2017 is ending soon

I’ve started to write this blog 7 years ago and little by little Facebook took over. Pictures were easier to add (and a picture worth 1000 words); videos were easier to add (10000 words?), writing seemed to be time consuming…
And still i’m back, looking long time after my password of unused email accounts and forgotten user names, because 7 years is part of my life. Lately Facebook started to sell albums of years of comments, pictures and likes and my mom was looking hours and hours on those. It is a trace of me. Maybe one day I’ll trow everything away, or i’ll start cherish all my memories, so i am getting ready to make this choice possible :-).
Happy New Year blogosphere!

I wish I were a witch…

Coney island

This morning we ate in the park. Not Central park, but a smaller one, closer to the hotel St. James (on 45th ave) and full with chairs and tables, with people having the morning yoga, hurry people, lazy people, homeless people (22000 children are living in shelters for homeless in NY – said a billboard), so the words „if you can make it there you can make it anywhere” suddenly have a deeper meaning – can one really making it here? Trump shinning hotel in front of Central park – said yes, some can.

1 hour by subway – which is not metro, neither tube here – and you’re on the beach. Atlantic ocean is about 18C, so, kind of Finnish lakes – but the temperature outside is rising fast, 28, 29, 33 C at noon. The place looks like the poor relative of a rich family – the ocean is full with trash, but the safe guards are every 10 meters. It was a good day!

NY – random thoughts

Wall street is short street (about 100 numbers) full of walls, for some reasons I was expecting money and people falling out of the buildings….
Broadway is a wide street full with theaters and opera halls – I liked the show, but I have seen better and one guy was selling wine and candies before the show like they do it on stadiums – portable selling man?!?
Alcohol was not advertised, so all the drinking places are hidden.
The subway had better days, this is Carrie was always calling a taxi.
To rent a flat in Manhattan is around 35000$/month, to buy a small one – about 3 millions.
Plenty of homeless begging on streets and for a change they were not Romanians.

Living in a movie

No matter where i go, no matter what i do – i can’t help the feeling that i’m living in a movie. Walking in front of a hotel makes me look for Jennifer Lopez in Maid in Manhattan, outside a bakery – i start thinking at As good as it gets, walking in Central Park – remind me of Caesar from Planets of the Apes or Tootsie, Brooklyn bridge looked so familiar because of Kate and Leonard and also because Carrie didn’t ever cross it to go to Brooklyn. It is all familiar and new – and it makes me wonder how much all these movies that i continuously watch are shaping my views about life.

New York

The passport control was faster than in London and we have finally arrived in the wet hot America! With „New York, New York” song in my head the first impression is HIGH! Not 1 building, not a street, but all around the town I can’t keep my eyes out of beautiful impressive buildings, one more crazier than another.
The streets are wide and behind first avenue there is not -1 avenue, like I’ve expected, but the river. The streets are perfectly parallel and you can’t stop wondering when did they have time to build so much?
Our hotel is vey central but old. The water system could be updated and the air conditioner is just fit in the open window, meaning that the sound level in the room is constantly over 60dB. Although better than in a pub where we took a beer and a greasy heart attack sandwich – where was impossible to talk to your neighbor, therefore everyone was literally shouting.
However, I just love the buildings!

Sound walks

Have you even been to a sound walk? Quite fascinating thing. Is kind of sight-walk, but you pay attention to sounds and not to sight. You have to walk quietly, preferable with your eyes closed and try to concentrate how you feel about the sounds. The guide was a PhD student for sound architecture and her objective was to understand, map and preserve the soundscapes of specific places. Did you know that there are several soundscapes heritages protected by UNESCO?

We were a small group and we were not allowed to talk during the walk. We had a map and 5 stops, were we concentrate on the sounds and then explained how we felt. First stop was a railway-station that felt like vacation; second was a narrow street, quiet and protected from the sun, that felt safe; then was a wider market square, that was closer to a river, feeling fresh. The next stop was on a bridge, close to a water fall, that felt exciting; the last stop was in front of an old church, with brick-walls that reflected the sund of the river. You could hear a huummm that was not easy to identify – however i felt dusty instead of fresh. Would you like to hear it? Try some points on Firenze sound map.

TED

TED

Italian politeness

So I’m staying in this nice old hotel, all good, besides the cleaning ladies who all the time change the position of the things in my room. Yesterday she put the air remote control on the wall on a hidden spot and I’ve spent 30 mins to look for it. In the end I called the receptionist who invited himself to my room and help finding it!?! I was already in my night dress and happily I have notice the remote control on the wall, when he knocked to my door.

Today my night dress was missing, I search again everywhere unsuccessfully and I called the receptionist with very clear instructions that I want the cleaning lady to tell me where she put it. The guy (another one) didn’t offer to come and for it, but told me that he would not like to disturb the cleaning lady, so he gave me one hour to look for it myself.

I’m not expecting the Japanese politeness but in Italy „the customer is always right” has a different connotation.