magnetic tickets, etc. We've used it a few times to get up and down town, worked well, but no surprises here.
Cultural feast
An astounding feature of the island of Manhattan is how prominent and pronounced ancestral cultural and lingual differences are. English is the lingua franca, and I was expecting a Chinatown, but I had never expected as large an amount of people who speak a language other than English when they can. The subway is a particularly good place to observe this: there is a lot of Spanish-speaking in the trains, for example. It's the same in the hotel (most of the staff speaks Spanish to each other), the place we were for breakfast to-day appeared to be Cuban (staff spoke Spanish), and, I am sure, many other public locations across the city.
Speaking of culture, what would a trip to New York be without treating yourself to some fine culture ? The high prices put us off seeing a Broadway show, but a dingy bar is actually just as good, if not better, just in a different way... The Sidewalk Café appeared to be quite a nice place.
This was written after over 4 days in New York City. For an insight into the rest of my journey, have a look at this: USeless details.