by Colonel Sun » Sun May 22, 2011 8:06 am
Well I spent about 7 years in the US Midwest, so my experiences are mostly based on that region.
Likes:
the big sky of the Midwest
Chicago: the waterfront sets a standard that all cities should aspire to, the outstanding architecture is a history of the 20th century
sailing on Lake Michigan
sleeping outside on a bench at the tip of Navy Pier, back when it was a naval pier, to sober up and then watching the sunrise.
learning to soar - fly a glider - above the endless cornfields and catching an updraft from the afternoon cumulus clouds
other cities I visited and liked: San Francisco, San Diego, Baltimore, New Orleans [quite different from other US cities], Charleston
people for the most part were friendly and helpful
the opportunity to work with people, both native and expat, who were the best in their field
the
music: the blues and jazz venues were first rate
the well kept picturesque towns along the
rowing on the Fox River
the bike path system along the Fox River
Pal Joey's Pizza: the best I had every tasted.
Dislikes:
the blandness of much of suburbia and endless miles of ugly clone strip malls and car dealerships
highway billboards
the class structure
the over sized food portions served at restaurants and the, back then, lack of variety in supermarkets
the lack of public transit and having to drive everywhere
having to know which part of Chicago and other cities were safe and which were not
cities that didn't make a particularly positive impression: Salt Lake City, St. Louis, Philadelphia, Miami, Orlando, Washington, D.C. [the Mall area is impressive, the Smithsonian is outstanding, but outside of it . . .],
tragic urban ruins: Detroit, the steel works of Gary, Indiana, Buffalo, Rochester [Kodak]
the BI [British Imperial] system of units: as one engineer succinctly put it,
"It's like wiping one's butt with a pine cone, it gets the job done, but the experience is not pleasant."
Last edited by
Colonel Sun on Sat May 28, 2011 1:19 pm, edited 12 times in total.
Never criticize anyone until you've walked several kilometres in their shoes.
Because
1. You're now several kilometres away; and
2. You've got their shoes.