New York 2010 - part 3

And before you know it, you are back in the amazing rat race that is New York. Just a little walk back south of Central Park, but a few avenues to the west, specifically I followed Broadway:


you are suddenly in the middle of Time Square. My timing couldn't have been better, it just got dark when I arrived there. And really, this is no square to see during the day :-)


It is a bombardment of lights and advertisement boards. And it shows the other side of the western capitalistic system: the constant creation of needs. There was absolutely nothing on those big boards that had any real value. Only things you 'need' to have, 'need' to see.


They even apply tricks to lure people in: camera's are pointed at the crowd and these people are shown on a big screen. This has the amazing effect that most people go crazy if they see themselves on a big screen, especially at Times Square. And if you then link any type of reward to it, they will flock to your banner, guaranteed. Everybody wants their 'fifteen minutes of fame' (thank you Andy Warhol, who actually said: "In the Future, everybody will be famous for 15 mintues"), saw that quotes in 2008 in Brisbane.


After that I just wandered back home to my hovel, where I had a good night read. No way you can sleep there, too much noise :-)

On Sunday, I wanted to do the south tip of Manhattan. But I didn't have that much time left, since I had a plane to catch, so I took the subway to get there.
Had to chance twice, because of some maintenance work and had a nice chat with a very friendly couple from Alaska. They were convinced Belgians are great travelers since they just met a week before another guy from Belgium (this country they hadn't heard from before). Sure we are.
And there was this Russian guy who had no clue how to get to some street I had never heard of. But he had this feeling I was one of the locals as I was standing on the platform waiting so he asked me. He was rather surprised to hear that I had only arrived less then 48 hours before :-)

I actually went straight for Battery Park, the most southern point of Manhattan,


from where you can take a ferry to Ellis (were millions of immigrants entered the US from 1890, officially from 1892 with Annie Moore a red headed Irish girl being the first official immigrant to be registered there, until WWII), Staten and Liberty (with a statue on it you probably have heard of) Island.



I was really looking forward to standing face to face with the most icon statue in the United States and one of the most iconic ones in the world: The Statue of Liberty (the number of pictures that one was is is very very long).
Unfortunately, this is the closest I got to it:There was a 2 hours queue for the ferries. Even if I would have had more time (and no plane to catch), I still wouldn't have done it, definitely something to do during the week ;-)
And although I didn't see Ellis Island and the statue of Annie (by the way, wasn't the lead character of the musical 'Annie' a red headed girl?) there were plenty of tributes in Battery Park to the immigrants reaching the US as the promised land.



I started walking from Battery Park up north and passed Trinity Church


which used to be (as we have in many other smaller cities and villages) the highest building and a beacon for people reaching New York in the earlier days. Now, you can hardly see it amongst the huge skyscrapers.

And then I felt a presence, a disturbance in the Force, there were clear signs

I approached it, the Mecca of capitalism (pun intended): Wall Street, home of the New York Stock Exchange.By the way, the name Wall Street comes from the fact that the Dutch built a wall at that line, to protect the northern border of what was then called New Amsterdam.

This is probably the most impressive building in Wall Street, certainly not the tallest, it is only 4 floors. The Morgan Bank, ordered by JP Morgan, the ultimate capitalist and one of the richest man in the States. To give you an idea, he was behind the creation of General Electric and The United States Steel Corporation and he directed the banking coalition that stopped the 'Panic of 1907'. Build on the corner of Broad St and Wall St, probably the most valuable part of NY. But still they only built it 4 floors high, as to show that he could afford that. The kind of place countries go to when they need money.


And among all the financial monuments in that street you have this building, Federal Hall, where George Washington took the oath as the first official president of the United States of America. It is almost ironic that this building should be in the same street as those enormous financial monuments.

Because in the end, the United States was founded on the most democratic principles of freedom any country has known. Many people do not associate that any more with the current state of this country but it is true. Freeing themselves from a very ruthless regime of Britain, the founding fathers swore that this country would have absolute freedom of believes and freedom to express oneself (most specifically the 5h amendment). They tried to rid the country of the oppressing of tyranny, religion and a centralized monetary system. Oh well, it was a noble effort, but as John Adams said: "Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself."

I wandered on and after a delighful lunch went towards the last icon I wanted to see before I left:
The Brooklyn Bridge. It crosses the Eastern River towards oh yes, Brooklyn :-)
If you walk or cycle across, you are actually on a level higher than the cars.
Around the huge pillars people have started to leave padlocks behind.
Different from graffiti tags.
After that, back to the hotel, get my stuff, jump in a yellow cab and head for the airport.

And to end the tribute of this magnificent city, here is
Alicia Keys - Empire State of Mind

New York 2010 - part 2

When I walked back and I was forced to look at the city in a slower pace I discovered a different view. A very human part to be exact.
It is a little experiment I can advised to everyone: even a path that you have done many times e.g. by bicycle, if you do it on foot, you will discover other things. I had that close to my home and by slowing down and looking I found e.g. 'Studio - De Groene Vallei' near my home in Ghent, where one can do yoga, pilates, ... (I only did a few sessions there but it was a nice experience)

To my delight I discovered The Farmers Market, corner of East 17th Street and Park Av (I is certainly not the only one around New York, there's a whole string of them). All the products sold here are locally produced, by farmers living in the greater New York area. And mostly biologically grown as well.
I was very glad to have found it, since I read about this market in the book I read while in Mexico: 'No Impact Man', by Colin Beavan. About his own adventure to try to live during a year without any impact on the planet, in New York City! A book that I can really recommend, since it is not preachy at all: he is very honest in his own weaknesses, struggles and doubts. But the insights that he gains through his experiment are very important.

Starting at the Farmer Market, along Park Av. which I followed back toward Central Park, there was a Saturday market, for several blocks, with a very broad array of different stuff to buy. A lot of it hand made. Very nice to stroll around.
And be honest, what girl wouldn't be tempted by this kind of sign ;-)


I continued my walk and discovered something that immediately rendered me melancholic:

Okay, The New York Public Library, probably doesn't have immediately the seem influence on you, but especially the lion in the next picture suddenly triggered the memory in my mind: Ghost Busters (I told you that a lot of pictures were shot here)


Another example of a building you all know, even though you would probably not know the name is Grand Central Station:

Apart from it being a impressive building, it has been used as a setting in (among others) the following movies: 'I Am Legend', 'Men In Black', 'Religulous', 'Unbreakable', 'Superman: The Movie', 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind', 'The Fisher King' (which has an important scene in Central Park as well), ...

Probably one of the more eccentric buildings in NY : the Sherry-Netherland hotel, just at the south-east corner of Central Park. Like a little castle on top of a sky scraper!

And at last I am in Central Park. Enormously big and really very relaxing to be in. I can understand why New-yorkers come here to unwind.


A lot of couples come here to have there marriage pictures taken. This Indian couple was really great, they were followed by some of their friends/photographers and I came across them a few times. It almost looks like a scene from a movie :-)
I don't have a picture of it, but found the famous place where people come to play chess (again many movies, 'Independence Day' comes readily to mind), had a lovely organic diner and strolled back toward the bustling city. Everywhere people where running and cycling, enjoying a perfect autumn day.
In the end, walking through this part, gives a amazing sense of belonging, even though you are not living here: Like an Englishman in New York ;-)
(by the way, the official and beautiful video is here, but it has some annoying advertisement in front of it)


...

New York 2010 - part 1

On my way back from Mexico I did a 2 day stopover in New York City.
And although 2 days is of course not even close to enough time to take in all this city has to offer, it was an unforgettable city trip indeed!

How can I express it : I Love New York!

The whole city breaths a certain energy that is very hard to explain. I think part of it is because it is all so familiar. It is probably the most filmed city in the world and we all have seen it over and over again in countless movies. And that gives you a feeling that you are coming home.
There is also always at least one film crew busy (I observed actually two while i was there)


I was staying at Ye Olde Carlton Arms Hotel or aka ArtBreak Hotel. A very cheap hotel if you want to stay in the center of Manhattan (I paid around 80 US$ per night). They let a group of artist redecorate the whole interior (hence ArtBreak hotel) and that gives every floor a completely different view. My floor e.g. was the Egyptian floor. You can see some very cool pictures on the website of the hotel. I liked my room, but unfortunately, there was always noise coming from the unrelenting traffic on the roads:


This is the hotel from the outside. It used to be a safe-heaven for prostitutes and drug abusers, but those days are gone (unfortunately). Several people volunteered to decorate the interior. Rather simple rooms (no tv, no phone, nothing) . Is in East Village by the way.

I arrived on Friday, together with two Mexican girls that I met on the plane. We shared a taxi towards Manhattan. Our taxi driver was from Egypt by the way, he was thrilled when I told him I have visited Egypt several times.
That same evening I found a bike ship close to the hotel and rented a bicycle, to explore the city. Call me a dreamer but that was really the image I had of myself: cruising down Manhattan on a bicycle. I am not the only one, many people cycle in the city center. Here two cyclist are resting on a little terraces just opposite Flatiron Building.


Owning a car is not very practical as there is never parking space and very expense. There are actually more taxis than private cars in downtown Manhattan.
I tested it the same evening and had a brilliant ride along East River, towards Wall Street and then turned around at the World Trace Memorial Site

and tried to find my way back. Although the street pattern is rather simple I did make a little mistake but found my way back in the end, after hitting one car, which was parked and opening his door, which resulting in immediate apologies from his side and queries as to my well being: they are really frightened that someone would sue them ;-)

On Saturday, I got up really early to get the most out of the city. So I jumped on my bike.

The very famous Flatiron Building at the crossing between 5th Avenue and Broadway.
From that point, I followed 5th Avenue, toward the very famous Empire State Building. Not just an icon, it is a perfect vista point to look over Manhattan. The first picture is the south part of the peninsula. You can see skyscrapers of the business center around Wall street and the World Trade site. Right of the buildings, on a small island, you can barely make out the Statue of Liberty. In the middle of the peninsula, you can see 5th avenue racing towards the south.


The opposite side, toward Central Park, which is was going to visit later.This pictures shows the west side of Manhattan with the Hudson River:

An to top it off, the magnificent Art Deco skyscraper, the Chrysler Building.
I finally exited the Empire State Building and contemplated on something I read inside: They have refurbished the whole building, now saving around a third of the electricity the building uses. They have done this with several techniques, among others: actually replacing the single windows with three layer windows (glad they finally realized that one, we have this for years in Belgium). Apparently they save some 4.4 million dollars a year on the electricity bill.
And after looking up to the impressive building


I had the rather unpleasant experience of not finding my bicycle. Slowly I dawned to me that I didn't lock it properly so naturally someone took it from me. After filing an official report with the NYPD (I kid you not, they were actually very friendly) I set out on foot towards the bicycle shop to report the stole bike and apologize.
He was very friendly (wasn't the first time) and after paying some 200 dollars I did the rest of the weekend on foot ...

Spain - diving holiday

In September 2009 I went with the diving club from Ghent (Ocean Divers) to Estartit, Spain. This is the region of the Costa Brava. Just of the coast of Estartit, you have the Medes Isles, that are protected (marine national park). They are rather popular with belgian divers, some diving clubs make it their annual trip.

The deal was pretty sweet, combination of hotel and 5 days diving for some 400 euro. Not bad. And we had a nice group, lot's of fun.

But I didn't really start this holiday with a lot of energy. I was tired, most of all emotionally. Later I have realized that at least part of that fatigue was due to what I was eating. Not the fact that I am on a vegetarian diet, because that can actually be healthier than a 'standard' diet with meat and fish in it, but because I didn't pay a lot of attention to how much variation i put in my food. But apart from that I was emotionally burnt up. In 2008 I had been running like crazy, if you look at my overview of that year it was amazing: traveling a lot, both for work and private, buying a house, a re-breather (and trying to learn how to dive with it). And constantly teaching (which means you are very focused on your job). But the second half of 2009 was rather slow concerning teaching assignments and suddenly I was confronted with the fact that I had to find a new structure in my life. Ever since I lived alone I hadn't taken the time to built up my life for my own and kept busy with a lot of things. Just before we left to Spain I had a 2-day workshop called 'Self-Awareness' and that really opened my eyes that I had to start living my own life and not purely in function of external things or people.

So I was a bit edgy the first few days, but luckily that went better as time progressed.

The first day I used my re-breather (see picture above, which isn't my own picture, but taken by Serge Ego, thanks!), but the facilities at the diving centre weren't very great. A rebreather takes a lot of work, preparing, cleaning, checking, ... And you need some place to do this (and time to do it). So I decided to dive open circuit (i.e. just like everybody else with my tanks :-) ) the rest of the stay. And that was probably a good idea, since I was a lot more relax.

But at least I logged two more re-breather dives and under the supervision of very experienced divers I set a new personal depth record with my re-breather.

The weather was superb and we enjoyed our stay.

The underwater life at Estartit isn't the best I've ever seen, but still worth the visit (and you go there by car, so no flights and also you can take all your own equipment with you, which is worth a lot to experienced divers). Saw a lot of cod, those were huge and I personally enjoyed the little caves we explored as well as the wreck. For that dive i would have loved to have my re-breather.

Somewhere during the week, on Wednesday, we (Jan, Bruno and myself) skipped the dive in the afternoon, to go to Figueres, to visit the Dali museum. I had been there once before, years ago and then the crowd that was waiting to enter was too big to consider a visit. The museum itself is considered the largest surrealistic object in the world and it is something to behold and something you must visit.Later in the afternoon we went to Cadaqués, at the coast. This is a quiet, almost quaint little fishers village and a delight to visit. The road towards it is rather tricky, full concentration is required. But the village is worth it.

I also sampled the night life of Estartit a bit, which wasn't so magnificent but in the end, if you had a good time, that is all that counts :-)

The drive towards and back by car was actually rather nice. We crossed the whole of France and especially the southern half is really nice to behold.
On our way back we were pulled over by the police (actually customs) who probably found 3 men in a white van a bit suspicious. Especially since the third actually emerged from the back (where an self made bed was being used by us in turn to rest a bit).
The best bit was that they ask what all the equipment was and when they heard it was diving equipment asked whether there was any air in the tanks. I immediately started giving a complete overview of all my own tanks and their exact content: both in pressure and air mixture. Only when they left (with a friendly goodbye) did Bruno tell me that it's apparently forbidden by law in France to drive around with dive tanks that are pressurized.
My guess is that since I was so direct and honest in my response about the tanks that they concluded is really unaware that I just violated a whole bunch of French laws ;-)