8 - Dispatch From a Rider

Stop!  Don't Stop!

On a bus back to the airport, I see trains and boats and bikes - they all suit me more than the California car culture.  NYC uses all three to great effect allowing her 9 million to zip about without looking for a place to park.  






The also have to look at each other face to face - broker next to butcher, dancer sitting by director.  Taxis are just too slow for NYC traffic.

The subway took me a bit of practice - at reading the map and plotting where to change trains - but then with a little walking, the whole city becomes accessible.  I would hate to be back in my wheelchair though, as this place was built long before the disabled were taken into account.  A few elevators access stations are marked, but even curb-cuts are not always found.  It may be my imagination, but car free New Yorkers seem leaner than most - and it is not from lack of food.

What are these?  

I expected to smell the sewers but found the aromas of restaurants and street food carts far more prevalent.  And variety - I don't doubt that even those serving the most esoteric cuisine have several competitors nearby.

Broadway theaters get the fame but most subway rides have entertainers passing the hat.  The pretty parks are filled with public art and free music, both professional and ad hoc, and sidewalk kids dance in competition crowded around a boom-box.

Music in the Park

Yep, it is a BIG city with grit, grime and crime - but it seems to work just fine and I am happy I came.  A couple of weeks - even ones as packed as Jean's organizational skill have made it, just scratches on the peal.  I think someday soon I will have the itch to return for another bit of the Big Apple.

- Someday Stew

Click here:
Subway sounds you don't want to hear
https://soundcloud.com/rodonisle/subway/s-R3M9q

Stop walking?