Reply #33: I enjoyed it ...

[RoyGBiv]

I did have a strange experience, though, that may or may not, depending on your point of view, mesh with what you're saying here.

I have just enough country boy left in me not to think much of potential dangers in large cities. (Well, I think of them. I just haven't been taught enough of a lesson to care, e.g. I still have to remind myself to lock my car doors when parking.) So, one night while I was there, I just decided to go walking, by myself, around Manhattan. I saw the sun come up. I had fun doing this even though I realized at some point too many of the people I ran across were so much friendlier from distances than would seem normal, and I started to realize I was the fly, and they were likely trying to direct me to their web. I ignored most of this, though, just wrote it down in my memory for later mental exploration. When I was done with my self-guided tour, though, I realized aside from that, it wasn't just a great deal different than walking around my old home town at night, except that more people were awake, and more places were still open, not places I wanted to enter, but places. So, yes, in that sense, it was underwhelming.

But the rest of it was fantastic. I don't look for hip or style. I like to find the quietest bar in the area and interact with the locals who are also not looking for hip or style in the evenings. During the day I did touristy things, saw places I had only seen in pictures and noted the vast differences in perception that resulted. It seemed both smaller and bigger than I expected, smaller in geographic area, bigger in terms of its variety. I don't know why I didn't expect variety; I suppose I had this mental image of an average New Yorker, and I never met a single person that fit that image.

I've been to San Francisco too as well as LA. I love San Francisco, but I'd have trouble picking between there and New York. Both had their charms, some similar, some not. I didn't like LA for reasons I can't completely explain. Well, part of it is that I was driving when I was in LA, and in New York I took cabs, walked, and rode subways and trains. In San Francisco I took buses and walked. I hate driving in unfamiliar cities; driving in one with the traffic problems of LA was one of my worst nightmares realized.