Dining in New York

The USA is known for good quality food. This restaurant Don Veitia is a very good classical restaurant and a good value for money. It is not very cheap, but for the quality they offer it is the most affordable restaurant in their league. They have an excellent menue, a good selection of wines, wonderful service and highly edible food.
It is an impeccable place.



If you have a lot of money and want to have something really different for dinner, something really memorable! - Ninja is a good place to go.
This Japanese cave is located in a boring highrise building in Manhatten - you would never guess that you will have to watch every step carefully because all sorts of dangers are awaiting your arrival (dangers are real, but not lethal - unless you have a weak heart!).
Depending on you choice of food you may have to use a sword to get your meal, you will try to fish your food out of smoke which fills your cell etc. The service was impecable and our waiter was a lot of fun (a man to die for!).
The only downside - it is expensive. I heard Russian language from a few "cells" which means "new Russians" spend their money there. It is not a restaurant from my league, but I am glad we tried it!

http://picasaweb.google.com/Tatiana.I.Efremova/NewYork#

Two sides of the coin - hotels in the USA

The best hotel experience in terms of value for money. It is a small old fashioned place, but the room was big and clean, and it looked pleasant. The bed was excellent, the bed linen too. Plumbing was perfect, Internet connection was faultless and free of charge, the service was good and the breakfast too. It all costs $68US during a school holiday period. If you know a better deal let me know!

The worst place we saw in the USA was a motel in Gorda, Big Sur. this place is a total disgrace to American hospitality industry: dirty old room with a lock which does not work properly (neighbours helped us and opened our door with their key!), with no fridge or a TV set, no Internet, with leaking shower which did not let me sleep all night. All these "luxury" casts $275.00 plus taxes.
They sell petrol there for $6.99 per gallon while other places were selling it for $4.99.
The food in the restaurant was very expensive but not edible which is an extreme rarity in the USA. I hardly can imagine a worse place to stay.
To be fare, it was the only horrible place we encountered.
In general, hotels are wonderful and service is very good.

New York

Well, we are back home, and the weather is just as it was before we left – rainy and dull, and I am happy to entertain myself with memories of New York. The weather was perfect there: sunny but not too hot, if cool then it was not cold, the sun was all over the sky most of the time and being outside was pleasurable without limits.

My first intention was to write: I love New York.
But my second thought is: I love Manhattan.

We’ve seen a glimpse of Brooklyn and Staten Island – it was not very appealing. Brooklyn was like an endless penitentiary with all those dull brick buildings without a trace of architectural imagination. An occasional beach or a park does not change the rule: it looks depressing. The Staten Island was even more depressing despite being suburbia, because of the neglect and poor maintenance visible all over the place. The amount of closed businesses, deserted shopping centres, littered streets and parks – all together it was a sad picture. Even if there was an occasional new residential development here and there (and some of them did not look cheap at all) but the uniformity of those developments (hundreds or even thousands of identical buildings are doomed to look depressing) and the neglect outside the fence of that development made an unfavourable impression. I would not want to live in a dump like this even if I personally lived in a palace. By the way, there were some very nice houses there, some reasonably old, and interesting, but an overall impression was negative.

Manhattan was the biggest surprise of all. It has an uncountable number of skyscrapers, nonetheless, it is not a concrete jungle like Hong Kong, where all interesting things are hidden inside and there is really nothing to do outside the building. Manhattan has its charm, it has plenty of sun, it is a pleasure to walk on the street and many things happen on the street while you are walking. There is a nice human touch to it. I loved being there.

It happened to be a very safe place. At no point we felt uncomfortable or threatened. We never observed anything remotely criminal.
It happened to be quite a green place. Despite skyscrapers they managed to keep quite a few gardens around there and many streets are quite green. Maybe to somebody on the 40th floor the number of trees downstairs is irrelevant, but for those who walk on the street it is a pleasure.

There were some things which did not appeal to me. Even more: I don’t understand why they happen, or how the government allows certain things to happen.

One of the incomprehensible things is a very poor level of maintenance of public property. There are parks, and they are planned generously, and they are used a lot by the residents, but why don’t they look pretty? There are no nice pedestrian ways with occasional mosaics, lovely designs, a sculpture or a gazebo here and there, a BBQ place? Why gravel is not topped up so the road looks like an abandon provincial driveway? Why it is not sealed as most roads are? Why the grass is not mowed? Why there are no litter boxes along the way?

Oh, the litter boxes! I missed them in America. It is so difficult to find one in some places. I was constantly carrying some litter with me, because there were no ways to dispose it. It explains an abnormal amount of litter nearly everywhere. I understand that there is an objective difficulty in removing tons of litter from Manhattan streets, but I don’t understand why they did not solve the problem yet (where is famous American ingenuity?). And why not to put a few hundred extra litter boxes along the streets?

New York subway was, probably, the brightest example of this problem. It is a great subway: works well (as well as Moscow metro - believe it or not!). It is safe, cheap!!! (US$25 per week – no zone divisions as they do it in Sydney- one ticket for the whole metropolitan area!) and it is reliable.
Why was it planned to be so small, crowded and hot? Why it is not maintained? It is clean, I have to say, but it is not painted, it is not decorated, it is not degreased, rust is not removed, it is patched up like an old boot… it looks really neglected. It would be highly unfair to compare New York subway with Moscow Metro, but it does not match even our very casual Sydney Metropolitan service. How can it be? New York supposes to be so much richer than Sydney!

Apart from these very brief observations of neglect of public property, I had an impression that New York is a lovely city, New Yorkers are good people, and I would not mind to live in a city like this, definitely during summer months.

I am sure, as a tourist I had quite superficial impressions. There were some visual impressions which stroke me as nearly surreal. For example, American schools – they look like penitentiaries: bob-wired, with barred windows… even a preschool looked this way!
There were quite a few homeless beggars on the streets (less than I expected).

There are problems in the country where children and teachers spent a lot of time in a prison. There are problems if so many people end up on the street…
I have not dealt with those problems, I personally was not affected by them – and maybe, it is to the best. I prefer to think of New York and America as a place I like…

http://picasaweb.google.com/Tatiana.I.Efremova/NewYork#

Американцы... Ответ моим многочисленным друзьям, удивлённым выбором места отдыха

Когда я сообщила своим друзьям, что мы собираемся в Америку на отдых, я получила много недоумённых ответов: «Почему Америка?», «Я бы туда не поехала...», «Это безумная страна!!!», «Лично мне Америка не нравится», «Вы что, не могли найти ничего лучше?» и т.д.

Я много думала об этом в последние несколько недель...
Если кто-нибудь спросил бы меня в июне, хочу ли я провести отпуск в Америке, я бы однозначно ответила: «Конечно, нет!». А в августе я уже была здесь. Крис привёз меня в Америку. Это был его выбор места отдыха.
К данному моменту некоторые из моих мыслей по поводу того что я здесь увидела уже оформились и я могу сложить мои наблюдения в нечто связное...

Уже давно я поняла на своём опыте одну простую истину: легко не любить то чего не знаешь.
Что я знала о Китае до того как я туда приехала? Наше австралийское телевидение постоянно показывало документальные фильмы о том как страдает бедный китайский народ, одетый во всё серое, от отсутствия человеческих прав и свобод, и как они мечтают о нашей западной демократии. Приехала я туда и увидела, что всё что я знаю о стране – это враньё и глупости: есть люди одетые в серое, но есть и много людей одетых во всё разноцветное, и зачастую в очень даже дорогое (мне с моей австралийской учительской зарплатой не по карману), есть человеческие права, также как и нарушения этих прав (как во всяком другом обществе), и подавляющему большинству людей Запад до лампочки, потому что они до сих пор думают – как и тысячу лет назад – что Китай – это центр вселенной (и кажется, скоро так и будет – всё к тому идёт).
Я влюбилась в эту страну как только я встретила людей этой страны (до безумия трудолюбивых, дипломатичных до вранья, любителей потанцевать, поиграть, поболтать, и конечно – поесть до отвала вкуснейшей в мире еды). Я влюбилась в эту страну, когда прикоснулась к обычной повседневной жизни Китая: не идеальной, не беспросветной – обыкновенной жизни, такой же как и везде на этой планете.

Что мы знаем про Америку помимо её правительства и его агрессивной международной политики?
.
Те, кто говорят по-английски достаточно хорошо, чтобы понимать что и как говорит президент Буш, смеются над ним.

Конечно же, мы все знаем Голливуд с его неправдоподобными сказками. Некоторые из них очень даже хорошие, некоторые – абсолютная ерунда, но всё это – не жизнь, а форма искуства, котрую не нужно путать с реальностью.
Однако Голливует влияет на наше восприятие Америки очень сильно.

Конечно, я слыхала про Лас Вегас и видела рекламные огни в многочисленных фильмах и журналах, но ведь это тоже фальшивый город, который вряд ли отражает обычную жизнь в США, но каким-т образом игровая столица мира нам знакома больше чем среднестатистический американец.

Я пытаюсь порыться в моей памяти поглубже, чтобы вспомнить всё, что я когда-либо узнала про Америку из всевозможных источников: уроков географии и истории, американской классической литературы, карманных любовных романов, журналов, искусства – и о чём бы я не подумала, мне хочется задать вопрос: а какое это имеет отношение к современной повседневной жизни обычных американцев?
Кто судит о месте только по карте?
Каким образом можно узнать о русской жизни по клипам Аллы Пугачёвой?
Каkим образом Теодор Драйзер помогает понять современную Америку? Это всё равно что судить о современных русских по Достоевскому.
Короче говоря, каким бы качественным ни был источник информации, он мне не кажется достаточно достоверным...

Разумеется, я встречалась в своей жизни с американцами: всегда случайно, чаще всего мимолётно, иногда – более регулярно, и даже довелось жить с одним американцем в одной квартире почти полгода. В результате этих встреч я тоже набралась впечатлений, конечно. В памяти остаются «традиционно» американские моменты (и я слышала много подтверждений моим наблюдениям от других людей). Кто не помнит американские истории о том что « в Америке горы выше, поля шире, деревья и здания выше, и даже небо синее чем где бы то ни было ещё...»? Все испытавают раздражение от этих историй, и так и хочется сказать американцу: ну и катись назад в свою замечательную Америку, где всё лучше! У меня всегда язык чесался...

Всё это американское бахвальство не очень-то помогает любить их.
С другой стороны, даже после очень кратковременного пребывания в Америке я не могу не предположить, что во многом они правы: в стране такого размера найдётся место и для высоких гор, и для необъятных полей, и для поразительных небоскрёбов. И вообще, всё кажется здесь больше.
Видела я необъятные поля, в Казахстане, например. Да и в России, и в Австралии у нас нет проблем с пространством.
Видела я и потрясающие небоскрёбы: в Китае, в Малазии, в Гонк Конге. Да и у нас в Австралии есть интересные архитекторы, есть на что посмотреть. А вот высоких гор у нас нет. И в Малазии. И в Гонк Конге.
А у американцев есть всё! И есть у них причины бахвалиться.
Значит ли это, что они плохие люди лишь оттого что что не умеют прикидываться золушками?

Реальность, как всегда оказалась непохожей на то что я ожидала увидеть.

Прежде всего, люди очень дружелюбны. Разумеется, приходиться делать скидки на дорожное движение в часы пик (там трудно оставаться дружелюбным...), на жизнь в большом городе таком как Нью Йорк, где все живут на бегу и физически не имеют время на дружелюбие (как будто Москва, Пекин или Сидней дружелюбнее!!! Ха-ха!)
Но вот выйдет американец из машины, закончит бегать по делам – и превращается в нормального дружелюбного человека, с которым и поболтать приятно, и совет он даст хороший без задних мыслей, и посмеяться с ним можно, и большинство из них осуждают внешнюю политику государства (как будто государства когда-то слушались своего населения!), и оптимизмом можно зарядиться.

Да, конечно, Америка терроризирует весь мир чтобы их американское население имело самое дешёвое топливо (и другие блага), и американцы этим пользуются. Но ведь Россия делает тоже самое (впрочем, как и все другие страны). Американцы пытаются сманить Грузию в НАТО чтобы предотвратить возможную зависимость от России в будущем. Россия этого не позволит, потому что если Америка и Европа будут зависеть от русских ресурсов русское население будет процветать и любить своё правительство. Эта формула была известна ещё с античности.
Для чего римляне завоёвывали мир? Чтобы можно было грабить колонии и обеспечивать высокий уровень жизни в Риме! Вы знаете, что в древнем Риме было очень высокое социальное обеспечение (по тем временам) и каждый римский гражданин каждый день получал вино и 5-10 буханок хлеба (в зависимости от благосостояния государства в тот момент. Кстати, хлебные булки были меньше наших). В принципе, римляне могли бы и не работать, и всё равно не умерли бы с голоду. А то что галлы и кельты умирали как мухи под римским надзором, так ведь римляне своё государство об этом не просили и наверняка осуждали. Но бесплатный хлеб всё-таки брали.

Не любить американцев за действия их правительства также нерезонно, как ненавидеть русских за войну в Чечне или в Грузии.

Американцы – народ ориентированный на обслуживание. Для русских, которые про хорошее обслуживание ещё ничего не знают (я в этом в прошлом году убедилась), только тот факт что обслуживание есть (по сравнению с Советскими временами когда его вообще не было) уже греет душу. Американцы имеют такое обслуживание, что оно заслуживает особого внимания.
Я в разных странах побывала (кстати, и живу я в стране, которая у всего мира на хорошем счету по этой части), а благодаря Крису мне довелось также попробовать роскоши пяти-звёздочных отелей и самых изысканных ресторанов, так что есть что сравнивать.
Китай – тоже страна с высоким обслуживанием: за большие деньги можно купить роскошное обслуживание, но и за маленькие деньги можно получить кучу удовольствия. Однако и надуть могут, и гостиница может оказаться очень грязной. В общем, нужно знать как выбирать. Западная Европа имеет хорошее обслуживание, но и там нужно держать ухо востро и знать как выбирать. А можно наткнуться и на открытую грубость и высокомерие. В этом отношении, Франция мне особенно памятна, хоть и пробыла я там даже меньше чем в Америке.

В Америке наткнуться на грубость нельзя (вот если только сам напросишься на грубость!). В стране с 300 миллионами людей есть много желающих предложить услуги, впрочем также как и потенциальных заказчиков. Фокус в том, как удержать этих потенциальных заказчиков, как сманить их у соперников? Я увидела свободную конкуренцию в огромном государстве – и плоды этой конкуренции. Каждый старается предложить как можно больше за ту же плату: порции огромных размеров, качество отменное - практически всегда и везде – даже в самой Богом забытой глухомани (мы и в таких местах бывали), улыбки и любая помощь без дополнительной оплаты: куда-то позвонить, найти какие-то сведения, договориться о путёвках – будут сидеть, копаться, искать, договариваться не ожидая никакого вознаграждения. В Нью Йорке без типов (подачек) не обойтись, на то он и Нью Йорк, но за пределами больших городов люди стараются угодить заказчикам от чистого сердца. Очень приятно, должна признаться. Лучше чем в Австралии или где бы то ни было ещё.

Потрясло меня и огромное количество иммигрантов. Такое ощущение, что прирождённые американцы теряются в разноязыкой и разноцветной толпе. Только в глухой провинции нам довелось увидеть «чистую» Америку с большим количеством людей родившихся и выросших в этой стране. Уж на что мы в Австралии считаем себя многонациональной страной иммигрантов, мы не идём ни в какое сравнение с Америкой. Индусы, китайцы, несметное количество людей из Латинской Америки, и – к моему изумлению – неимоверное количество русских. Куда бы я не пошла – не поехала – я слышала русскую речь: в национальных парках, в казино в Лас Вегасе, покупатели в магазинах говорили по русски, прохожие на улицах больших и малых городов, обслуживающий персонал отелей, музеев и магазинов узнавал мой акцент и переходил на русский, на случай если мне проще говорить по-русски. Впрочем, русскоязычному человеку может быть довольно трудно выучить английский язык, если его заносит в русскую среду и все нужды там можно удовлетворить на русском языке. Брайтон Бич предоставляет такую возможность. Я об этом месте много слышала, конечно, и вот довелось посмотреть, наконец. Оказалось, это гетто: довольно грязное, довольно бедное, и исключительно русскоговорящее. Случайный американец - инородное тело, потму что всё равно он ничего там не понимает. Никто не говорит по-английски. Тот, кого занесло на Брайтон Бич даже не нуждается в английском – живут как будто из России не уезжали: русское телевидение, пельмени, русские сплетни...

Я уезжаю из Америки с приятными воспоминаниями о потрясающей природе (особенно озеро Моно и Йосимити Парк (ударение на си)) и очень приятных людях. Будем надеяться, это не последняя моя поездка в США. Вот разберусь с уборкой дома (за месяц грязи и пыли набралось, да и стирки) – и переведу некоторые из моих статей на английском, написанных в Америке.

View From The Empire Building

Cycling in New York

Times Square at night

Food in America

There is nothing more memorable than what our senses perceive: colours, sounds, smells, tastes…. All of them are combined in food, and who does not remember cuisine of the country he (or she) visited? I remember food of all countries I have been to…

America has an “Australian” flavour. I would not say I spotted many significant differences between our cuisines; however, there are some specific elements…

First of all, food is mostly of a really good quality... We had a couple of disappointments along the way, but predominantly food is well prepared and all produce is of a high quality (better than in Australia – in average. I don’t know what the secret is, but even strawberries and tomatoes have much more taste than Aussie produce. Actually, maybe, I know: probably, in Australia there is a lot of hydroponic produce, but here, in California, we saw huge strawberry plantations - traditional, on the ground).
Chris complains that American food lacks refinement, which is true: quite often served meals are simplistic in their approach, but we – as Australians - should not complain, because elaborate and interesting cooking is not common in Australia either. By the way, simplistic approach in cooking is typical for Russia as well, but our Russian food is plain on top of everything.
Shortly, I did not suffer from the lack of refinement in American food, and Americans compensate simplicity of cooking with portions of incredible sizes.

You have to see their portions!
Even in good restaurants they are big (much bigger than European or even Australian size), but in some chip fast food places (fish and chips or burger type, such as In-n-out Burger) portions are fit to feed an elephant. Once we were surprised with European sizes of portions in one of the restaurants, but that particular restaurant had a big number of European customers, which could affect their approach to sizes of serves (but we were disappointed – it felt as if we did not get expected value for money, even if the restaurant was excellent). Even Japanese restaurants serve big portiones. Can they be still called Japanese? I got used to thing that Japanese culture is all about balance, elegance and moderation. In America Japanese developed a fusion style, where everything is big, with ketchup and Tabasco, but tasty nonetheless.
McDonalds has their recognisable sizes of meals (probably, traditional all over the world), but other fast food places try to offer as much “value for money” as possible, that it becomes insane in some instances. No human being can possibly consume such amount of food, - but some Americans do (I saw it). On the other hand, many people don’t, and some amounts of food end up in a trash bin. Such a waste of food!

After saying it all about sizes of portions I must add that the number of obese people is not as overwhelming as it is in Australia.
Two countries argue which one is the fattest nation, but Americans did not strike me as a fat nation. We’ve seen a few scarily obese people, but average numbers of people with “normal” weight are more positive in America. Maybe, we went to “slim” areas, maybe fat people here sit at home – we did not spot too many of them. May be, after all, a lot of food is not responsible for getting fat? I have no right to generalize - I am just stating an observation.

They eat a lot of sweets here. Often even bread with lunch is sweet. They call it a “roll”, but in fact it looks like a ban, and it tastes like a sweet ban. On the other hand – I had the best imaginable bread here, in America. I loved it so much more than even French bread. It only proves my previous statement that they love their food here and can do it well. Their bread is good!!! One just has to look for it. In Australia I tried some good bread occasionally, but Australians are not into nice breads, in general (after 13 years living there I can make this statement).

From time to time I get confused with their language. As I mentioned, they call a ban “a roll”. Do you know what they mean by “cordial”? – a mixed alcoholic drink! “Sodas” are soft drinks in general, and “Deli” sells milk-shakes and salads. But apart from the linguistic differences, all dishes are highly recognisable.

One very positive side of America: they know how to make Margarita. In Australia it is such a problem to get a descent Margarita! America is a heaven for Margarita lovers like me. In Las Vegas they serve Margaritas for 99 cents! And of course, the size is nowhere near I would expect in Australia; it is a quadruple size! It was one in a life time opportunity to become drunk with my favourite drink, but – bad luck – we never had time to stop for a Margarita! Bugger!

Another peculiar thing here is wines. They have a good selection of wines from all over the world here, and of course, a lot of Californian wine on offer. I found Californian wines weak after Australia, and went for Aussie and Kiwi wines, and guess what? All the best wines from Down Under are the cheapest wines on the local market (results of the clad) so I was happy.

One horrible thing about America I cannot (and don’t want!) to hide: they know little about tea. Hotels even don’t offer kettles. Not a single hotel we stayed in had a kettle! They have coffee making machines instead. Many of them even don’t have tea bags on offer. Even if they put a tea bag next to coffee bags (Oh! You have to see a selection of coffees they have in their hotel rooms – it is a paradise for coffee lovers!), try to make a descent cup of tea with a coffee maker!!! What a sacrilege!!!
Tea is of a bad quality, as well. I did not see any familiar brands here such as Dilmah, Lipton, Twinings, only some local brands (Once I saw Tetley). By the way, when it comes to shoes, suitcases, cars etc – we have identical stuff on offer on both continents, but it does not apply to teas!
Even in cafes they don’t know how to make tea! What they offer is hardly drinkable! They bring luke warm water in a mug and then give you a choice of tea bags! We tried to talk to a few of waitresses if there was a chance to make a better cup of tea, but it was impossible: they even don’t have boiled water on the premises; they offered to boil it in a microwave!!! It was beyond belief! Every tea bag has a clear instruction how tea should be made, but nobody cares here!!!
For a tea addict like me it is a tragedy and I am suffering without my 3 or 4 or 5 cups of tea a day.

A few thoughts about America

When I informed my friends about going to America for a holiday, I received so many non-enthusiastic responses: “Why America?” “ I would not go there…”” It is a crazy country!” “Personally I don’t like the USA”, “Could not you find something better?” etc.

I have been thinking about it a lot in the last couple of weeks. If somebody asked me 3 weeks ago: would you like to have holiday in America, I would instantly answered “Of course, not”. Chris brought me up here. It was his choice of a holiday destination.
Now I want to put a few thoughts together about this event…

One thing I learnt long time ago: it is easy to dislike something you don’t know.
What did I know about China before I went there? Our TV always showed documentaries about grey poor people deprived of all human rights and longing for Western democracy. I went there – and everything I knew happened to be prejudice and bull shit: there were grey people as well colourful, there were poor people as well as very rich and many people in between, there were human rights as well as inequality, and most people did not give a damn about the West because for them China is still a centre of the Universe (and it seems, it is going to be this way soon).
I fell in love with China as soon as I learnt about real people and real life there: not perfect, not evil – just normal life as everywhere else on this planet.

What do we know about America apart from its government and its aggressive and bias international policies?

Those who speak English well enough to understand President Bush laugh at him.

Of course, we know Hollywood with its fantasy blah-blah. Some of it is good, some of it is trash, but it is not life – it is a form of art which should not be confused with reality.
Hollywood affects our perception a lot and spoils a lot!

We all saw ads of Las Vegas, which is also a fake city with very distant relation to reality but somehow it reflects on our perception of Americans in general.

I am trying to stretch my memory to recall everything I have learnt about America from various sources: pocket size romance books, American literature, art, - what does it have to do with reality?
How Theodore Dreiser defines modern USA? He is just as irrelevant to modern times as Dostoevsky to modern Russians…

Of course, during my lifetime there were accidental meetings with Americans which also left some impressions (and I am sure many people had similar experiences).
Who does not remember stories about: “the mountains which are taller in America, fields are bigger, trees and buildings are taller, sky is bluer than anywhere else”? Did not you feel annoyed by those stories and wished to tell them: go back to your wonderful country where everything is the best? I did.
All this American boasting does not really help to like them. On the other hand: it seems that they are right till certain degree and everything seems to be bigger here: it is an American obsession to have everything big. Well, they have room for big things in this spacious country. Does it make them bad?

Well, it is enough thinking for one day. There will be more impressions to absorb and more thoughts to think.

Driving in America

We spent 2 weeks driving in Nevada and California. This time is sufficient to make a few brief observations.

First of all, how beautiful their roads are! How well maintained and wide they are. Even in a desert all roads were excellent (no unsealed roads except some riding fun tracks). Even in declining and poor areas (by the way, we did not see many of such areas) roads were so much better than in Lismore. We observed plenty of road work sites and saw various stages of road building. After seeing this I can say for sure that the Lismore council goes for cheap solutions (we observed road building around Modanville and saw how it was done) and the result is obvious. Bad Lismore roads are memorable to everyone who drove there once.
Americans take their roads very seriously and the result is marvellous. I know that Australian population of less than 20 million provides for building roads in the country of the size of the USA (where they have something like 300 million people) and Australia is a country with good roads in comparison with Russia, for example. However, I believe, if our councils stop looking for shortcuts in road building we will benefit much more and at the end it will cost less.
Shortly, I was impressed by the roads.

How many huge roads they have! A road can have 6-7-8 lines one way. It is impressive and depressing at the same time. All lines are full, all roads are full. I had an impression that there is no off-pick traffic on American highways. Every line is choko-block, even in a desert. Only twisted tourist drives have easier traffic conditions. Looking at the amount of cars I understand why this country bullies the whole world in order to get as much petrol as possible. This country will be in chaos if they cannot drive.

I am surprised with the amount of driving people should do to get somewhere. All cities we saw so far (Los Angeles, San-Francisco, Las Vegas and some smaller places along the Western Coast) are overstretched. Americans prefer to live in individual houses than in apartments. It is typical for Australia too, and our suburbs are endless, just like here, in America. However, our suburbs have shopping centres, which are quite compact and if you park a car somewhere close to the shopping centre, than you can do your shopping on foot quite comfortably. In America shopping centres are stretched so far, and distances between buildings are so unreasonably big that walking does not make sense. It is more sensible to drive from one part of the shopping centre to another. Everything is spacious here. On one hand it looks relaxing. On another hand – it is impractical, and costly. Countries with compact residential tendencies such as Russia or China have an advantage. Councils have an easier job to provide for the population, maintenance is chipper. Well, living cheaply is not on American agenda. They spend generously, and unnecessarily, on their cities.

By the way, Americans spend a lot on their cars (I don’t mean petrol). They buy big cars, which are costly, and eat a lot of petrol, which is also costly. And they have ugly cars! I mean really ugly: huge, square, disproportional. This type of cars is popular, which means there should be some good qualities in them, but why not to design them? Don’t hey care? We spotted many huge campo vans: I never saw anything like this. The sizes are monstrous, basically a size of a house, which illustrates another observation I made here: Americans love their comfort very much. They would love to leave house without leaving it. They take it with them, probably, quite literally. When I watched American movies about going on camping tour/fishing weekend (Honey, I shrank our kids and alike) it always seemed to be a comedy element. Now I start thinking that it is actually quite realistic.

They have different road rules. It is not surprising – every country has own ideas how to drive well, but what a foreign driver should do on the road? It could be a good idea to have leaflets with road rules info somewhere on the border, so tourists can learn a little. Some situations are confusing and in 2 weeks we have not resolved them. For example, on the crossroad no car has a priority; all 3 or 4 sides have a “full stop” line and sign. How do they know which one has to go first, if all drivers come to the intersection at the same time? I think our way is more safe and comprehensive…

On the other hand, Americans have very few speed cameras in comparison with Australia, but many more road policemen on duty. I found it is so much better and relaxing. Australian police leaves an impression of money making machine more than a traffic control aid. American police does what police suppose to do: controls traffic and secondly, gives tickets, probably. I was always a believer, that seen a policeman on the road is so much more effective than receiving a letter with a fine 2-3 weeks later.

To finalise my observations: everything is good on American roads and travelling can be quite pleasant, but I would not want to do it myself – too much stress in a busy traffic and too many stressed drivers, especially in the cities (just like everywhere else in the world, I guess).
In New York we will have a chance to learn about public transport system.

San Francisco

Why it is always the case that some essential moments are never mentioned in books, booklets and movies (San Francisco is so popular that it appears in all sorts of sources of information so frequently, nonetheless…)?

I would never guess that San Francisco is a cold city, but it is!
How cold it is here in comparison with the rest of California!
In one hour we drove from 36 degrees on the plains of California to 20 degrees in San Francisco.
From a monthly guide to SF in our hotel room I learnt that August here is “like the dawn of a new day. Cool summer temperatures begin to subside this month as warm weather rolls in and fog lifts by the afternoon”.
I am not sure I can say that cool temperatures subside when they reach 20 degrees in summer, and restaurants on the streets burn gas burners for their patrons, otherwise being on the street is unbearable.
By the way, last week they had 15 degrees max during the day! According to the local, the better month suppose to be September. One month a year fog sort of lifts above the city and you can see the sun. For the rest of the year, hot air from Sierra meets cold air from the ocean here. As a result it is always foggy and cold here!
Who calls it “summer”? It is worse than in Siberia!!! When we travelled in Siberia last year we had 30+ degrees for the whole week. Here they are happy to have 20 and call it “warm”! It is equal to our winter in the Northern Rivers. We meant to escape our winter but in SF we came back to the same winter environment, but even worse in some ways. It is so windy, that I could not continue our first expedition to China Town; I had to buy a fleece, otherwise I would die on the streets of SF. I caught a cold anyway and now I have a blocked nose.

And the fog, of course! I never knew that this city sank into a fog cloud. In the movies it is always sunny in SF, clear sky and people are dressed for a beach outing. What a fog they have here! The most remarkable fog ever! It covers tops of high buildings as if they are mountains and it moves so fast that I felt that the whole street floated with it. I have never seen before clouds shooting through the roof tops like missiles (nearly).

And the bridge! The one which suppose to be famous is invisible due to the fog, and another one, which is not famous even if it is a copy (sort of) of the Golden Gate bridge is grey!

Famous China Town in San Francisco was our first destination! Visually it is less impressive than Sydney China Town: the gates look insignificant, there is no well designed street as it is in Sydney, or even in Brisbane for that matter. Australian China Towns were designed quite recently, according to the modern ideas of beauty and comfort, that’s why they have a strong element of fake decorative purpose. SF China Town formed well before anybody thought of comfort for pedestrians, and this place is authentic, especially in contents. I would love to shop here! I am afraid no airline will tolerate excessive luggage…

Apart from China Town there are many entertaining things in this city. Outside the CBD – designed in 1970s therefore boring and full of copies of Twin World Towers: square and rectangular – and well before sleeping suburbs full of monotonous residential developments there is a band of old residential suburbs built well before modern regulations. They keep flavours of the past, full of architectural and topographical surprises and excesses, pretty and charming. In between there are streets of busy cafes and restaurants, small shops and old churches, sex industry streets and well designed gardens. This is the best of San Francisco with international and historical flavours. We would be happy to spend more time there, but alas… it is time to go.

We will remember busy streets, fat seagulls, sleepy and horny sea lions on the Pier 39, practically invisible in the fog Golden Gate Bridge (we will remember that we hardly could see it!!!), twisted and steep streets, the magnificent collections of the Modern Art Museum and Asian Art Museum, cold winds along the streets and strange optical effects on the water and in the air…

San Francisco is a city to remember, and to visit, but, please, get dressed for a cold weather

http://picasaweb.google.com/Tatiana.I.Efremova/SanFrancisco

Clouds in San Francisco

Pay attention to the strange optical effect in the clouds: the pyramid makes an impression in the sky. San Francisco is full of strange optical effects and illusions.

Glacier Point View, Yosemite Park, California

Pot Hole Dome, Yosemite Park

Yosemite Park, California

Eastern Sierra, California

California offers so much more to a human eye than Nevada!

Even the Death Valley was prettier than Nevada desert. Despite its ugly title the Death Valley had a variety of shapes and sizes of hills and mountains, sand dunes, salt lakes… It was more entertaining than Nevada desert.

But what a variety of climatic conditions and living environments California offers!

After the Death Valley with its desert environment we visited Mammoth Lakes District. I instantly felt at home. Who could imagine that California offers Siberian scenery? I expected Canada to be very similar to Siberia, but California???
Rivers and lakes with rocky beds and crystal clear and icy cold water, rocky mountains with pine trees, cliffs and occasional sandy beaches, modest flowers among grass, squirrels on the trees – it is all so familiar from childhood. It is exactly what Mammoth Lakes are. The only pleasant difference is absence of mosquitoes. Whatever the reason is – there were no mosquitoes whatsoever, while in Siberia mosquito plague is one of the worst problems in summer. Apart from this, the picture is basically identical!

Also we saw Mono Lake, which happened to be the most surreal landscape, one of the most memorable I’ve seen so far (and definitely it will be always one of the most memorable images of America for me), despite quite a modest vegetation around it. It is a combination of snow white and crow black islands among gentle blue-purple-pink waters of the lake, banks, sky and mountains on the horizon.

And of course, we visited Yosemite Park, which is made of rocks and pine trees, but rocks of an incredible size and pines of an incredible size!!! It is another memorable impression of America. What a gigantic playground of Nature! It is a good place to learn how insignificant we are in comparison with the forces of Nature. When you see a huge mountain broken apart like a plastic toy you ought to reflect upon a few questions, feelings, sensations… What a depth, what a space! It is one of the most beautiful places on this planet which are the must to see…

We saw endless hills with dried yellow grass just like in Victoria; we saw fruit and corn plantations which are so huge in size that can be compared with Bundaberg sugar and macadamia plantations. I have not noticed along the way any petite farm like ours; everything is huge!

I saw here mountains visually quite similar to mountains in Switzerland and Kazakhstan.

And coastal line offers quite a tropical environment, as I remember from Los Angeles.

What else will I see in this colourful state?



http://picasaweb.google.com/Tatiana.I.Efremova/YosemiteParkCalifornia

http://picasaweb.google.com/Tatiana.I.Efremova/MammothLakesDistrictCalifornia

http://picasaweb.google.com/Tatiana.I.Efremova/EasternSierraAndLakeMono

Mono Lake, California, August 2008

Santa Monica Beach, August 2008

Grand Canyon

When we talk about icons we hardly can avoid banal statements…
I will try to avoid all well known things bout Grand Canyon… actually, what I knew was mostly visual images from movies about America, like Thelma and Louise, Westerns etc…
By the way, somehow images of Vinnetu the Apache Chief (for those who remembers “Indian” movies from Eastern Germany in the 60s and 70s), those images also blended into my ideas about Grand Canyon. Shortly speaking, when it comes to icons we know little truth and a lot of myths about the subjects.
Great Canyon happened to be what I expected it to be, and not quite the same.
One thing I have learned over the years of travelling – knowing nothing before you see the thing is the best thing.
I expected something absolutely spectacular, but what I found was a lot of rocks. May be I have been spoilt by seeing some spectacular and huge rock formations in Kazakhstan, Switzerland, China and in Kakadu Park (Australia). There are many breathtaking and beautiful mountains on this planet…
Great Canyon is also breathtaking, but mostly by the sheer size of it. Kakadu Park is sort of more petite, if such adjective can be applicable to such a massive cluster of rocks; however, Kakadu had colours and a variety of rock formations as well as vegetation and wild life to enhance the picture. Great Canyon is great, but with a limited palette and very modest vegetation to entertain human eyes. I cannot understand what all those Indians and sheriffs from American Westerns did in this deserted and hostile place. Well, of course, I know – gold kept them there. They say that gold and silver mines still operate in that area, but no gold would keep me there. The place was hot that I think it is one of the entrances to hell…
Nonetheless, I took a few photos.


http://picasaweb.google.com/Tatiana.I.Efremova/GrandCanyon

Las Vegas

Everybody knows that Americans love show business, and they are very good at show business. Also everybody knows that Las Vegas is a show and gambling capital of the world, and Hollywood is a dream making capital of the world (together with Bollywood).

By the way, we even did not plan to stay in Las Vegas. Our original plan was to drive through to Grand Canyon. Unfortunately, in a high holyday season as now there were no accommodation available anywhere in Nevada except Las Vegas, so we had to stay there.
Everything I ever heard about Las Vegas is correct: it is exactly what I thought it is. There is no point to repeat all the same stuff about glamour, glitter and sin.
There was something I have never realised, however.

Las Vegas is a city of fakes, poor style fakes of a very good quality and on an incredible scale.
Nearly every building is a fake image of something: an African village, a Venetian palazzo, a tropical island, a pyramid, an Ancient Roman palace or even New York or Paris CBD, with all the appropriate clichés and attributes of the theme. Funny enough, nobody cares about a purity of style: an Italian baroque Bellagio has Chinese lions at the entrance; Caesar’s palace has a title written in Greek fonts, etc… The Venetia Palazzo is the most stylish, probably, more or less strictly keeping late Renaissance and Baroque style.
On the other hand everything is of a magnificent quality: the materials are the best (marbles, silks, sculptures…), the artists are the best (producing art in all imaginable styles with perfection), technology involved is mind boggling (coloured fountain shows, moving sculptures, canals running through the buildings)…
Do I sound like everybody else before me by now?..
As much as I despise fakes of any kind and treat it as a cheap kitch, I have to take my hat off in honour of all those artists who invested into this city’s dazzling madness. Las Vegas offers fakes of an outstanding artistic quality (as well as real crap, forgive me my French, as some would say), art which is on a borderline with masterpieces, or actually masterpieces, original in all respects. I hope my photo album reflects my feelings till certain degree.
One downside which cannot be overturned by the impressive scale of attractions is gambling and smoking. They come together, they are inevitable. The city stinks from a cigarette smoke, because everybody who gambles – smokes, and everybody in Las Vegas gambles (Chris and myself happened to be a rare exemption).

Visiting a couple of shows in Las Vegas and Universal Studios in Hollywood also revealed something about America: if they entertain – they do it properly. Every detail is thought through, the skills are incredible, no effort spared – and the result is always at least good, and sometimes excellent beyond imagination. From time to time I watch American shows on TV – no comparison to a real thing. TV robs a show on depth and colour and real life pulse. I have enjoyed the quality and professionalism of what I’ve seen in the last few days…


Photo album http://picasaweb.google.com/Tatiana.I.Efremova/LasVegas