10 replies to this topic

[Suskis]

I'll be along with my girlfriend in Boston at the end of this month, then I'll move to New York for the 1st week of July.
It's our 1st time in USA, so: what should I not miss there?

[Vulpesveritas]

Well, I could give you more recommendations if you were in the midwest, however, let's see..
Say hello to the people in occupy wall street who are still there somehow, take a stop by a few museums.
If you had the chance to go by Philadelphia or down to Maryland and/or Virginia there would be more historic attractions.
And if you were in the midwest I could recommend history and some of the general wildlife... New York however... let's see... umm...

... Nope can't think of anything that is of any real ethical or cultural value there outside of the extreme urban sprawl or multiple corporate headquarters. Which I would argue aren't personally. But that's me.

Boston on the other hand has at least a bit of things you can go history wise, as well as some more New England cultural bits, especially if you go to some of the outlying small towns. Namely, I recommend you do your best to visit the small towns, that's where any real culture is going to be for the most part. Also, given that you'll be in New England, if you like seafood - crab is a must. lol.

[Alexander Fury]

Keep heading north till you reach a little country called ''Canada'' you'll love it!

[Suskis]

I am staying in Boston and in New York, sorry, no travelling around. We'll sleep in the same house in Boston and the same hotel in NY every evening.
Also, living in Italy I am quite tired of museums or art stuff: I have been fed this stuff for 40 years. Time to enjoy something differend and more american, I'd say.
I won't miss the lobsters, ofc

[LordDeathStrike]

Suskis, on 03 June 2012 - 12:08 AM, said:

I'll be along with my girlfriend in Boston at the end of this month, then I'll move to New York for the 1st week of July.
It's our 1st time in USA, so: what should I not miss there?

well if youre moving into the new york area, you absolutely positively have to go to central park at like 4 am on a weeknight (get that first mugging out of your system asap).

all joking aside, be carefull!

Alexander Fury, on 03 June 2012 - 12:26 AM, said:

Keep heading north till you reach a little country called ''Canada'' you'll love it!

lies and slander, its all hockey beer and permafrost!

[Vulpesveritas]

Suskis, on 03 June 2012 - 12:35 AM, said:

I am staying in Boston and in New York, sorry, no travelling around. We'll sleep in the same house in Boston and the same hotel in NY every evening.
Also, living in Italy I am quite tired of museums or art stuff: I have been fed this stuff for 40 years. Time to enjoy something differend and more american, I'd say.
I won't miss the lobsters, ofc

Then your best bet is to visit the suburbs and outlying towns while in New York, and visit some of the older sites in Boston, as well as a few of the outlying towns there as well. Inner city won't be any different for the most part from any other major city worldwide.
And you want the crab, not the lobster.
If you want something truly "american" (60% of us don't live in large cities, rather in spaced out small towns.) then it will be the small towns here and there that you'll see more of the actual culture. Well, New England culture at least.

Trust me, I've been to nearly the entire lower 48, and have spent considerable time in Colorado, Iowa, Illinois, Alabama, Virginia, and Maryland. Virginia is actually quite different from Maryland, despite their geographic positioning. Ethnic groups tend to stick together, for example in Iowa along the Mississippi river where I grew up, the dominant ancestry is German, Irish, and Dutch, and many traditions get mixed up there, and you get a quite different culture than the predominantly Dutch and English northeast.

The other thing to do is try some small family owned diners when you're getting things to eat. You'll enjoy the food quite a bit more and get more of a feel for the predominant foods in the culture for the most part. Also, you'll at least get a half-decent hamburger should you order such that way.

Also, you might take an opportunity to stop in a pawn shop or two, you'll find a lot of interesting things, conversation among the least.

But that's just my recommendations.

[Suskis]

Is it crab so much better than lobster?
Thanks for the advices
(gf is staying another month in Fort Collins, Colorado, in september, though)

[LordDeathStrike]

Suskis, on 03 June 2012 - 01:49 AM, said:

Is it crab so much better than lobster?
Thanks for the advices
(gf is staying another month in Fort Collins, Colorado, in september, though)

no, theyre both bottom feeding snot gutted bugs that live under water. poor mans food 100 years ago till we tricked rich people into thinking they were good just because you slop enough butter on to make your shoe edible! thus the fishing industry for them was born and boomed and the poor people that were stuck eating the disgusting crustaceans were employed and able to buy delicious red meat.

[Suskis]

In facts, I have heard that unless you coat lobsters with butter and other sauces, they taste like wet cardboard..
Maybe I'll have mussels soup instead!

[Shredhead]

What I like to do in a city I've never been before, is take a guide who's showing me sets and famous places from movies and TV shows. That way you avoid the museums and still have some sights you have a relation to.

[Frostiken]

Suskis, on 03 June 2012 - 01:49 AM, said:

Is it crab so much better than lobster?
Thanks for the advices
(gf is staying another month in Fort Collins, Colorado, in september, though)

I lived in Ft Collins for two years. The town is alright, but it's definitely worth the trip up to Este's Park which is only about an hour away. If she doesn't go up there she's nuts.