Aykhan Mammadov said:
I was in Washington DC and New-York with short stay for a week a few years ago.
I can't tell I liked these 2 cities much. Of course, only 2 cities and short stay is so little info to make conclusions.
Meanwhile during my a few visits to different Europian cities such as Venezia, Munich, Amsterdam, Paris, Cologne, Wien and etc... I found them very GREAT, very impressive. Having seen great Ratushs ( Town Halls) in Munich or Cologne, miracle of Venezia I thought that the humankind's history and culture is just here.
I live in so-to-say 2-nd if not to say 3-rd category country, our passports don't allow freely move between all these countries, otherwise I'd spend as much part of my life as possible in tourism.
In this regard, it is interesting for me to get what u, Americans feel when u visit West Europe, when u see their culture and history. Leaving aside politics, arrogance and international relations, do u feel that USA is much poor culturally in comparison, or conversely there is nothing that touches u and u have similar doezns of places. Shortly, do u like to be in Europe ?
First off, note that the European cities (i.e. the "whitey" Euro cultures) are far, far older than the relatively young United States. That said, as for the Big Apple, you can't do N.Y. for a "short time" and even begin to scratch its surface. For starters, N.Y. is the most culturally diverse city in the world, bar none. It has museums yes, but N.Y.'s culture is in great measure, its people--and that, to a degree, kind of explains American "culture" as a whole. It doesn't have the "legs-of-time" that Europe does.
But I digress; as for N.Y.: Go to the 59th floor of the Wall Street club and look westbound towards the Woolworth Bldg.; that's one of several different vantage points that will afford you sights you will not see anywhere else. Not to say "better than" or "whatever" .... simply to underscore the fact that N.Y. is so unique in many, many different senses of the word; just like many other cities can cite their own brand of uniqueness. Fly "by" Manhattan over the Hudson River at night; no more spectacular sight in terms of incandescent "hugeness." Wanna see a truly beautiful American city? Check out the archetecture in "Big Shoulders" (Chicago). And, like N.Y., Chicago offers it's own unique "vibe" as far as culture goes. Copping a "feel" of culture in cities like N.Y., Chicago, etc. are maybe not as obvious as going from one OLD WORLD European capital in order to visit cathedral after catherdral--museum after museum while listening to someone bellow: "Fourteenth century!....Fifteenth century!....etc." Yet, cities like a New York, like a Chicago, like a New Orleans nevertheless present/offer "culture" that has influenced and been passed around the world. The Louve museum is culture personified yes, but where but New Orleans could the brilliant intro to "Basin Street Blues" by Louis Armstrong have been written? And hell, while Berlin in the 1920's was playing a sort of Teutonic prelude to the "Lou Reed" debauched Lower East Side N.Y. punk scene of the 70's, Paris, the capital of culture, during that same 20's era was eating up the Josephine Baker's, et al's of the "new world."
Aykhan, as for your "roundup of European" cities you've been to, I'd think you'd want to do the "big 3" for starters (Rome, London, Paris) then go to the other "must sees" (Florence, Venice, Vienna, Prague, etc.) before you put a generalized rubber stamp on what "the Continent" has to offer vis-a-vis the U.S.. Your "Euro" list is pretty top-heavy with Central Euro/Germanic/Prussian towns. Beautiful towns, yes, but not really giving a full picture as to the face of Europe--just like a few days in D.C. and N.Y.C. don't BEGIN to give a complete picture of the U.S.. Is there a greater legacy of history, culture, art in Europe? Of course! As previously stated, IT'S MUCH OLDER than the U.S.. Maybe America will never develop a cultural legacy in the "European-traditional" sense of the word. I mean, the Baroque Period (for example) is long dead and gone...except it's been preserved....in Europe. European culture is the product of it's people. Maybe it's safe to say that America's culture IS it's people, i.e. it's diversity. As for your
"I've been to N.Y. for 12 minutes and D.C. for 10 minutes and here are my impressions:" :roll: ....... I, my friend, can only say this to you: I wish you could get the opportunity to experience "the vast, silent purple" sky at midnight southwestern desert outside "mystical" Taos, New Mexico, or the blaring Latin atmosphere while playing dominos over an outdoor lunch at a cafe on Calle Ocho in Miami's Little Cuba
('f' the posseurs--yawn--at SoBe). I wish you could experience a horse drawn tabboggan sled ride over/around a ice-covered lake in Vermont in the early evening with a moon the size of a wall clock hovering up in a crystal-clear, black sky....and then go meet up and "jam" (play music) with some of the "Yankee" locals in a white Town Hall nestled in a beautiful oval with the ediface's name and date "1781" placqued over the front door. The U.S. is homogenous, being that we may watch the same stupid TV shows as someone living thousands of miles away, i.e. we may be under the same "cultural umbrella" ..... yet it is so varied. You go to N.Y. and you'll see things you've never seen.....and yet, at the same time, you ain't seen nothing yet.
But, back to your question: what do "WE" think of "YOU?" We're Americans....we don't HATE you. It's almost like you want to get a "Euros suck the big one" response out of us just so that you can justify some "you Americans--you're so arrogant!" retort. Akyhan, that's so....yawn....provincial and that "game" has been cheekily played out on these boards far too many times; by the same provincial dolts who sterotype the U.S. (and other places) through the "poetically-licensed" eyes of Hollywood celluloid. There are probably millions of Americans that don't care for Europeans and may I be so bold as to attribute some (or much?) of that to the political climate surrounding the world of today; that is, the Bush supporters (or even moderate Bush detractors) that have tired of him getting slam-dunked by foreigners...and by extension, THEY feel slam-dunked as well. Ya know, the types who'll say: "Yeah, G.W. is a horse's ass....but he's OUR horse's ass!" (lol). The guy's a numbskull--you can kick his butt in print for all I care. But besides G.W. the hoople, there are probably millions more Europeans who hate Americans....and may I be so bold as to suggest that they probably hated Americans anyway, long before Bush ever came into office.
Now, as for stereotyping (on the other hand) your country: even though I know of 6 European guys who returned from Baku, Azerbaijan with a severe doze of "the crabs" I still wouldn't dare offer a sweeping stereotype about your fair city, or it's crabby women even after hearing that the "Baku-crabs" were so robust....that if you threw a toothpick in a toliet bowl, those BAKU CRABS could actually POLE-VAULT (!) their way to freedom; alas, at the expense of your health. Whoa, time out, Green Baaay!
Dorancito: Frankly, I'd expect better from you than that 'uppity' broad brush. Let me reiterate.... VAST and HUGE ...... don't just see a relatively few sights then pass judgement; actually "LIVE" "the people" then get back to me on that one.
Now, as for Europe itself: I've been trying to pass time (sorry for wasting yours, reading this) in the lounge for my flight; I've got a "overnight" plane to catch. If anyone (Euro, American, Martian) wants to discuss this futher, or solve the "other problems of the world" ;-) l'm arriving at the Hotel Costes in Paris as of tomorrow and my 'taste buds' are already whispering in my ear: "Hotel Costes' bar this Friday night......I'm buying." Being that it is bar at "The Costes", I'll be easy to recognize. I'll probably be the one guy there who doesn't look like he's suffering from a terminal case of self-conscious attitude that reads: "I've-got-a-stick-up-my-ass." You know the 'tude." (lol). And, it WOULD be my pleasure; I'm buying.
gottta go...sorry for the babbling...
