What can i say? My home town is New York, New York, a town so nice, they named it twice!

Most tourist, domestic or foriegn, usually only see 1/2 of 1 borough, Mid, and lower (down) Manhattan.

Manhattan is a interesting place... a huge chunk has been made into a park,(Cental Park) and some there are places,( 2 to 3 mile stretches), where the average income exceeds 5 million dollars a year. It has more museums than you can imagine, with incredible collections. many-- are virtually free.. All have big sign offer (small print, suggested donations) big print $7.50, $10, $13.50... You must pay something, but you don't have to pay the suggested price. a quarter will do!

NY, unlike most of the east coast settlements started out as a commercial operation, and since day one, money has been at the root of the cities culture. Nothing has changed in 400 years. but there was a real civic character right from the beginning, so there are many cultural institutions that recieve public support.

NY has a greater mix of nationalities than other city in US.
Some cities may have more Poles, or more Germans, but we have more variety.

the city is an archipelago, made of thousand of islands-- of which 30 or so are occupied-- either full time or parttime. Manhattan is the most famous island but Roosevelt, Wards, Governers, Randles, City, Staten, Rickers, Big and Little Brother, Liberty, Ellis, The Rockaways, are some of the bigger ones. Only The Bronx is part of the main land.

Tourist who extend their stay, might get a chance to visit The Bronx zoological gardens, -- one of its original purposes was to save the US bison. Not for ecological reasons, but just to be sure there would alway be a supply for hunters.. It was a Bronx Zoo Bison that was used for be Buffalo nickle (US 5 cent coin).

Brooklyn used to be a city in its own right, but became part of, --oops, did i mention the offical name of the NY?--The City of Greater NY(yeah, it right there in the name, Greater NY!) in the 1890. Queens, The Bronx and Staten Island were incorporated into NY at the same time.

The Brooklyn museum, is a world class treasure house of egyptology, its total collection is smaller than the Mets, but it's egyption collection is much more important.

Queens is home to 2 of the NY area's 3 major airports, and has been the site of both of the cities world fairs.

Engineers love NY-- not only for our buildings, (which are world famous) but for our bridges.

Writers love NY for its libaries, there are over 300 local branches of the NY/Queen public libraries. Branches carry books, and other material in over 50 languages. each boro has a branch that is open sunday, and aside from christmas and thanksgiving, you can find a NY library open ever day of the year.

Same is true of many of our other cultural institutions.

Our subways? Nothing comes close. London's are just as extensive, but don't run 24 hours a day, and while we NY's complain about the cost, NY cost almost half as much as London's, Japan's, or DC's. They span every boro, and you can go 35 miles, from one end to the other, in about 1.5 hours, for $1.50.

I think was surprizes people most, is once they leave Manhattan, is the character of each boro is usually very identifiable. and each boro has large parks, and many neighborhoods like mine.. of private house, set on nice size lots, It could pass for suburbia, but on my 1 block long street, of 30 or so house, we have 20 nationalities living together!

Mind you, there are still enclaves, neighborhoods that 1 nationality predominates, but neighborhood border are flexable, and if you want to go out and eat ethnic, its not hard.

with in a short walk, i have italian, zen buddist vegitarian, japanese, Korean, chinese, persian, indian, german, french-moraccan, greek, -- hop in the car, and the selection increases.. a short trip, and i can be in a neighborhood of south and central american restarants, and dine on guinne pigs. or in other direction, i am in little russia. Don't know the finer points between czech, austrian, or german foods? you can find them all here, and compare.

want to eat real african style? Go to the bronx, and check out Ghanian, nigerian, or ivory republic foods styles.

The southern edge of the NY also marks the southern edge of glaciation.. (inland, the glacier went further south) and if you are interest in geology, staten Island offers several place to inspect the terrmial morain.

NY water system, over 100 years old, still provide NY with all the water it needs. for the most part, it is a gravity feed system, and pumps are only needed in building over 65 or so feet high.. (making a 5 floor or story building very common.. no legal requirement for an elevator, and no need to have a water tank and pump)

Taller building all have water tanks.. as tsuwm, i think mentioned, Coopering is still a very active trade in NYC! 95% of the water tanks are made of cedar, and assembled in place. they last about 100 years with a little care.

To say it is a dynamic city is just the beginning.. NY expect the best, and gripe and complain, but we are so, world famous for our ability to get along. 2 major black out's in my life time, and while the was some localized looting, there was no wide spread lose of civility. There have been at times, minor riots, but NY has never suffered the wide scale riots that have devistated some cities.

We suffered a blow, last year, but we never really got knocked off our feet. the 16 acre WTC site is larger that many CBD's, and we took it in stride.. (yeah, we are limping a bit, and yes, everyone in the world, came and held our hand, and did something for us, but NY never came to a stand still..

I think we sort of expected everyone to help, because as proud, and as self centered as we are, we are also one of the most open cities in the world.. we open our arms and hearts, and every one has a place here. The trick to being a NYer is live here, and say "i'm a NYer!" that it! we don't stand on cerimony, and excuse me please, but your cerimony is getting in the way of my making a buck.. so fork some over or move it! AnnaS lived here for 3 years, years ago, but she is still just as much of a NY as i am, (if she wants to be!)




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