Ever Been To The Good Ol' US of A

[SanteeFats]

Yeth I been here almost every day except for service deployments.

[HugoHackenbush]

Like others posting on this thread, I wasn’t born in the US, but have lived here for many years. I have spent plenty of time in NY, LA and San Francisco. I have lived in Chicago, Washington DC and Miami.

To answer Brecht’s question, NY, Chicago and Washington DC all have extensive public transportation. San Francisco has BART, but I’m not sure how good it is. Ask Brian 249X.

That being said, if the subway you’re used to is the Tube in London and if that’s what you’re expecting, you’ll be sorely disappointed. The Metro in DC is relatively modern and easy to use, Chicago has mostly elevated trains (thus “The El”), is older but fairly easy to get around, and NY’s subway is an absolute abomination…old, dirty and confusing as hell. I can’t tell how many times I’ve gotten turned around and went walking in the wrong direction in NY. Miami has MetroRail, but nobody rides it. Everybody drives. Just like LA.
So in alphabetical order:

CHICAGO: A great city full of nice, good natured people. Top notch restaurants and museums, and the Chicago Symphony is one of the best in the world. The Art Institute of Chicago has better Picassos than the official Picasso museum in Barcelona. Estreeter, you must go there and have an authentic Chicago style deep dish pizza. One slice will knock you out. But boy is the weather cold. And they don’t call it “The Windy City” for nothing.

LOS ANGELES: Meh. As the song goes “LA is a great big freeway…” that about sums it up. Hollywood Boulevard is unbelievably sleazy.

MIAMI: Not nearly as dangerous as Rogerbh would have you believe. BITD, when cocaine ruled Miami, i.e. the “Miami Vice” era, it was very dangerous. Much less so now. Miami Beach, which used to be where the elderly went to wait to die, has been taken over by nightclubs that cater to young Latins and Europeans. This is an offshoot of the “model boom” where every magazine in Europe (particularly Germans) shot their photoshoots in Miami because of “the light”. For example, this photo was shot mere blocks from where I used to live. Hard to beat that, isn’t it?



NEW YORK: I have a love/hate relationship with NY. On the one hand, everything happens in New York…the TV Networks, Broadway, the music business…it’s all here. On the other hand, it’s incredibly cramped, crowded, confusing as hell, dirty and the whole place smells like urine. The food is great, the Broadway shows are fabulous (but you’d go broke seeing them) and the place has a buzz like nowhere else, but good lord is it expensive. Not London expensive, but close. Could I live there? Nope.

SAN FRANSISCO: Great city, lots of charm, close to the Napa Valley wineries, and the start of the Pacific NW, which is beautiful. Half Moon Bay is also very nice. But since Silicon Valley took over things, the prices are astronomical, especially for housing, and things are so out of control that people use their smart phone apps to auction off public parking spaces.

WASHINGTON, DC: Great city, with lots to do. You can go to the Air and Space Museum and see the Apollo 11 space capsule. Good, safe public transport. There are limits on how high the buildings can be so the claustrophobic “skyscraper factor” is absent. Well organized and easy to get around. Want to be moved? Go the Vietnam memorial and stand 9 feet deep in nothing but names. Want good food? Every… and I mean every kind of food is served here. Vietnamese? Ethiopian? You got it.

Every city can be dangerous. But I never had a problem on the “EL” in Chicago, the NY subway or the Metro in DC, despite spending many, many hours riding them.

[forfucksake]

Originally Posted by otokonomidori

I can't imagine Americans to be more ignorant than anyone else in the world.

Plenty of staggeringly ignorant and stupid people in the UK and Europe - I've met French students who thought we Scots would all have red hair, be wearing kilts and be f^cking bagpipe players

I'm not saying they are stupid just that the education system sucks donkey balls.
Whats the point in memorizing 50 something state capitals and a couple of hundred presidents when there is a whole world to learn about?

[keegen01]

Originally Posted by forfucksake

I'm not saying they are stupid just that the education system sucks donkey balls.
Whats the point in memorizing 50 something state capitals and a couple of hundred presidents when there is a whole world to learn about?

Only 45, maybe you should study the World more?

I've been all over the World and the U.S., there are Stupid people everywhere.

[cginok]

Originally Posted by HugoHackenbush

Like others posting on this thread, I wasn’t born in the US, but have lived here for many years. I have spent plenty of time in NY, LA and San Francisco. I have lived in Chicago, Washington DC and Miami.

To answer Brecht’s question, NY, Chicago and Washington DC all have extensive public transportation. San Francisco has BART, but I’m not sure how good it is. Ask Brian 249X.

That being said, if the subway you’re used to is the Tube in London and if that’s what you’re expecting, you’ll be sorely disappointed. The Metro in DC is relatively modern and easy to use, Chicago has mostly elevated trains (thus “The El”), is older but fairly easy to get around, and NY’s subway is an absolute abomination…old, dirty and confusing as hell. I can’t tell how many times I’ve gotten turned around and went walking in the wrong direction in NY. Miami has MetroRail, but nobody rides it. Everybody drives. Just like LA.
So in alphabetical order:

CHICAGO: A great city full of nice, good natured people. Top notch restaurants and museums, and the Chicago Symphony is one of the best in the world. The Art Institute of Chicago has better Picassos than the official Picasso museum in Barcelona. Estreeter, you must go there and have an authentic Chicago style deep dish pizza. One slice will knock you out. But boy is the weather cold. And they don’t call it “The Windy City” for nothing.

LOS ANGELES: Meh. As the song goes “LA is a great big freeway…” that about sums it up. Hollywood Boulevard is unbelievably sleazy.

MIAMI: Not nearly as dangerous as Rogerbh would have you believe. BITD, when cocaine ruled Miami, i.e. the “Miami Vice” era, it was very dangerous. Much less so now. Miami Beach, which used to be where the elderly went to wait to die, has been taken over by nightclubs that cater to young Latins and Europeans. This is an offshoot of the “model boom” where every magazine in Europe (particularly Germans) shot their photoshoots in Miami because of “the light”. For example, this photo was shot mere blocks from where I used to live. Hard to beat that, isn’t it?

I have to butt in here. I have numerous relatives in the Miami/Ft. Lauderdale area. They would disagree with you. They are all either current, or former, law enforcement. I'm talking about well over a dozen of them. They have always told me to stay around the "touristy" areas, and you'll be fine. As one of them said once "If you're on a highway, and you start having car problems, don't pull off the highway, stay where you are and call for help." The neighborhoods, some of them anyway, are just that dangerous...you don't want to take the chance of pulling off the highway into the wrong neighborhood. As one cousin...he was actually a paramedic...said, there are neighborhoods where they will shoot you if you're white, or wearing a uniform, no questions asked. He and his partner have to carry handguns, and a shotgun, in their ambulance because some of the neighborhoods are just THAT bad. He said they don't care if you're there to save their dying grandmother, they'll still shoot you if you're white or in a uniform.

[Estreeter]

Originally Posted by Brian249x

many of us Catholic school veterans. Needless to say, living among Bible thumpers was not her cup of tea. (She had previously lived in France, Switzerland, Berlin, Washington, D.C., and New York City.)

I went to Catholic School, still go to Mass now and then, but some of the small towns we pulled up in in the South blew my mind, I felt uncomfortable in a small few.

Did make one mistake on my trip, as said, no real plans and we did make it to the Florida pan handle then went west, but I wish we'd gone further south and visited the Kennedy Space Centre, has anybody been there, many of my Mates have been to the US but none have been there so I haven't any real feedback on it.

I'm not big, actually bores me, place like Disney Land and big tourist things. Things that interest me are real things, see real people, I think it was bowlinggreen that asked what we were doing in Mississippi, I'll answer it properly now .... wanted to see the real America , not the jazzed up tourist crap, hell I can see that here on our Gold Coast in Queensland. True also, Vegas is a tourist place, but I love gambling Vegas is one of few cities I like anywhere.

[HugoHackenbush]

Originally Posted by cginok

I have to butt in here. I have numerous relatives in the Miami/Ft. Lauderdale area. They would disagree with you. They are all either current, or former, law enforcement. I'm talking about well over a dozen of them. They have always told me to stay around the "touristy" areas, and you'll be fine. As one of them said once "If you're on a highway, and you start having car problems, don't pull off the highway, stay where you are and call for help." The neighborhoods, some of them anyway, are just that dangerous...you don't want to take the chance of pulling off the highway into the wrong neighborhood. As one cousin...he was actually a paramedic...said, there are neighborhoods where they will shoot you if you're white, or wearing a uniform, no questions asked. He and his partner have to carry handguns, and a shotgun, in their ambulance because some of the neighborhoods are just THAT bad. He said they don't care if you're there to save their dying grandmother, they'll still shoot you if you're white or in a uniform.

I can't say that you're wrong, but I do think you missed my point. As stated in the final paragraph, all big cities have areas which are dangerous, and you should exercise extreme caution when going there.

When I lived in DC, this was the Capitol Hill area after dark. A friend of mine had a few after work drinks in a Capitol Hill bar, and woke up the next morning in the bushes not far from said bar covered in his own blood and minus his wallet.

Yes, there are parts of Miami which are still very dangerous. But back in the 80's we had a full fledged shoot-out between rival gangs using MACHINE GUNS in the car park of an upscale shopping mall. Needless to say, it's a lot quieter now.

When I moved to Chicago, I was scared out of my wits, certain I would be mugged upon stepping on a "El" platform. It didn't happen. I rode the El all over Chicago, at all times of the day and night, and I was never hassled, nor did I ever see anyone hassled, much less mugged.

As a musician and later working in the music business, I've been in lots of dodgey areas after dark. But I have never been roughed up, mugged, robbed, or what have you.

Am I just lucky? Maybe.

[cginok]

Originally Posted by HugoHackenbush

I can't say that you're wrong, but I do think you missed my point. As stated in the final paragraph, all big cities have areas which are dangerous, and you should exercise extreme caution when going there.

When I lived in DC, this was the Capitol Hill area after dark. A friend of mine had a few after work drinks in a Capitol Hill bar, and woke up the next morning in the bushes not far from said bar covered in his own blood and minus his wallet.

Yes, there are parts of Miami which are still very dangerous. But back in the 80's we had a full fledged shoot-out between rival gangs using MACHINE GUNS in the car park of an upscale shopping mall. Needless to say, it's a lot quieter now.

When I moved to Chicago, I was scared out of my wits, certain I would be mugged upon stepping on a "El" platform. It didn't happen. I rode the El all over Chicago, at all times of the day and night, and I was never hassled, nor did I ever see anyone hassled, much less mugged.

As a musician and later working in the music business, I've been in lots of dodgey areas after dark. But I have never been roughed up, mugged, robbed, or what have you.

Am I just lucky? Maybe.

I don't disagree with that, and understand what you are saying. The catch is, what parts of those big cities is dangerous, and which parts aren't? If you're not from there, you don't know.

Hence why my cousin said not to get off the highway if you break down, no matter what.

[cginok]

Originally Posted by Estreeter

I went to Catholic School, still go to Mass now and then, but some of the small towns we pulled up in in the South blew my mind, I felt uncomfortable in a small few.

Did make one mistake on my trip, as said, no real plans and we did make it to the Florida pan handle then went west, but I wish we'd gone further south and visited the Kennedy Space Centre, has anybody been there, many of my Mates have been to the US but none have been there so I haven't any real feedback on it.

I'm not big, actually bores me, place like Disney Land and big tourist things. Things that interest me are real things, see real people, I think it was bowlinggreen that asked what we were doing in Mississippi, I'll answer it properly now .... wanted to see the real America , not the jazzed up tourist crap, hell I can see that here on our Gold Coast in Queensland. True also, Vegas is a tourist place, but I love gambling Vegas is one of few cities I like anywhere.

Yes, and it's an amazing place. Just being in a place where all those history making events took place is enough incentive to visit. I would assume they still give tours of the place. I was on one, went to the launch pads, launch control rooms, vehicle assembly building, the crawlers that they used to move the rockets to the launch platforms are enormous. You don't quite get the size of the things until you stand next to one. There was one place where they had some of the old rockets like a Saturn V and others. One thing I do remember was a time capsule that was in the same area as the old rockets. IIIRC, and it's been a few decades, it was something that they discovered on one of the missions in the 60's, that they didn't think we were ready to know about yet, so they sealed it for like 50 years. I've spent the better part of the last several decades wondering just what the heck is in that thing.

[Sir Honkers]

My best memory of America is getting pulled over on a country road by a big, fat, sunglasses wearing cop who looked like he'd just stepped out of In The Heat Of The Night. Contrary to his appearance, not only was he courteous and friendly but when he found out I was Australian he declined to give me a ticket in case it gave me an unfavourable view of the great state of Georgia and send me on my way with a friendly reminder to watch my speed.
And Mister Hackenbush is on the money about Chicago. Amazing place, but I'd only go in what the laughingly call their summer.