New York Through the Eyes of Russian Traveler

New York
Source: http://zyalt.livejournal.com

Ilya Varlamov is a well-known persona in Russian blogosphere. Graduated as an architect he often writes about urban environment of Russian cities: quality of roads, cleanliness of streets, accessibility of parking and so on.

And while traveling abroad, he pays attention to the same things, making comparisons to Russia.

These days Varlamov travels in the USA and one of his latest reports is dedicated to New York.

New York, New York…

***

The day started in the headquarters of Newsweek. They are located in the impressive building designed by the architect Frank Gehry.

All photos are from http://zyalt.livejournal.com/602567.html

Nearby is the famous park set at the site where the underground lines were before. This is the most beautiful urban park in the world. I will make a separate report about it.

A man is praying on the sidewalk. Before him is the place for bicycle parking.

The roads in New York are terrible. All in patches, constantly repaired and blocked. I haven’t seen such bad roads in any other American city.

After the rain you can’t walk. Puddles everywhere. This is outrageous, of course. In Moscow the situation with the roads is much better.

There is not enough space on the sidewalk and pedestrians grab the bicycle lanes.

There is a lack of parking lots, too. Regular lots have places for daily storage of bicycles.

The two-level parking.

Multi-level parking. Costs $ 25 per day.

Unlike in Washington, the flower beds in New York are protected from pedestrians and not from drivers. In contrast to Moscow, the fences are neat and low. And they are not painted in “festive” colors.

Broadway was partly turned into pedestrian zone.

They simply put chairs and flower beds. Very nice!

All the streets in the center are littered with trash bags. The fun starts when in rain the bags are washed away to the road and fall apart.

Dirt is everywhere.

City trash bin.

Anything that can be utilized is gathered from trash bins by homeless.

Around Wall Street there is a handful of unclear protesters. Everyone wants something. Police is guarding their rest.

Occupy pavement.

Pickets against Obama. Here it’s perfectly normal to paint Hitler’s mustache on Obama’s portrait and distribute the anti-government leaflets. Picketers don’t need any approval. Unlike in Russia, where a guy was detained for 15 days for sneezing on the portrait of Putin.

I went to see the famous Harlem.

As dirty as in the city center. In general, Harlem is not what it used to be. Nobody is robbed or killed in the middle of the day. They say that the “action” moved to Bronx.

Soon the strong rain started.

Hydrant opened during the downpour.

Some famous Italian restaurant to which one must book the seats 10 years in advance. There was no free place.

Since I couldn’t get into RAOS, I had to eat steak again. Steaks are insanely tasty in America!

Streets after rain.

***

Did I tell you that Varlamov is very popular blogger? Then you won’t be surprised that this post got more than three hundred comments. Here are few of them.

geneus:  “Normal people” live either in Soho or in Greenwich Village, or in houses with concierges around the Central Park (preferably with the view of the park).‘Нормальные люди’ живут либо в Сохо и Гринвич Вилидж, либо в домах с консьержами в около Центрального Парка (желательно с видом на парк).

There are almost no homeless, quite clean and many pleasant venues.Там и бездомных практически не видно, и достаточно чисто и множество приятных заведений.

Only suckers try “to park in New York”. The residents drive in taxis. The richer ones – in limousines. The poorer – in subway.‘Припарковаться в Нью-Йорке’ пытается только лох. местные жители передвигаются на такси. Кто побогаче – на лимузинах. Кто победнее – на метро.

Who has a car – keeps it in garage and drives only to the countryside.У кого есть машина – держит ее в гараже и выезжает только загород.

Dmitry Mandel:  I’ll tell you about the Chinese woman with empty bottles from the picture, because I see her in our neighborhood almost every day. She is not homeless, rather she is renting a little cheap room in Chinatown. She – along with other elderly Chinese – works like a bee, collecting bottles for whole day, mountains of them (behind which she is hardly visible). She is always neatly dressed, and wears sleeves for hygienic purposes. Real homeless usually don’t do a damn thing.Скажу ещё про китаянку с пустой тарой на №19, т.к. вижу её в нашем районе почти каждый день. Она вряд ли бездомная, а скорее всего снимает дешёвую комнатушку в Чайнатауне. Она – вместе с другими пожилыми китайцами – работает как пчёлка, собирает за день горы бутылок, за которыми её саму не видно, всегда опрятно одета, и в гигиенических целях носит нарукавники. А настоящие бездомные, как правило, ни хрена не делают.

klinichev:  People who wear T-Shirts – “I (heart) NY” – for sure haven’t been there )))) Люди, которые носят футболки Я (сердечко) НЙ, точно никогда там не были ))))

mijas:  To love being in the city and to want to live in it – are two different categories. New York rather belongs to the first one. Любить бывать в городе и хотеть жить в нём – две разные категории. Нью-Йорк скорее относится к первой.

stepanovpavel:  Fucking awesome city! Охуенный город!

maximkoff:  Photos cannot convey the soul of NY. Yes, it’s dirty, noisy, crowded, but after a while you stop noticing it. I love the energy of NY, its rhythm of life, varieties. That people around you constantly speak different languages. The best food from the world is collected here. BUT, the city is terribly expensive.Душу НЙ фотографиями не передать. Да, там грязно, шумно, многолюдно, но это через какое-то время перестаешь замечать. Меня НЙ привлекает своей энергией, ритмом жизни, многобразием. Тем, что постоянно вокруг тебя все говорят на разных языках. Здесь собрана кухня со всего мира. НО, город ужасно дорогой.