Artur's Blog - lagrange
"Start spreading the news, Im leaving today
I want to be a part of it - New York, New York"

All set to go!
Wieruszow, Poland
Packing, packing, packing and some more packing! A recent study by me has revealed that during the last 4 years I have not lived at any given address more than 5 consecutive months. That means I am pretty much used to packing my stuff, getting to know new places, people and environments, whether it's a flat in a small city in Denmark, an appartment in Amsterdam, a student dormitory, a countryside hotel or my parents' place.
But this time it's different. The distance, duration, amount of preparations and the very location make the trip very exciting. Over the past few days, whatever media I was exposed to, in whichever context, I had the impression that [[New York]], the Big Apple, the capital of the world was being mentioned all the time! Sounds like a lot is happening there and I sure am going to use my time well in order to experience as much as possible.
Going there was not easy to set up, especially for a relatively inexperienced traveler who has been to many places in Europe, but not much outside. Leaving the Schengen zone makes some things more complicated, and going to the US for 6 months was quite an organizational challenge. Tons of forms to fill, photos to take, insurances to buy, flights and busses to figure out and book, payment cards to get, documents to have, accommodation issues to resolve and taxes to align and here I am - all set to go, flying tomorrow from [[Warsaw]] to Newark!
Song for today? Of course: New York, New York by Frank Sinatra!
PS At this point I should mention the valuable help I've received from people from NY that I know or got to know - a few emails made lots of things much easier, especially preventing me from being homeless after arrival and roaming from hostel to hostel in search of something more permanent. If you ever read it - many thanks!
written by  lagrange on July 20, 2009 from Wieruszow, Poland
from the travel blog: Artur's Blog

The trip & first impressions
Newark, United States
Here I am! The trip is (finally) over. It's after 10PM in New York and I am a good boy who will be in bed by 11.
The trip started at 7AM in Poland. Driving to Warsaw was OK, traffic was bearable. The new airport terminal does not look impressive before the security check, but it's get better afterwards.
The bird before the flight
The plane was Boeing 767-300. Not the latest machine, no full-blown entertainment system and the only movie played onboard was Hanna Montana! I was about to write: luckily they played some documentary afterwards, but since it was "Misja Martyna" I am not going to do that. The flight lasted between 9-10 hours and according to the onboard GPS system it was over Poland, Sweden, Denmark, probably some Scottish territorial waters, Iceland, Greenland, Canada and the US. My neighbour turned to be a very lively and talkative Zyta Gilowska lookalike which didn't shut up until I spilled a cup of tea on her.
First sights of America
New York was all cloudy and drizzly. Despite the humidity the temperature is at a high level so I felt like in a sauna. Considering that I had a total of 46kg luggage on me I probably also looked like that. The people seeme quite friendly and helpful, which for a newcomer is a valuable thing. Not that many fat ones, although the ratio is indeed higher than in Europe. Similar to limos - over the course of 30mins I probably saw 20 of them.
Getting out of Newark Airport
Prices are high. Yoghurts, rolls and similar stuff are even more expensive than in Denmark. From what I've been told eating out isn't, which makes it a good alternative for cooking. However going to clubs is - getting in costs around 500 USD. It can be split among multiple people if you're a group. Time to make some friends!
All in all nothing is that susprising so far - eveything is quite familiar - I bet it's because of the movies. Even the yellow taxis seem like something I've grown up having around. Manhattan, which I only skimmed while going to Port Authority Station, is quite impressive, but I couldn't see how tall the buildings were due to the low hanging clouds. The other bulidings are not the prettiest, with emergency staircases outside. Classic.
Poland Spring - the most popular bottled water in New York
A surprising fact is that the most popular brand of bottled water (tap water is not a health hazard but is not recommended due to a high chlorine content) is called "Poland Spring". I wonder if they advertised it as alcohol-free vodka.
The roommates are nice - laid back and fun. One has just moved here from Los Angeles and is looking for a job in the fashion industry. Another one is an editor at MTV. And there's Christian - a master's student from Germany.
Time to go to sleep! It's been a long day, especially that I travelled with the sun. We'll see what the next day brings. The song of the day was definitely: Leaving on a Jet Plane (the version by Peter, Paul and Mary).
written by  lagrange on July 21, 2009 from Newark, United States
from the travel blog: Artur's Blog

El Kiosko Discount
West New York, United States
The first full day in the States is over. It was probably the first time in my life that I felt like a true early bird - after I couldn't sleep since 3am, I was up and running at 6.30. I even did something productive and searched & booked my flight to San Francisco in the beginning of the next month.
63rd st in West New York
Later I decided to go to the university. First I explored the area of West New York a bit. The house is located in a quiet street, connecting two major arteries. On the one end of the street a few Manhattan buildings are visible.
A view of Manhattan
The place is inhabited mostly by a hispanic community. It was possible to hear that in the streets, busses. Commercials, banners and billboards left no doubt either. Of course there were some learning experiences, some of them acquired the hard way. First of all, even though it's New York (maybe not NYC, but close enough) the bus runs only every 30 min! Naively, I went to the bus stop without a prior check of the timetables. Naively, I believed that schedules would be on the bus stops, which turned out to contain only the route numbers. Having waited for 25 minutes, I entered the bus only to find out that exact fare is required and no change is given. So after a minute's ride I needed to hop off the bus and find a seven-eleven in order to get some change before entering the next bus.
Another interesting experience: we've all heard the word "dime, quarter, nickle, penny" etc. It is fine with quarter and penny, but how much is a dime? Convinced that this is only a colloquial name used in everyday American English, I started carefuly examining the coin. Unfortunately, it only contained the word "dime", without any indication on how many cents it is. I had to ask the saleswoman, who immediately realized that I was new. Her best guess: I was French.
Eventually, when I entered the bus, I figured out that they stop at every second block so it's always easy to know where the nearest bus stop is. There's air conditioning everywhere, including the buses. This makes it very difficult to survive on a hot day like today - going from a building, walking outside, entering a shop, taking a bus, walking again exposes you to really huge temperature fluctuations which can put a strain on the immune system. No wonder swine flu is spreading well here.
The ride was very long becasue of the many stops, heavy traffic and the overall chaos on the roads: delivery trucks notoriously occupying bus stops, roadworks, cars stopping in the middle of the lane blocking the traffic etc. I guess if I was to take the trip every day I would most likely learn Spanish in 6 months.
A Hoboken street
Hoboken is a whole different place compared to West New York. It's cleaner, the buildings are even and more resemble something that was planned before the construction started. It has a certain feel to it and I can easily understand why it is a trendy area with expensive rents.
Just outside of the university are some walking terraces. Many buildings on the campus are located on top of a cliff overlooking the Hudson River with great views over Manhattan.
Song for today: Englishman in New York.
Lower Manhattan seen from Hoboken
Over and out!
written by  lagrange on July 22, 2009 from West New York, United States
from the travel blog: Artur's Blog

Walkin'
New York, United States
Walking is said to be a great way of exploring New York. You tend to miss out a lot on the subway, the car forces you to focus on the road and even the bus passes the variety of people and landmarks too quickly to capture it all. For me the reason was more pragmatic: busses from West New York to Hoken run semi-hourly, you never know if they will come and if they do, it takes 40 minutes (and $2.15) to get across those 3.8 miles. For that reason, not paying attention to the staggering 32 degrees outside, I set off for Jersey City.
New York signs
Getting around the New York area is very simple - you don't even need a map. All the streets are a 90-degree grid. Typically, streets running from east to west are numbers (63th st, 64th st etc.) whereas streets going north to south have some unsophisticated names (Washington Boulevard, Park Avenue, Garden Street). This way we always know which directon we are going. Surirpsingly, the street numbering doesn't change from city to city and a Park Avenue can run from West New York, through Weehawken and Hoboken. The infrastructure for walking is generally OK, however crossing highways, major rail hubs etc is always a problem.
Moving around the city explains a few phonomena that I've only known from movies and that depict the American reality far better than the European one. "Let's meet at 8th and Washington", typically translated in Europe as "let us meet at the intersection between the 8th Street and Washington Boulevard" does not sound very natural for many Europeans. Neither does the notion of a "neighbourhood". In the NYC area you can find yourself in a Hispanic "neighbourhood" and you can't miss that - you hear Spanish everywhere, shops sell products from Spanish-speaking countries, houses have no gardens, and guys with white T-shirts, black trousers, gold necklaces and shiny back-combed hair dominate the street. You cross one or two blocks, you find yourself in a completely different place - people suddenly turn white, speak English, drive different cars, have a different way of organizing their whereabouts and so on. The notion of "neighbourhood" does not function in such a sense in any of the European countries I've been to long enough. Instead, we have city quarters, areas, settlements etc.
Manhattan, contrary to what I previously thought, is very diversified. Lower Manhattan is the financial center of the world - home to the world financial center and other complexes, where people mostly work and hardly ever live. The WFC has a nice marina and a park nearby, creating an atmosphere of coziness and relax, one I would not expect from that place.
Battery Park
In the south of Manhattan is the Battery Park - another peasant spot with many people relaxing, enjoying a snack or even fishing in the shadow of the nearby skyscrapers.
A distant look at the Statue of Liberty from Battery Park
Here you can already see the Liberty Island with the Statue of Liberty. To get there you take a ferry from the Islander terminal. I have left that for later.
A look at ground zero.
Moving north it is impossible to miss the Ground Zero. Today, for most New Yorkers it is mostly a transportation terminal - an underground rail (PATH) connects the Lower Manhattan with New Jersey. It is however still possible to see signs of rememberance to the nearly 2800 people who died here on September, 11th, 2001. Walking in the area gives a strange feeling, knowing it's the stage of the tragedy we all watched live on TV only a few years ago.
At the World Trade Center station - a flag with names of rescuers who perished in action
The fire engines in the area often display photos and names of the rescuers who perished as the twin towers collapsed. Somehow it is a great pity that the buildings are not there anymore - the Empire State Building is now the tallest, but knowing that there used to be structures that superceded its height takes away some of its splendor. In general, ground zero leaves me with an impression of how great the area and the structures must have been.
Moving further north I entered an area of much lower bulidings 3, 4 storry high. It was not very crowded and full of restaurants and hotels. After some time I decided to bank right, towards the 6th avenue. From there I took the walk towards Times Square, which I reached when it was dark.
Entering the Times Square is quite an impressive experience - the night turns to a day as hordes of people and cars condense trying to reach their destinations. It's not only bright - it's also loud as the drivers excessively use their horns, huge American trucks accellerate and break and, on some occasions, road workers drill in the asphalt (yes, at night). Every step taken at Times Square reveals a famous place or an icon of the American culture - Planet Hollywood, MTV studios, headquarters of large corporations, Madam Tussaud's or the NASDAQ banner are just a handful of the many examples.
A record of the route
In general the trip took me an entire day, although I must admit I was taking it easy. In total I walked 20km and only used public transportation (PATH and NJ Transit bus) to cross the Hudson back and forth. What other song can summarize the day better than "These boots are made for walking" by Nancy Sinatra.
written by  lagrange on July 26, 2009 from New York, United States

The Mythbusters
Hoboken, United States
I have the impression that quite a lot of people, including me, who have never been to the US consider the country through several lenses: the politics, the friends and the popular culture. No doubt that the pop culture stereotypes are largely shaped by the movies - there is actually a great deal of things we see on the screen which might be different to what we know from Europe but because we've seen it so many times it seems natural.
Below I will try to list those stereptypical perceptions and try to answer: yes or no to each of them. The order is totally random.
-YES: there are lots of vans driving around, exactly like the ones from the A-team, many of them white with company names.
-YES: there are many gringos walking around in off-white t-shirts, hairs combed back, looking like they just got out of the set of "Desperados"
-YES: geography is expressed through blocks and street numbers (see my previous entry)
-YES: when you enter an office of an institution (may it be an administrative office at the university or a social security office) the lady whio will attend to you is a laaaaarge, black woman that needs to move away from the desk on her rolling chair in order to see the papers lying on it. Yes, she does talk with a kind of a southern accent "Mea a haep you". The only thing I have not experienced from them yet is a "sweety" added at the end of the question.
-YES: there are black gangsta boys standing on street corners or sitting on stairs leading to the entrance to a house.
-YES: they do eat at fastfood.
-NO: they are not complete ignorants. The Americans I've met so far are very well aware that both, Denmark and Poland are contries. No one has said things like: "Isn't Denmark the capital of Sweden?"
-NO: they are not all fat. In fact I do not see a huge difference between here and Europe. Yes, there are some extremely fat people that you don't see that much of on the other side of the Ocean, but in general, excluding them the populations are quite similar in size.
-YES: there are ice cream trucks playing songs like from an amusement park.
-YES: the drivers extensively use horns while standing in traffic - even if it doesn't help and the persons at the beginning of the traffic jam have no chance of hearing them becasue they are too far.
-What else? Do you have any proposals to verify? Let me know in the comments!
Another thing which struck me in Hoboken is the amount of corruption and the attitude people have towards it. The other day I was having lunch at a place right across the city hall just to find out from twitter that the major was just charged with bribery. There was a press conference going on inside at that time where he denied everything. There were many news vans and police cars outside the town hall.
Right after the press conference the major was handcuffed and taken out - hollywood style. Maybe this would not be very surprising, if not the fact that it was his 23rd day in the office and the bribe he took was "only" USD 10,000. Was it really worth it?
The same day, taking care of the paperwork, I overheard the conversation of some clerks. An old lady was telling a young lad that there were many majors like that - in Hoboken everybody's corrupt, "especially the police". "But the previous ones, you know, they took bribes but they did something good for the city too. We had a major here, 10 years ago maybe, he was very corrput but he cleaned the city nicely, so everybody just looked away from the greased palms"... Along with the major, several associates and several rabbies were arrested.
One more thing to add for tonight: fastfood. I deliberatly decided to go to eat at McDonald's as part of the US experience. That was the worst meal of my life! (except the ones that I cooked for myself). The inside of the place looked like a Lisbon restaurant, or a Polish university cafeteria: white tiles ...and that's it. The employees looked like they were going through the worst torture of their lives and did not talk more than they really needed. The food? Seems that the European McDonald's is a fine example of healthy eating. I could not eat the roll of the burger it was turning into superglue as soon as I placed it in my mouth. From all that I started getting weird thoughts and searched for chicken legs inside - found something quite similar. All in all, the McDonald's I visited in the US looked more like a homeless shelter than a restaurant.
So YES: their eating habits are bad. This morning one of my roommies, who just moved over here from California, asked me with that typical accent: "Duuude, what do you think? Do you think this bread is still good?". I asked "Isn't there a best before on it?". "No, I must have removed it." "How long have you had it?" - I asked. "I don't know... Prolly a month or so. But from the look and feel it seems allright. I'll eat it."
Song for today: New York State of Mind by Billy Joel (thanks Ala).
written by  lagrange on July 28, 2009 from Hoboken, United States

Soon to fly across the country
West New York, United States
So here we are again. Sitting in the room on another very very warm day. This time I feel it because to save the environment we decided to turn off the air conditioning (well, after a week or so). My German co-habitant and I kept firm, but the three Puertorican chicas visiting our other roommate did not. So while their host is away they apparently decided to raise our electricity bill, ekhm, destroy the environment.
The last days were quite similar - I had quite a bit of work to do at the university. I have taken some pictures of the campus and other places, but since I had to replace the hard drive in my laptop it took me quite a while to set things up. Unfortunately I still haven't figured out how I had set up this neat FTP via Bluetooth thingy (that damn OBEX isn't there anymore!)
Apart from that I am looking for accommodation. The lease on the current palce ends on September the 11th (doomsday). However, the sooner I move out of here the better. The commute is a pain in the neck and, well, I don't speak Spanish which makes a lot of things more difficult.
Finding a place in Hoboken isn't easy. I've had a look at several options. They are all expensive, but I try to keep it under USD 1,000/month and furnished. So far I've seen:
- a place which was relatively far away and had no windows. A place
- a place with a window, but a wall right behind it. The window was only in one room because the flat was in a basement. Low ceilings too.
- a place where you have to get through somebody's room or somebody has to get through your room to reach theirs. Maybe that wouldn't be so bad if the person who showed the place wasn't a Tool Tribute band singer (www.toolfist.com) and looked like "please, don't hurt me, sir" with all the tattoos and stuff. Most enquiries however go unanswered which sucks.
In other news, at the university I met a guy who was just moving out of here and invited me to his goodbye party. I decided to go even though it was in Union City or Jersey City Heights, I don't really know. When you enter it it says "Welcome to (whatever) city. Proud of our diversity". Well, too bad they don't mention crime rates, but that place sure didn't look safe. I just borrowed a bike (which was at that time already sold) to get home. I promised to return it the day after.
The party consisted mostly of internationals: Germans, Indians, Pakistanis, Czech, Ukrainian and others. It felt a bit like Erasmus but if you take the rich kids only. In general it was good but the A/C did not have enough throughput to cool down all the binge going on inside.
They day after I had to return the bike. It required me to ride down Bergenline Avenue for several kilometers during rush hours. That was fun! The cars mostly stand in teh traffic or on red lights. But not me! I was just overtaking them from left and right and then left again, getting inbetween them as they stood. One thing I still don't understand is that there are so many intersections with "STOP" written on the road coming from every direction. Seems that the one who comes last should yield. Not sure though.
Well, time to go to sleep. Tomorrow a ride to Port Authority Bus Terminal on Manhattan, then CoachUSA to Newark Intl Airport, then a flight to San Francisco, a BART ride to Powell Street and getting to the hotel. Big surprise: according to the weather forecast for San Francisco the day's high during my stay there will be 15 degrees centigrade! I expected enormous heat, so this Danish summer pleased me a lot (the no-rain version) becasue I am planning to do some sightseeing apart from the conference.
Song for today? "If you're going to San Francisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair!"
written by  lagrange on August 4, 2009 from West New York, United States

City by the Bay
San Francisco, United States
A quick & healthy meal
That's it! I am sitting at the airport, waiting to board a plane to NYC. It just got dark, I am sitting by the window watching lights across the bay blink in the distance and smelling kerozine from jets taking off one by one. At this time I'm also enjoying the meal that you can see on the picture - a good way to save some money and time at an airport terminal.
I could see that there were a few hits on the blog, more or less equal to the amount of people I shared the address with. Unfortunately I was not able to keep you updated due to lack of internet connection at my hotel and a busy schedule. But nothing's lost and I will make up for it in the near future.
What can I say - San Francisco is great, California is great. But first thing's first - the flight. It took me over 3 hours to get to the airport because something has happened in Manhattan and all the bus highways were standing still - noone knew what happened and the drivers were trying to find out from one another without success. Luckily I accounted for some delays and made it in time.
Knowing that this would be a cross-country daytime flight I had booked a window seat - and it was worth it. Everybody knows more or less how big America is across - but flying over it makes you actually realize that. The flight took nearly 6 hours, which is only 2 hours less compared to the flight from Warsaw to New York . But this one was within one country!
Round fields in western US
It is interesting to see how the landscapes of the US change. Having taken off, the first hour was over the eastern states and to be honest, the view from above was very similar to what I know from Europe - meadows, some forrests and cities every now and then. Maybe except that the cities were visibly square - consisted of the grid I wrote about some time ago.
A Pac Man inspired field
Moving on, the landscape changed - the cities became more scarce and gave way to huge farming areas. With time, those areas became surrounded more and more by yellowish rock-and-desert areas. I suppose due to irrigation the fields had a round shape. Some of them must have been inspired by PacMan.
Rivers
Then the landscape changed from flat to more rocky - you could see valleys carved by rivers, some with interesting reddish shade around them. From the plane it looked flat though - for now. No sign of towns and cities for a while already, just loooooong loooooong roads going straight as far as I could see (and I guess I could see far from 10,000m). No wonder they call it the fly-over zone!
A fault visivble among the clouds
Eventually the landscape got totally red, without any trees. Unfortunately it also got cloudy, but when it was possible I could see great canions, mountains and faults. That must've been Colorado.
A canion
Eventually from red the ground turned yellow again, with high mountains and sparse plants scattered around. On the 1-hour approach towards San Francisco International Airport I saw two major fires - one of them on the hills just across the bay from San Francisco and one of them was showed on the news that evening.
Lake Mono nearby Yosemite National Park
If you're interested in comparing airplane photos with Google Maps, here's an example. It is Mono Lake, just at the outskirts of the Yosemite National Park. Note that not all the pictures from the plane are included in this entry - if you're interested in more, browse photos tagged "airphoto".
Downtown San Francisco
The weather in San Francisco was more or less the same as in New York, even though, technically, after the 6 hour flight it was 3 hours later than at departure. What was different was the great, relieving, chilly breeze from the Pacific. That was such a great change from the humidity and stuffness of New York.
Going on the train through some suburbs of San Francisco I was amazed at how nice they looked in terms of architecture. Stretched across the hilly landscape were very colorful houses - all in light, pastel colours, with nothing standing out too much. As it turns out, the houses which today reach exorbitant prices (the 2007's peak average for a house was over 800,000 USD) were built by several developers for rather poor people. In order to make them inexpensive they were constructed in a mass manner. In order to let people find their homes among those of the neighbours, the houses were differentiated on color - yellow, pink, green, orange, blue - hence the pretty, colorful mosaic.
A street car house
Along the same lines, when the city was going through major development periods in the late 19th century, and rapid re-development after the "big one" - a 8,1 Richter scale earthquake of April 1906 people had to reinvent ways of getting a place to live quickly. One fo them was to get barracks in which they resided immediately after their houses were destroyed, and remodel them, sometimes join them together or put one on top of another to build a nicer house. Some even constructed, what came to be called, carville - decommissioned street cars, when combined together, could serve as houses. Pictures courtesy of http://www.outsidelands.org.
Since bording time has come, I will write another entry on the first impressions of the city once I have the opportunity. It's going to be a tough overnight flight - full plane, lots of kids as it seems and an aisle seat. Landing at 6am and then getting through Manhattan morning traffic to get to West New York. With me luck!
In the mean time - goodbye California! Song for today? I left my heard in San Francisco!
written by  lagrange on August 5, 2009 from San Francisco, United States

The City by the Bay
San Francisco, United States
With the bridge
It took me some time to copy, download, upload, choose, categorize and select the pictures. But here it is, San Francisco!
Strong contrasts - homeless people in the Civic Center in San Francisco
As I mentioned before, San Francisco is a city to love. It is extremely diverse from skyscrapers in the Financial District to cozy neighbourhoods on the Russian Hill. From splendour and wealth of Hillsborough Heights to the poverty of homeless people on Market street. From great hills to shady valleys. From very typical American Neighbourhoods, to some of the coutry's most famous landmarks.
A street
The only thing which is quite stable is the weather. The daily high and low can vary by only 5-10 degrees Celcius between the summer and the winter. However, within the city at the same time the difference can be the same - the many hills act as barriers for the air, condensers for the clouds and give shadow from the sun. In general, during my stay there, the temperature was just perfect. It was great to take a break from the hot and humid climate of New York.
On the way to the bridge
Perhaps the the city's most famous landmark is the Golden Gate bridge.
The bridge has an impressive height of 227m
Now you may ask: why do you call it Golden? It's red. Well, apparently the official color of the bridge is "International Orange". It is however not what the bridge was named after - the area in general is called "The Golden Gate". And was called that way before the bridge was even planned. So it was natural to call a bridge which was built there "the Golden Gate Bridge".
During one day I saw the bridge from a ferry and I walked over it. The day after I was on a bus that went over it. And each time the bridge looked different.
Misty bridge
The ferry ride was an interesting albeit a bit crowded experience. As we approached the bridge the music intensified and resembled very much the Indiana Jones theme. Combine that with the wind from the bay blowing in your hair and you have the answer why it was called "Bay Adventure Cruise". That time the bridge was only partially covered with fog (from the western side).
Golden Gate is a busy motorway
During the walk, the fog cleared. Later I found out that this is not typical for August, and most people who come here to see the bridge in the summer leave the city without actually seeing the bridge. What is interesting is that the fog can start really suddenly when you enter the bridge.
San Francisco from the Bridge
The bridge is location for many sad incidents too. It is estimated that an average of 1 person per every fortnight jump from the bridge to take their lives. If you ask - is it really that high? I have to say: yes, it is. The microclimate also creates a strong wind and a low temperature throughout the year - so even though it's warm in the city, you will want to put on your windbreaker when you're on the bridge.
Some people just can't help throwing a missile...
Once a German daredevil tried to jump from the bridge - with a film crew, professional suits and stunt advisors - and did not make it alive. Therefore the bridge is full of different warning signs.
A photoshoped picture of me and the bridge - only 25 USD!
While queuing up for the ferry we were approached by a woman with a camera who took a picture of us while we happened to be standing on a green background. After the ferry arrived at its destination it turned out that there was a nice picture of us with the bridge waiting, all nice and photoshoped. I guess people who happen to be there on a foggy day are willing to pay, but I was not. In fact, I am thinking about starting an online business: you and America's most famous landmarks - just upload your pic and we will put you wherever you want.
Alcatraz as seen from the city
Another famous landmark of the city is the Alcatraz island - a former maximum security federal prison. Located on an island with steep shores, surrounded by cold and tracherous waters of the bay, this used to be a place nobody was supposed to escape from.
The Alcatraz Island
Yes, there were several attempts. The most famous one was depicted in the movie "Escape from Alcatraz" with Clint Eastwood. Shortly before the prison was closed, a group of three prisoners managed to get out by making the air vent a bit wider, so taht they could get out of the cell. Then they needed to drill another hole in a grill (motor from a stolen vacuum cleaner) and make their way to the shores and away on rafts (made from raincoats). Nobody knows if they made it, but these are the only cases where the bodies were never retrieved. On the other hand, the fact that they never sent a postcard could also indicate that they never made it ashore. Apparently, at that time it was the only federal prison where the inmates had hot water in the showers - to prevent them from getting used to the cold waters of the bay. Because the island had to be supplied from the land even with fresh water, the average cost of keeping one prisoner per day was USD 1,000 at that time!
Indians welcome
A little known fact about the island is that after the prison was closed, the facilities were occupied by Indians. Based on the law stating that any unoccupied federal property can be resettled by native Americans, they took the island. You can see on the picture the "Indians Welcome" sign which is a leftover from those times. Did they succeed in keeping the island? Well, not more than they did keeping the continent. They were expelled after less than 2 years.
A cable car in San Francisco
San Francisco is also known for its cable cars - who hasn't seen a movie in which a character rushes to the nearest block to catch a cable car and then rides up and down the steep slopes holding on to the pole leaning outside of the car? Well, a small disappointment here. The cable cars indeed used to be a means of public transportation (apparently the accidents when horses were pushed down by the carriages were not a pleasant view). So San Franciscans came up with an idea of a cable car - it is not a tram, nor a bus, nor anything else. There is a cable in the ground which you can hear moving all the time. When the driver wants to depart, he just pulls a lever to grab the cable and the journey begins. Smart, huh? Well, but back to the usage. After the 1906 earthquake most of the cable car system was damaged and the city switched to regular trains and busses and trolleybusses (all of which are present in the city today). They also decided to restore 2 or 3 lines of cable cars for historic purposes. Today, cable cars serve tourists ONLY, cost 5 bucks per ride and are very congested. There goes the magic of the cable cars.
The Coit Tower
Coite tower is an interesting building located on the telegraph hill. It was donated to the city by an eccentric lady who as a child had been rescued by firefighters from a hotel fire. Unable to become a firefighter herself (sexist pigs), she used to wear an uniform and hang out with her mates in pubs. Today that's called "a woman in men's clothing". The tower she donated has the shape of nozzle of a firefighter hose.
San Francisco downtown from Coit Tower
The view from the tower is trully stunning. Just take a look here.
And here.
It's definitely worth the 5 bucks. Well, unless it's one of those really really foggy days.
The City Hall in the Civic Center
The Civic Center of San Francisco is home to some of the representative bulidings in the city, such as the city hall and the Asian Art Museum. As it turns out, the original city hall, along with most of the buildings from that time, perished in the 1906 earthquake. Unfortunately, due to bribery, the building was erected using poor quality materials. Therefore during another "big one" as San Franciscans call everything tahat goes above 7.0 Richter scale, in 1989, the building nearly collapsed. It was however rescued and today stands on rubber foundations, that will shake it gently when another earthquake comes. San Francisco is also where the United Nations Organization was founded, and nearby the civic center is a UN plaza, with columns commemorating admissions of subsequent countries to the organization. Poland proudly stands on the 1945 one.
Entrance to the Muir Woods National Monument
Moving outside of the city I found a great opportunity to explore some of the Californian nature. Unfortunately, today's main tree is eucaliptus which was imported here from Australia for timber. Unfortunately as it turned out, that was a poor decision because eucalyptus crackles and breaks very soon after it is cut. However, after a 17-mile drive from the Golden Gate bridge I entered the Muire Woods National Monument.
Sequoia Sempervirens - the tallest living creature on Earth
It is home to the tallest creatures on Earth - the seqoias. It's not the same trees as the ones in other parts of the state, especially in the Yosemite National Park. The latter are the largest (as in volume) and the Muire Woods are said to be the tallest. And yes, indeed, they are impressive.
The Redwood Forrest
The Redwood Forrest as it is called used to grow all around the state. However, after the fires caused by the 1906 earthquake (the gas pipes burst and fires raged in the city for several days after the quake) demand for timber was high. Luckily, a gentleman called Muire bought a parcel with a forrest and didn't let anyone get trees from there. Nice of him. Today Muir Woods is a National Park with wild nature, great trees, however a bit limited in size.
A deer in the Muir Woods
On the way I felt that I am traveling around a state that recently went bankrupt. Before it was hard to notice that among all the trendy houses with pools, glamorous buildings and porsches standing in the dirveways. But in that one place, on a road climbing a steep hill, a part of one lane collapsed. Normally that would be taken care of - groundworks would fix the slope and a new layer of asphlt would go on top. During bankrupcy, however, the lane is separated from the other one by a number of poles stuck in the asphalt and a big sign "use one lane only". "We're waiting for better times" should follow. Somehow even when I write it it kind of has an Austrian accent.
Sausalito from the above
On the way back we took a look at Sausalito - a "mediterranean-like" settlement across the Golden Gate bridge from San Francisco. Indeed, from the above it looked quite nice.
Sausalito - expensive houses and nothing to do
But in the town there was nothing to do at all - just a few shops with keepsakes for tourists and some ice cream places.
Fog coming down the hills
But the fog was there.
A view on the foggy bay from Sausalito
Yes, it was.
Can you find a bridge in this picture?
Speaking of fog, that day the bridge was not "fully visible".
Golden Gate in fog - view towards the bay
But it was still better than many other times.
The Castro district - San Francisco is famous for its tolerance
San Francisco is said to be famous for its tolerance. Especially in the Castro district, a lot of businesses, and I mean a lot, have the famous rainbow flag. Even elements of infrastructure which were completed during the "Summer of Love" and after have certain special features. By the way: a recent poll says that more people know that the Summer of Love took place in San Francisco than that the United Nations Organization was born here. Which group are you?
Conspiracy Theory supporters
What people in San Francisco are not tolerant about is when somebody calls their city Frisco. Apparently this really gets on their nerves and this word, commonly used in Los Angeles, is forbidden at the Golden Gate.
San Francisco tour record
To finish off my entry about SF let me include some of the pictures form the city tour you can buy from one of the many companies operating here. You can see the route on the picture to the left.
The Palace of Fine Arts
The palace of fine arts was completed 9 years after the 1906 earthquake for the event of a world fair. Even today it acts as a symbol for the city's rebirth.
San Fransicso has many ethnical enclaves
San Francisco has many national enclaves, with one of the largest China Towns in the US.
Transamerica Pyramid - the tallest building in San Francisco
The most recognizable building of the city's skyline used to be heavily criticized by the inhabitants and was very much disliked in the first years of its existence.
Mission Dolores - the oldest building in San Francisco
The oldest building in the city is Mission Dolores.
JP2 visiting Mission Dolores
But I was not the first Pole who ever got there.
An Indian hut on a cemetery of Middion Dolores
Mission Dolores has an interesting cemetary.
Downtown San Francisco in Fog
The tour included some scenic drives but this time the weather did not allow for enjoying panoramic city views. ("the golden gate is right in front of you")
Sillicon Valley Companies
That is it. For those of you who are looking for an IT job, there are many opportunities in teh SF Bay. What is interesting is that the two most famous ones, Google and Yahoo, are located in teh centre of the valley and very close to each other.
A tunnel built, yes, in the 1970's
911 conspiracy theories still thrive.
That's it from San Francisco. I look forward to going there again!
written by  lagrange on August 11, 2009 from San Francisco, United States

Brooklyn Trip
New York, United States
Grimaldi's Pizza
When a man has a clearly defined goal, no matter what happens, he will not quit. Especially when three men have the same goal at the same time and when it involves food. So the other day on a Sunday my roommies and I decided to go to New York City's most famous pizzeria, called Grimaldi's.
Us and the Brooklyn Bridge
It is located right under the Brooklyn Bridge, right across the East River from Manhattan. Noone knows why it is known as having the best pizza in town, but everyone's heard about it. My guess is that Lonely Planet made a recommendation and that started the whole craze.
Brooklyn Bridge from Brooklyn
As I mentioned, the place is located under the Brooklyn Bridge. Right next to the Jehova's Witness' New York headquarters. Since the Brooklyn Bridge is not that far (at least on this side of the river) from the Manhattan Bridge, people living there find themselves living a little under a busy communication artery of connecting the two parts of the city. And, well, in America trains, trucks and all other moving objects are about 8 times louder than they are in Europe. Walking under one of the bridges, even though the trains seemed to be relatively distant, it was impossible to have a normal conversation. It is very hard to imagine how all the people live there.
Progressing down the line
When we finally reached the place we realized the prize would not come easy. It turned out that on that particular night a few more people from New York had the same idea as we did. And we spent a big part of the afternoon on waiting and progressing very very slowly towards the pizzeria.
Trying to kill some time. Thanks iPhone!
No, it did not progress fast. The thermometer on the nearby building showed around 90 degrees, which converts to around 32 centigrade. Of course the humidity was exremely high, typically for New York at this time of the year, so the restaurant promised to distribute "complementary water" to those standing in line. As it turned out there was enough "complementary water" for the first 5 people who asked for it. And the gentleman whom I would suspect of being appointed a "queue manager" behaved more like he tried to tame a herd of cattle rather than a group of people.
Me has fooooood!
But then - finally after 1,5hr of standing, we got in. The place was extremely small and the decoration, well, was non-existant. I do not know if it was going through some kind of renovation at the time we got there but parts of the wall had no paint on them. And the cuttlery and paltes, although clean, bore signs of many year's of service by displaying all the situations in their lives when a slice of pizza did not want to give in that easily to the knife.
A local treat
But, when the pizza arrived - it was really good. I don't know the extent to which it can be attributted to the fact that I had stood in a line for 1,5 hour before that smelling what came out of the Italian-made pizza ovens. That did not matter, the food was there and we were happy. It was easy to feel the New York atmosphere which can be described in three points: (1) there's little space so don't take up too much; (2) there is no time so you better be quick; (3) noone even cares you're here.
Brooklyn Bridge at night
As time was scarce we took off after about 35 minutes after getting in. With our stomachs full we decided to take a walk on the Brooklyn Bridge after dusk. It was a nice experience - the waters of East River provided a nice and refreshing feeling. Of course it was crowded and it was a miracle noone got hit by one of the many speeding bicycles there.
On the way home - queuing is a part of NY's life
In order to get home we needed to take the subway to the Port Authority station and catch a night bus from there to West New York. Once we got to the station we realized that there was a queue. Well, it must be a part of the life in New York. So in the end we made a calculation: leaving home at 5:55pm and arriving back at midnight, we ate pizza for 35 minutes.
written by  lagrange on August 16, 2009 from New York, United States

A week in Illinois
Loves Park, United States
This is going to be a short one, becasue I did no sightseeing during that trip - it was strictly business. Nevertheless, going to (almost) rural Illinois was an interesting experience.
Flight attendant on the flight from Newark to Chicago
First, on the plane, I noticed that one flight attendant looks kind of familiar. I couldn't really figure out where I'd seen him but after a while it just came to me. Who knows the video by the Foo Fighters called "Learn to Fly"? Turned out that one of Dave's alter ego's in that clip gave me the deja vu. In case you don't know what Grohl looked like, at the bottom of this entry there's a snapshot I took from youtube.
Illinois Landscape
The weather in Chicago was really really nice - not as humid as in NYC. The people were nice too! I had to take a 1,5hr westward coach ride to get Rockford - a city with the population of around 200,000. Although good in size, like the whole of America, the city was built without great concerns regarding space. Therefore sometimes it's hard to tell if you're still in the city or not and it is quite easy to actually drive through the center without really noticing it. The landscape consists of a mixture of housing areas (in the picture) and businesses. Going through the commercial areas is very much like Morgan Spurlock says: it's like watching the Flintstones with Wendy's, Taco Bell, McDonald's, Walmart, KFC, Burger King and so on and so on repeatedly rotating in the background.
Tornado Shelter
The people in the Midwest are very nice. They not only notice your presence, but are actually helpful and interested in talking to you. That was a nice change from the "New York State of Mind". When they talk, they have an interesting accent. When they say "understand" they put an "e" and "a" instead of the "a", so it sounds like "understeahnd". I thought that's how they talked in the south. :-) Besides, the businesses also try much harder to satisfy the customer.
They go a lot of extra miles to provide great service. The hotel where I stayed offered free cab service in the area, they offered free food and beverages (beer and wine included!) during 2 happy hours on some days of the week, gym, a swimming pool and huge rooms for the price of a hostel dorm room in NYC. How cool is that?
In general the trip to Loves Park, although busy, was rich in experience. The green landscapes and open spaces were very soothing after the US's most densly inhabited areas (according to Wikipedia) and the openness and hospitality of people is what I will remember the place mostly for.
written by  lagrange on August 24, 2009 from Loves Park, United States

Moving time!
Jersey City, United States
In the meantime, the lease on my previous place was running out. The commute was a pain and the landlord got a nasty habit of letting herself into my room without knocking and presenting the storage amenities (with my clothes inside). So having spent a long time searching for an appartment, I finally decided on a place - right at the border of Jersey City and Hoboken, with a good access to Manhattan and the university. Of course this comes as a price, but the thing that I will regret most is not living with the great roommates from West New York! As the lease run out they went back home to Germany and Los Angeles. Hope we'll keep in touch.
Manhattan seen from West New York's cliff
So the day before moving I decided to take the last walk around West New York. As it was already late August the weather became bearable and the wind had a great chilling effect. I came to think that West New York has the best view of Manhattan possible! The cliff is quite high so sometimes walking down the street you might become surprised by comming to a railing separating you from going some 12 floors down! Maybe that's why they have swimming pools there...
The new place
The new place is quite nice. The room is more expensive, relatively small and, yes, comes without a window. But it's quiet, has a lot of privacy, washing machine, dryer, dishwasher, A/C, 24h doorman services and a well-equipped free gym. In the picture this palce is the building in the background with greenish vertical lines.
"Eastern European" = almost exclusively Polish products! Yeeeeeey!
Shopping opportunities are close and the local supermarket has a selection of Polish products. Better than in Denmark! :-) The roommies are nice, there's Sean from Korea who studies filmmaking. He can have extreme day/night routines. There's Jelena - also a student. And there's Dan, who just started his first job and spends 70% of the time at work or commuting, 5% at the gym and 25% sleeping.
Well, let's see what this new place brings!
written by  lagrange on September 1, 2009 from Jersey City, United States

A visit to ground zero
New York, United States
The construction progresses
With the 8th anniversary of 9/11 attacks the atmosphere in the city slightly changed. People started talking more about it, remembering where they were during the attacks and a pole of light marking the position of the towers was visible from my appartment. It was during that period that through some friends and connections I got an opportunity to get to one of the unfinished top floors of WTC7, which is the 1st building to be completely rebuilt after the attacks.
The place offered great views over Manhattan, Brooklyn, New Jersey and Staten Island. However the most remarkable was the construction project going on right beneath my feet. Enjoy the photos below.
written by  lagrange on September 7, 2009 from New York, United States

Trying to kill some time. Thanks iPhone!

Me has fooooood!

Manhattan Bridge seen from Brooklyn

Brooklyn Bridge from Brooklyn

Grimaldi's Pizza

Brooklyn Bridge at night

A local treat

Illinois Landscape

Manhattan seen from West New York's cliff

Atop the cliff

"Eastern European" = almost exclusively Polish products! Yeeeeeey!

The construction progresses

Gardens on top of Manhattan's buildings

A look at midtown. The Empire State Building clearly stands out in the skyline.

A look at the City Hall

The bird before the flight

First sights of America

Getting out of Newark Airport

A record of the route

New York signs

A distant look at the Statue of Liberty from Battery Park

Battery Park

Lower Manhattan from Battery Park

The City from the Bridge

The bridge has an impressive height of 227m

Hey there

Misty bridge

A photoshoped picture of me and the bridge - only 25 USD!

A hilly street on Russian Hill

Sea lions at Fisherman's Wharf - moved here after the earthquake of 1989

Golden Gate from down under - partially covered by fog

Golden Gate from down under

The Alcatraz Island

Approaching the Bridge

Indians welcome

Fisherman's Wharf

The City by the Bay

Some people just can't help throwing a missile...

San Francisco from the Bridge

Golden Gate is a busy motorway

San Francisco from the Hyde Street Pier

Can you find a bridge in this picture?

A tunnel built, yes, in the 1970's

Sausalito from the above

A deer in the Muir Woods

The Redwood Forrest

Sequoia Sempervirens - the tallest living creature on Earth

A view on the foggy bay from Sausalito

Conspiracy Theory supporters

San Fransicso has many ethnical enclaves

Transamerica Pyramid - the tallest building in San Francisco

A street

The Coit Tower

San Francisco downtown from Coit Tower

Telegraph Hill - the only way to get to many of the houses on the steel slopes is by using stairs

A cable car in San Francisco

The Castro district - San Francisco is famous for its tolerance

Strong contrasts - homeless people in the Civic Center in San Francisco

Inside of the Basilica, Mission Dolores

JP2 visiting Mission Dolores

Mission Dolores - the oldest building in San Francisco

Downtown San Francisco in Fog

Golden Gate in fog

Downtown San Francisco in fog

Golden Gate in fog - view towards the bay

Sillicon Valley Companies