The Big Apple
July 21, 2006 Posted by Al Castle

trackback Categories: PRWeb

Times Square - Dorky Pic

Recently business took me to several points on the East Coast where I met with some interesting people. Without naming names - I really appreciated the company of everyone I met and shared meals with throughout my week long trip.

Being my first time to the Big Apple we did manage to catch a few sights and do a little of the tourist thing in-between meetings. Also thanks to some of the people I met with, who made a point of going out of their way to make sure I saw some of the important things. Like Rockefeller Center, Grand Central, Times Square and a few other places. Including a very cool and intelligent lady who made sure to get a picture of me in Times Square. (See fig. 1.)

I’ve been in several big cities, on the streets walking about - in the real grit of the cities. Including Vancouver, Seattle, San Francisco, Phoenix, Guadalajara and now New York. Out of all those places the nicest people overall, were from NY. We asked for directions and talked to people on the Metro, on the street, bell hops to security guards and all of them were very polite and helpful.

The cabbies were just what I expected. The cab ride from La Guardia to the hotel in Manhattan was frighteningly quick with frequent jerky motions. Despite the lack of finese the driver was apparently either skilled enough or stocked up on luck to not have been part of or caused an accident. In fact, I took a cab from SeaTac to my hotel on my return trip. That cabby was worse than anything NY had. NY cabbies with the exception of one who lied about where he dropped me off at and didn’t speak English were really nice. This one in Seattle spoke no English, cut off I don’t know how many people. Tried to take the long way, and actually rolled down the passengers side window to flip off a passing motorist and give his heavily accented version of a popular swear phrasing involving mothers. Unbelievable.

The heat and the humidity were the only parts I could have done without. Having my clothes stick to me is just a bit much. Oh yes and the attempted bombing or general mayhem terrorist activities for the Queens tunnel. I can do without that too. Next time I think I’d like to get in more sight-seeing, perhaps going on the helicopter tours I saw advertised.