NY. Impression.
How did we get there. It all started by accident. I registered at the time on Odnoklassniki. There was my classmate who left for the States 20 years ago. Here, word for word, she invited me and my wife to visit. And we take it and go. The preparation procedure took about a month or a little more. Basically it was obtaining visas. All the necessary conditions were set out in an accessible form on the website of the American Embassy, and we fulfilled them step by step. It turned out to be easy. One piece of advice. The decision to grant or deny a visa is made by the specific US consular officer with whom you speak at the consular section. He has no brothers-in-law godfathers. So to seek help from some firms guaranteeing visas - thrown out money. They have a trained eye, so during an interview, trying to deceive him or impersonate someone else who you are is useless. The refusal will be right there. We didn't even try. The purpose of the trip was "visiting friends". Answered a couple of questions and that's it. multivisa for five years.
And here we are in the USA. I must say right away that I have nothing to write about hotels, so we lived with friends. They have a house in New Jersey (60 km from New York), so there was no issue with housing. We discovered the city itself on our own, as our friends work and they had no time to roam the city with us. We got on the bus in the morning and went to NY. In the evening they returned back.
City. The first impression of NY was deafening. It is huge in every respect, both in area and in height. On TV, no matter how much you watch the height of skyscrapers, you will not understand. But in person it is a strong impression. Against their background, we seemed to ourselves, if not grains of sand, then ants for sure. Friends provided us with a map of the city and a telephone in case something was not clear. They sketched out a verbal plan of what and where and when to watch. It turned out that the city is extremely easy to navigate. IT is all perpendicular to Streets and Avenues. Finding objects is easy. By the end of the first day, we were already famously operating with the terms "corner of 42nd and Broadway" and in this spirit. So. There are 5 districts in the city, but what in my head is closely associated with NY is Manhattan. It is on it that all these skyscrapers, Broadway, Time Square, Wall Street, Central Park, etc. Therefore, I will talk mainly about him, about Manhattan, that is.
The bus arrives at the bus station ("Port Authority Bus Terminal"), which is located in the middle part of Manhattan called Middtown. Looking at the map and looking at the signs, we got our bearings and it turned out that we were not far from Times Square, just a couple of blocks (blocks in their language). There we went. What to say. Times Square is like an embankment in the Crimea. Clouds of tourists souvenir shops all kinds of cafes restaurants shops and shops. And a sea of neon advertising on skyscrapers surrounding from all sides. Everything burns, sparkles, moves, boils. It all looks especially chic in the evening. The difference from the Crimean embankment is that everyone smiles affably, and if they inadvertently hurt you, then "sorry" "excus me" for a very long time after that.
Well... after walking around Times Square and looking at the map, we headed to that same 5th Avenue. She's nearby. Yes. . . she's really fashionable. All these boutiques of Tiffany Dolce and Gabana Fendi and Rolexes. Made an impression. We went to Tiffany. For the sake of curiosity. Probably, the syndrome of the post-Soviet person played a certain role, since we expected the appraising and condescending glances of the staff of some kind of languid and glamorous visitors in mink coats. Nothing like this. Extremely polite staff, no one follows you and bothers you, but as soon as you show interest in something, the seller grows out of the ground and starts showing you everything, telling you, offering to try on. At the same time, there are no other visitors for him. There is only YOU YOU AND YOU! And his attitude does not oblige you to buy anything. And you won't hear after like "all sorts of people are walking around here" They will wish you "nice day" with a wide smile and offer to come back when it's convenient for you. Then there was the Lindt chocolate shop. Here is where the sweet tooth can roam. What was not there. Okay. That is a different story. We finished the first day with an overview of the city from the height of the Empire State Building. This is where the phone comes in handy. With the language, we are not so good, so ask something "Where's the Empire State Building? " we can but understand what they will answer, not quite. Therefore, after calling friends and finding out that the building is located on the corner of 35th and Broadway, the entrance from Broadway went there. A ticket to the top costs 20 dollars. There is a rather large queue, which, however, moves very quickly. And for the especially impatient, a service is provided without a queue, but for $ 75. We decided that we would stand and stood for a whole 5 minutes. It turned out that the queue was caused by the passage of the security checkpoint. Just like in the airport. Bags in the scanner, watch belts to remove and so on. . Then the elevators. The speed of ascent to the 86th floor where one of the observation decks is 1 min. The elevator moves at a speed of more than 100 km/h. Fiction. And then . . Then an incredibly beautiful panorama of the city from a bird's eye view. Here you realize how huge the city is. Far below, tiny cars scurry about, and you can’t even see people. All around rise a variety of skyscrapers of various shapes. On the one hand, Central Park is in the distance. A huge green oasis in the stone jungle (about it later) On the other side, the Hudson River (that's right, the Hudson River), on the third side, the East River, which merge in the distance from the fourth side into one and flow into the Atlantic Ocean. There is the sea gate of the city. Transatlantic liners come there. There, on the island, you can see the Statue of Liberty, which looks like a kinder surprise toy from a height. You can see Brooklyn and the legendary Brooklyn Bridge connecting Brooklyn and Manhattan. The time spent on the observation platform is not limited. Watch all day long. Well, that's how the first day ended. More on the rest later.
