You are reading the thoughts of a happy man. I just got word I can go to New York City in March for work. The trip, my stay and all expences fully paid . Yihaaaa.
Now the biggest concern I have is addaption.
I’m a Belgian you know. Small country between France, Germany and the Netherlands where the Germans were stopped in the first world war. And we are famous for our beer and chocolate.
I concider myself a real European. Meaning I drink lots of good beer, I eat lots of **good food **.
Well, there is not much of a difference between yours truly and the average American I hear you think? Well No, I dont agree.
I said I drank a lot of good beer and eat lots of good food. you yankees drink lots of beer and eat lots of food. See the difference?
Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not here to start a war with all you Americans. You do that enough without me interfearing.
I’m willing to learn.
I want to know from you Americans what I can do to be like a real New Yorker.
You have any hints for me? Suggestions? Remarks? Tourist tips?
Being Youropeon, you probably look a little frail next to us. I suggest you go on a high carb, high fat diet starting right away to pack on a few pounds. Don’t overdo it though! New Yorkers don’t tend to be all that big compared to some other areas of the country. If you said you were going to Chicago, then we would have some work to do.
You should fit in. You may be a little bit more than slightly disappointed in the Big Apple’s Belgian offerings - especially if you get homesick & crave your native beer & cuisine.
The only 2 Belgian Restaurants I know of in Manhattan aren’t all that appealing.
Café des Bruxelles - Which I didn’t enjoy at all.
and
Brasserie 360 - A French/Belgian hybrid, which I’ve never been to but haven’t heard anything good about from the couple of people I know who’ve been there.
But…There’s Hope!
It’s not like you can take the Subway there, but I strongly recommend:
Waterzooi Belgian Bistro:
On Franklin Ave In Garden City Long Island. The 100+ Belgian (Bottled & Freshly Tapped) Beers are awesome and the food is very good (and pretty authentic) - in my humble opinion (of course). Even though Waterzooi isn’t in NYC proper: it’s only 22 miles from Midtown or a 40 minute ride by commuter rail and stone’s throw walk from the GC/LIRR station to the restaurant.
Being that I’m in recommendation mode, I also suggest you post a request/announcement for a mini-get together at a local NYC bar or restaurant in the MPSIMS forum in early February. I’m sure at least a 1/2 dozen or more New Yorkers will attend.
Thanks a lot JohnBckWLD for your hints on some nice Belgian Restaurants in NY.
I have some other thoughts.
Should I wear a hawaien Shirt, baseball cap and big camera round my neck to fit in as an american tourist or will people still see I’m European?
Will you guys be able to clean up that white mess by the time I’m there in March? hehe
Daftbugger told me they make crap coffee over there. That I should bring my own. Anybody has a suggestion on what else I should bring along? Dont tell me my wife, She is staying home.
Are there some special Lines, expressions ?? New Yorkers use I should know about?
Being from the Seattle area, and as a drinker of only good coffee, I will disregard your comment. I had someone pawn some English coffee on me once, that will never happen again.
Blech. Still, I think I have to agree with Lola. Why are you so excited about coming to New York if all you want to do is the stuff you would do at home?
Rather defeats the purpose of traveling, doesn’t it?
The NYC Subways, Buses and the PATH trains all take Metrocards. But PATH doesn’t accept Unlimiteds. Alternatively, don’t go to Jersey. You’re not missing anything.
Don’t ride the Lex at rush hour.
In Manhattan, the the street numbers go up as you go north, and the building numbers go up as you move away from Fifth Ave.
The only place you can still get genuine NYC subway tokens are at the Roosevelt Island Tram. Not that they’re useful for anything other than riding the tram.
If you get lost, ask for directions. Especially on the subway. Natives like to show off.
Walk briskly. New Yorkers are always in a rush. Never, ever stop to adjust something or look around at the top of a flight of stairs or escalator, or I will personally hunt you down and push you.
You can get amazingly good and cheap food from people with carts on the sidewalk.
Check out the Outer Boroughs sometime. There’s lots of good tourist stuff here too. NYC ain’t just Manhattan.
Take trains to places. The NYC area is almost European in the amount of trains we have going all over the place. Commuter Railroads: MNRR, LIRR, SIRT, NJT. Mass transit: PATH, HBLR, and the totally rad NYC Subway.
Walk quickly, don’t wear white sneakers, and if you stop in the middle of a sidewalk to gawk at the big, tall buildings I will personally kill you.
Don’t tell cabbies an address, tell them an intersection (ie 57th and Broadway), side of the street (unless you’re on a two way street then it’s a moot point) and which side of the intersection (near or far).
Similarly, if you’re on a street that heads downtown (south) and you want to go uptown (north), walk to a street that heads in the direction you want to go before you hail a cab. Unless it’s raining.
Uptown and Downtown are not only places, but they are directions in which you travel. Crosstown is a direction. Midtown is a place.
Other than that, I probably can’t help you as I’ve only got a year into the city myself.
Billdo and manhattan, helped me a lot when I moved here, so hopefully they’ll stop in and give you some insight.
Finally, you must get together with the NY Dopers, so we can find demonstrate that this city has good food and good beer despite what you think.
When you go visit somebody when do you feel most comfortable?
When you have to follow the rules or when somebody tells you “make yourself at home”?
Ok ok better not to overdo it. I was visiting my girlfriends parents for the first time. They were very nice untill her father said “please do as you do at home”. So I sat myself down before the TV with my pants down, ready for Baywatch. And her father kicked me out, can you imagine that?
OK, I’ll give you One of the passwords, but don’t abuse it. (This one is for Chinatown restaurants Only). When you are in Chinatown and ordering dinner, you need to tell the waiter that you want your food ‘Fire-Tongue’. Thats the code word in Chinatown that means “I don’t want any pre-prepared food…I want everything fresh”. Tell them you want a lot of good beer to go with it, too. They’ll get the hint.
Plan on staying out late. There is no difference between 4 AM and 4 PM in Manhattan. It’s very much like Vegas where it’s very easy to lose track of time simply because there is so much activity going on.
Everyone in the cab should exit on the curb side, or the driver’s side. Even if you’re sitting in the back passenger side, slide over. Don’t exit into traffic.
Walk quickly; look for holes in the wall of people walking towards to walk through; cross the street whenever you can–don’t wait for the light to turn green, and don’t be afraid of the cabs. As long as they are going slow, the cabs will come very close to you, but they don’t want to hit you.
Manhattan is ridiculously easy to learn your way around. In a day or two you’ll be saying stuff like “OK, we need to go to midtown and then head east.”
I was always walking around with someone, and I was normally in a safe, tourist area, but I never felt threatened. This includes being drunk and taking a subway home at 3 AM. Once again, there are so many people around at all hours that you’re never walking down the street by yourself.
I don’t think anyone is from Manhattan. You’ll probably run into more tourists just like yourself than anything else.
Look at the doors. This sounds crazy, but there is so much detail in the older buildings, that they are really works of art. You’ll be amazed at the workmanship in metal and stone.
I don’t know if it’s too cold to still do it, but the only tour I would pay for is the Circle Line boat tour that goes around the island. This is cheap, like $30, and it goes past all the bridges and all the buildings. If you want to see the city lights, they offer a night tour. They have a web site.
If you are centrally located and in good shape, I would walk and take the subway everywhere else. In other words, don’t buy a bus tour ticket. I would say do Times Square (at night) and Central Park for sure. If they have the ice skating rink up, try skating at Rockefeller Center. You can go to the top of the Empire State building, but try not to do it on a weekend night; you’ll be in line for hours. Outside of that, you might want to focus on a specific interest, like art, history, sports, theater, dining, nightlife, architecture, and plan your trip that way.
Not only is everything you want within walking distance, but it’s arguably the best in the world. A very cool benefit of this is that the second tier restaurants are still excellent and very cheap considering the quality of the food.
Finally, before you go, rent some movies that were filmed in New York and watch them before and after you go. See how many landmarks you can pick out. Laugh out loud when a gangster gets killed in a well-known tourist area–and there’s no one around! If you like video games, play Grand Theft Auto III before you go. The second city is based on Manhattan, and it contains a lot of landmarks as well.
