Dolmen

Favorite Things Turkey

2007-07-07T12:09:00.000-04:00

Galata Bridge
Street food - simit, corn (boiled, grilled, or popped), pickles, mussels. The mussels.
The Ottomans (Ottomen?)
Seeing the Hagia Sophia only to decide I need to go back
Sitting in between Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque during prayer call
Çay
A country of dichotomies: modern & rugged, Islamic & secular, beautiful & dirty, pristine waters & overdeveloped tourist towns, Europe & Asia
Meat.
Turkish socialization: backgammon, meyhane culture on the Nevizade, tea
The views
A sense of adventure while never feeling too far away
Baklava, lokum, helva
Leb-i Derya at the Richmond
You can find everything fairly cheap, but pay a little more and you get a lot more
Turkish breakfast
Swimming in the Mediterranean
Having delicious plums grown by my bus-friend's mother in Fethiye
Tomatoes, eggplant, cucumber
Yogurt, Ayran, cheese
Fun letters like ç and ü

Home and Photos

2007-06-29T09:45:00.000-04:00

After a month of eight planes, countless buses, a boat or two, a bicycle, cars, trains, and metros, I'm back home, adjusting to the lovely time difference between Europe and the West Coast.

Have posted about 200 of the 800ish pictures I took - http://flickr.com/photos/acaaron816/collections/72157600532726279/

What a month - still have plenty to write about, so I think I'll start from the beginning and work my way through over the next few posts.

Blondes Ruin Everything

2007-06-25T16:31:00.000-04:00

Just had Westvleteren's two takes on the °6 beer - the current blond and the former (1998) darker ale, known as red. Good thing I had the blond first - it was exceptional of course, probably one of the best lighter beers I've ever had.
The red though...bar none most delicate yet nuanced beer I've ever had. Unfortunately, people visiting their cafe demanded the more palatable blond style from the monks. God's work indeed.

Ohmigod I Love This Place

2007-06-24T14:50:00.000-04:00

Did some hardcore sightseeing today so I can relax a bit tomorrow - went to Brugge and Gent, loved them both. Rented a (really nice) bike in Brugge, climbed the Belfry, and of course enjoyed the beer, freitjes, and architecture.

Then it was off to see the absolutely incredible Adoration of the Lamb altarpiece in Gent, where I also adored a 13,50 beer from the smallest of the Trappist breweries, Westvleteren. Had the Blue, number 8. Delish.

Back in Antwerp happened upon a beer festival that I had somehow glossed over last night, and was able to try the champagne of beers, Deus Brut. Also met Garrett Oliver, Brooklyn Brewery Brewmaster. How bout that?

Reborn in Marseille

2007-06-23T06:14:00.000-04:00

In Marseille for a few hours while waiting for my flight to Brussels. Hated it at first - wanted to check out their supposedly great market at Place des Capucins, so I went only to find it deserted. The dirty streets and overhyped Old Port did not help my mood.
Wandering back to the internet cafe, I stumbled upon the most alive, vibrant market I've come across in my travels. Apparently it was not Place des Capucins I was looking for, but Place de Marché des Capucins.

Belle Provence

2007-06-19T12:34:00.000-04:00

Arrived in Provence yesterday - tooled around Avignon for the afternoon, saw the Palais des Papes and the Pont d'Avignon (I did not sing the song unfortunately)
Then it was back to the villa just outside the little town of Banon, a place known mostly for its hearty goat's cheese, wrapped in a leaf of some sort. My friend's family is entertaining a crew of around 22 - that's about 1 to 1 1/2 cases of wine a night for those keeping track.
Tomorrow is market day in St-Remy-en-Provence, then picnic time and Arles.

Au Revoir Turkey

2007-06-17T01:43:00.000-04:00

Heading out of Turkey today via Antalya - can't believe my week (+) here is over. It's been great, wish I could stay longer, but Provence will be fantastic as well. That's the hard thing about travelling: you always want to see another place, which means leaving another behind.

Just met someone from Portland, OR who's been away for 9 months and still has a few years left of seeing the world. Like, everything. Sold his house and all his belongings.

Good thing I have that return ticket, it's tempting...

Blue Voyage

2007-06-15T04:26:00.000-04:00

On the second day of my Blue Cruise along the coast from Olympos to Fetıhe. Absolutely incredible.
Docked in the town of Kaş, a cute if touristy port city. Enjoyed sleeping on the deck of our very nice little yacht, waking up looking out at our little cove, then jumping right in to the brilliant turqouise water.

Do I really have to leave?

Olympos

2007-06-14T02:26:00.000-04:00

Arrived in Olympos yesterday via a flight to Antalya then a bus here. Absolutely gorgeous mountains descending straight into the Mediterranean. The access to the beach is via some pretty old-looking ruins that include an ancient pier-type structure. Pretty nifty. Olympos is kind of one massive campsite for 20-somethings. It's just one street (dirt and gravel of course) lined by these tree house pensions fully equipped with enough beer and food to keep everyone well entertained.
I leave today on a 3 day, 2 night cruise on a traditional gulet, a wooden Turkish boat, which should be great. Possibility of some SCUBA action in the city of Kaş (PADI certified for all you worriers). Bon voyage

So Long Istanbul

2007-06-12T19:12:00.000-04:00

My last night in this wonderful city is winding down - can't wait for the beach of the southern coast, but will certainly miss the liveliness of Istanbul. Had a great dinner at a meyhane, a tavern where you are shown a platter of cold mezes (starters) that you point at, then order the rest of your dinner from the menu. Had a great, fresh sea bream as well as delicious fried mussels and eggplant, artichoke, stuffed peppers, and eggplant-tomato dip. All, of course accompanied by raki, Turkey's version of ouzo or pastis. But better, as they say. As is everthing here, right?

Istanbul

2007-06-10T10:56:00.000-04:00

What an amazing city. The streets are constantly full of people out walking, enjoying the weather, relaxing, and having a good time. Experienced the call to prayer for my first time last night - there's a minaret right next to my hostel. Luckily I either slept through the 4AM one or it dıdn't happen this morning. Only a snoring dormmate.
Saw the Aya Sofia this morning, the number one building on my places to see list. Stepping in there is truly an awe-inspiring experience. Continued to see the Blue Mosque and Topkapı Palace, both great structures in their own right (especıally, but today was all about the Aya. And the kofte, the great Turkish meatball-type thing.
Food is everywhere here, and apparently it's all theirs. Turkey is one of 7 countries in the world that is agriculturally self-sustaining. Döner kebaps on their famous rotating spits line the streets, and street vendors hock everything from simit (think sesame bagel) to grilled corn to fresh mussels.
Exploring the Bosphorus later on a boat that dips between Europe and Asia. Love it.

İn İstanbul

2007-06-09T08:37:00.000-04:00

Well Ive made it to Istanbul, having gone two weeks without fulfillig my promise to post updates. Ill try to play catch up with my free hostel internet, though the Turkish keyboard (lots of ıöç stuff) may make things a bit hairy. Great weather, off to explore!

Getting Ready

2007-05-27T09:59:00.000-04:00

About to start a day of packing and errands before I embark on my month-long European endeavor. In about 20ish hours I will have hopefully landed in Geneva, where I will poke around while I wait for my parents to arrive in the evening.

Then it's off to Annecy, where our French adventures begin. Mon dieu!

The South, Part 2

2006-03-27T23:23:00.000-05:00

As promised, I'm here to talk about community in the South.

Community is what planners and advocates alike really really want. In plans of every intensity and level, "community" support is of utmost importance. In other plans, such as open space building (is that an oxymoron?), the community-building aspect is held in high regard. But what is this thing we call community? How does it manifest itself in the city, and how is it created?

My belief is that nowhere will ever have the type of community that I experienced in the rural South. Everyone seemed to know each other, and as Pete from Habitat said, "If you sin in this town I'll find out before you finish sinning." Beyond being a tad creepy, that really gets to multiple facts about community in a place such as Lenoir, North Carolina: everybody knows each other, and it's all about church.

From a planning perspective, how can we create this kind of community? To a large extent, I don't believe we can. Community has to happen naturally. However, that doesn't mean there aren't things we can do to help. I of course love me my open space, but recognize we don't live in an ideal (or medieval) world where people will congregate and socialize freely and create an organic community in a public square. Parks and plazas are great for preexisting relationships or some time to yourself.

Planners should encourage "community" sites such as schools, religious buildings, and markets. These are places where you can meet someone new, maybe after realizing you have the same Saturday Greenmarket preferences or your son and so and so's daughter are in the same homeroom.

Beyond that? Well, developers getting overambitious seems to incite a lot of community anger. Maybe in the city, our best bet at community is getting angry together?

All I know is that no matter how hard we try, we will never have community like they do in Lenoir.

The South, Take 1

2006-03-23T10:15:00.000-05:00

This is my first of a few posts on my first trip to the South. Last week, I had the privilege to travel down to North Carolina for a Habitat for Humanity build in the town of Lenoir.

After a 12 hour drive last Sunday, our group (all NYU students) was greeted with warm, welcoming arms to the church in which we were staying. Not that I've seen many churches, but this church was unlike any other. We were brought down into the massive youth lounge, which had a large stove-less kitchen, full pool table, foosball table, air hockey table, as well as couches galore and a big screen TV. We were greeted by our hosts, Aaron, the youth pastor of the church, Pete, the Executive Director of Caldwell County Habitat, and Amy, our organizer from Habitat.

Before this, I had only heard references to Southern hospitality and didn't really know what that meant. In those first introductions, I learned hospitality first hand. Our three hosts were so incredibly welcoming. Beyond that, they seemed genuinely happy to have us there, and were glad to fill us in on little tidbits about the town. They understood our Yankee ways, telling us to keep "cussing" at a minimum during our stay. Amy took pride in the fact that even though the groups came down here worked hard (and were given gym passes), each group ate so much that they gained weight.

We ate so much because people seemed to constantly want to feed us. NYU had planned a large food budget for us, but so much of that was unnecessary. We were invited to have pizza with the youth group that night, and we were brought massive lunches on the worksite each day. Each night, someone from the community would take us out or open up their church to us.

After being in New York, all this hospitality came as culture shock. Why were people being so nice? Why did people say hi as we passed them on the street, instead of keeping their heads down? It may be just how things are done down South, but I have an inkling what they have is a true community.

And for more on community, stay tuned...

Thank You Roger Lowenstein

2006-03-06T22:23:00.000-05:00

Roger Lowenstein, the journalist who wrote the article, "Who Needs the Mortgage Interest Deduction?" in this weekend's brilliant NY Times Mag, is my hero.

No, not for his interesting and accessible analysis of the mortgage interest tax deduction, though I do thank him for that.

His article managed to be witty from time to time, but the best line was this (my emphasis):

Donald Trump, who knows everything, said that eliminating the deduction would result in "a total catastrophe" for the U.S. economy.

That just made my night.

Overheard on the DC Metro

2006-02-26T22:05:00.000-05:00

A conversation between two conservatively-dressed women in their 50s:

"He wants to go out to California"
"Why does he want to go out to California?!"
"It's the place to be" (with extreme sarcasm)
"What a retard."

Well put.

Snow in the City

2006-02-13T11:11:00.000-05:00

While I of course enjoyed waging a snowball fight in Tompkins Square yesterday, a thought occurred to me. How much fun would it be if it snowed in a city like San Francisco? Imagine all the sledding opportunities! You could probably race a cable car down California Street.

My Calendar Controls Me

2006-02-03T12:02:00.000-05:00

My spiffy Moleskine 2006 day-by-day calendar apparently wants me to take it easy on Sundays. I went to write something down at a particular time, but then I realized there are no times listed on Sundays! On each other page, there's a line for 7, 8, 9, etc...but on Sunday, just a bunch of dots. I thought this may have been a printing error, but each Sunday is like this. This seems like a notebook is giving me advice on how to live.

And I like it.

Reinventing the Avenue @ The Urban Center

2006-02-01T19:59:00.000-05:00

I'm excited to go check out the exhibit at the Urban Center to see how this collaboration between Transportation Alternatives, Project for Public Spaces, and The Open Planning Project looks. Knowing that I agree with 99% of what TA and PPS say, and, while I haven't heard of it before, just from the name of The Open Planning Project, I'm sure I'll just eat everything up. Particularly spiffy is the Astor Place project, which reclaims a good amount of underused streetspace for the pedestrian and makes crossing safer for pedestrians. I cross that intersection everyday and it's always a guessing game and I know it can be organized better.

I'll be sure to go check out New York City Streets Renaissance's exhibit at the Urban Center and let ya'll know how it looks.

[via Gothamist]

Where?

2006-01-31T18:21:00.000-05:00

So checking out apartment listings I came across this, possibly located in an alternate universe.

The Weather Fooled Me

2006-01-30T12:13:00.000-05:00

So, in thinking of how to take advantage of this clear, 56-degree day, I thought that it would be nice to go up to Madison Square Park and hit up Shake Shack for a burger in the sun.

They're closed during the winter- but today doesn't feel like winter at all. Oh well.

2005 in Cities

2006-01-18T22:03:00.000-05:00

Ok, so that whole "studying abroad" thing may make this unfair, but this is a list of the cities in which I spent at least one night in during the year of 2005 (damn you day trips!).

New York, NY
San Francisco, CA
Newton, MA
Barcelona, Spain
Scottsdale, AZ
Paris, France
Florence, Italy
Venice, Italy
Tarquinia, Italy
Positano, Italy
Vienna, Austria
Dublin, Ireland
Galway, Ireland
London, England
Rome, Italy
Madrid, Spain
Paris, France

Ok, a list of day trips (for funsies!)

Girona, Spain
Montserrat (is that a city? No.), Spain
Cinque Terre (specifically Monterosso and Vernazza), Italy
San Gimignano, Italy
Greve in Chianti, Italy
Lucca, Italy
Pompeii, Italy (do dead cities count?)
Howth, Ireland (so cool!)
Ferrara, Italy
Cerveteri, Italy
Orvieto, Italy
Chiusi, Italy
Norchia, Italy (again, dead city)
Genoa, Italy
Pisa, Italy
Versailles, France

Paris, Je t'aime!

2005-12-28T12:01:00.000-05:00

I'm in Paris, and it's just a great city. Here's why:

Metro
It's extensive, cheap, and reliable. Clean. The signs for various exits in the stations not only tell you what street you'll be exiting on, but what sites are around there. These signs are not only at the exits themselves but on the track platform as well.

RER
It's a suburban transit line, with stops all over the city! Not only does it link easily with the Metro, but it can stand on its own as an inner-city mode of transit.

Wide Boulevards, Narrow Sidestreets
There's nothing like walking down a wide boulevard, packed with people, then veering off onto a little sidestreet where you walk down the middle and no one else is there. If you ever get claustraphobic, just hop back onto a boulevard.

Food Shopping
They have this down. Every neighborhood has its market several times a week, plus there are specialty stores, such as the row around the corner from my hotel in Place Maubert Mutualité. There's the boulanger/patissier for breads and pasteries, the cremerie for cheese, the boucherie for meats, a fishmonger, a green grocer, and a wine store. And they're all great quality, great prices.

And more, of course, including the sites, the restaurants, but that's what I've been enjoying this trip. Paris of course has its flaws, but for my 5 nights here, I'm content just thinking about what makes it great.

In Search of Herb

2005-12-06T19:01:00.000-05:00

While I was cookin' up some soup, I realized that instead of buying basil at the market, I bought mint. While that would've been an interesting experiment, I needed basil and I needed it quickly.

I looked at my watch: 8:30. I thought the supermarket would still be open, so I ran there, but no luck. Closed. I ran around to various little markets that were for some reason still open, but the closest I got was sage. So then, I decided to go into some restaurants and ask (in my best Italian, of course) if I could buy some basil from them.

Now this is something I wouldn't even consider doing back at home. But here, it seems to be a lot more acceptable. The first place had about 5 leaves to offer me, but that wasn't enough. I tried to pay, but of course he wouldn't accept any money. The next place I tried didn't have enough to give away, so I had one more restaurant in mind. It's not a very good place, but I've gone there a few times because you can get a cheap takeaway pizza, and it's right across the street. The woman recognized me, and of course, wouldn't let me pay, but gave me just what I needed. I thanked her profusely and got back to cooking.

What I think is different here is that owners see their restaurants as more of an extension of their home and personal kitchen. Food here is about sharing, even at mediocre places that I only frequent due to convenience. You just don't get that back in the states.

You do, however, have access to groceries 24/7 basically wherever you are.

Before I Leave Florence: A To-Do

2005-12-05T11:55:00.000-05:00

I've written this list up for myself, but I figure getting it up here will help me actually accomplish all these things:

Cook ribollita (it starts tonight!)
Cook a market meal
Santa Maria della Carmine/Brancacci Chapel
Climb cupola of duomo
Santa Maria Novella church
BIG meal at Trattoria Mario (osso buco Saturday anyone?)
Uffizi
Buy shoes that are good for traveling and everyday wear
Buy a pair of jeans
Go to Siena
Museo San Marco
Walk, walk, walk
Rent a bike if there's nice weather

I can do this.

Claiming a City as Yours

2005-12-05T11:47:00.000-05:00

The other night, I was walking with a friend of mine, and we were chatting about how little time we have left in Florence (11 days if you were wondering). It's clear that everyone at NYU in Florence has very mixed feelings about this fact: eager to get back to New York or wherever else, but not ready to leave Florence. Why is that?

My friend was saying how he no longer puts Florence up on a pedastal, it is no longer this destination with a ridiculous amont of art and culture. Florence, for us, has become everyday. It's not like we're taking the city for granted. But, I think we are finally all just about getting used to Florence as where we are living right now, and yes, it really did take almost four months to get to that point. It is at that moment when we stop seeing Florence, or any city you have recently moved to, becomes a part of you and you a part of it. However, as this is only study abroad, in eleven days we are ripped out of the place we are just now getting used to. What an interesting way to experience a city.

Good Article

2005-11-28T04:35:00.000-05:00

See, I told you architecture matters:

Revolting High Rises by Christopher Caldwell

Moynihan Station: Not Quite There

2005-11-22T12:04:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, New Jersey Transit announced that they would become a tenant at the new Moynihan Station west of current Penn Station. While this is great news for the development (after all, what's a station without any transit?), this just falls short of everything Moynihan Station could be. Amtrak, this summer, already declined to be the anchor of the station, and the LIRR decided to stay put in Penn Station as well. I'm not going to delve into any Jersey-bashing, this isn't about that. NJ Transit is important to New York. This demonstrates the fact that New Jersey, whether we like it or not, is crucial to the development of Manhattan.

When Moynihan Station was first announced, I was excited by the fact that New York would once again have a great, beautiful train hub on the West Side. I've only seen old Penn Station in pictures, but I know that today's Penn Station is a disaster in comparison to its once glorious days as a symbol of the city. The problem with Moynihan Station as it is now planned is that it would only contain one mode of extraurban transit. The station will not be a hub, but instead an endpoint for NJ Transit. The benefit of having several modes of transit in one place is that this adds to the "usability" of a city. It is not only convenient to house Amtrak, New Jersey Transit, LIRR, and the subway in one location, but it creates a new place for some sort of social gathering among people from all over who share at least one thing in common: Manhattan, and the commute to Moynihan Station.

Travel Hack #1,563

2005-11-21T17:31:00.000-05:00

Tired of being in some fabulous new city and, despite your best efforts, you get laughed at because of your unavoidable tourist tendencies? Next time, try this: bring a dog. If you have a dog on a leash, everyone will think you're a local. No tourist has a dog.

Don't have a dog? Borrow one. I'm sure you know someone with a pooch he or she can part with for a bit. Steal your neighbor's dog. I don't care.

Try this. It just can't fail.

My New City

2005-11-14T17:44:00.000-05:00

Inspired by a podcast by Merlin Mann over at 43folders, here are a few things that I would want in my new city:

Affordable housing
Mixed neighborhoods
Sidewalks that are just wide enough...not too big, not too small
A kickass light rail system
Walking! Everybody walking!
Friendly shop owners and clerks
Specialty stores galore
A balance of natural beauty and built beauty

What do you want in your new city?

Venezia

2005-11-01T05:06:00.000-05:00

I wasn't expecting to love Venice as much as I did. Its charm cast a spell over me, what can I say? I've heard a lot of bad things about Venice- people saying it's too overrun by tourists, that it's dirty and poorly maintained. In my trip, these issues did not overwhelm the beauty of the city. Yeah, there were tourists, and I guess it was dirty, but the city was just too beautiful for those things to matter. Maybe it's because I'm used to the dirtiness of Florence (you can see the pollution on the duomo), or maybe I just lucked out with my timing by going at the end of October.

I think what I liked about Venice was its ability to manage modernity without abandoning its past. It helped that the biggest activity I did was attend La Biennale, a great contemporary art show. I think what else is also the key to Venice is its inability to ever really modernize. It's a city of canals. Yeah, you can put motorboats on those canals, but motorboats are nowhere near the annoynce level of traffic and noise with cars and scooters.

But then again, I was in Venice for about thirty hours. The three times I had visited Florence before being here for a semester, I didn't see a single flaw. Now I do. I'm sure it's the same way with Venice. With any city, really. But, in the end, its the flaws that give our cities character, and it's the flaws that give us something to work towards.

Architecture: Why Give a Toot?

2005-10-26T20:09:00.000-04:00

I was walking home tonight, and for some reason, the Duomo caught me off guard. I've walked by it probably hundreds of times now, but sometimes I just have to stop and look at it. It's absolutely breathtaking. It is so weighty, so powerful, and when you look up at that dome, you cannot help but see its absolute beauty. Walking by it tonight, I felt like part of it belongs to me. I've been living in Florence for two months now, but the Duomo has already become a point of civic pride for me.

This is why the Duomo, and architecture, matters. Good architecture should evoke these thoughts and make you proud that you are somehow part of it. Good architecture makes you think about why it is so magnficent. Good architecture is hard to attain, yet so obvious when you see it.

So next time you pass by a building that catches your eye, do not keep going. Stop and look at it. Think about why you stopped and why that building matters.

It's Official

2005-10-26T11:37:00.000-04:00

I have now contributed as a contributor over at Gridskipper.

Dammit I love Mario.

Time to Get Off My Ass

2005-10-24T16:57:00.000-04:00

For those of you that asked "What's happened to http://aaronmay.blogspot.com?", I'm now going to get off my ass and post more. Now that I'm a contributor at Gridskipper, people may or may not start to care about what I have to say, so I might as well start saying something.

A New Economic Policy

2005-09-19T11:54:00.000-04:00

While I rarely dabble in economic theory, I feel that dabbling is due, so here I go.

America has a lot to learn from the EU (at least those under the euro). The EU, as is shown by the current strength of the euro andthe lb., has a decently strong economy, which I believe is due to consumer spending. Here are the three reasons why:

1) They use play money. Have you seen the euro? First of all, the bills are colorful and have shiny stickers on them. The numbers are, well, fun. Look at the US bills- they're green and very important. They don't remind you of Monopoly, they remind you of real life, and in real life, you want to spend as little money as possible. With euro-Monopoly money, the point is to spend, spend, spend. Just like in Monopoly, your goal seems to be to acquire as much as possible, not save your money. Why would you save a euro? It's just so much fun to throw it down and look at the shimmering stickers when you spend your hard-earned euros.

2) The two euro coin. They have a coin for this while the US has a bill for less than half that amount! The two euro coin is worth $2.44 as of today. Imagine having a two dollar coin, you wouldn't worry about spending it, losing it, hell, you'd probably give one to every homeless person on the street just because it's a coin, not a bill. Remember (they're still in circulation, but have stopped production I believe) the Sacajawea gold dollar? Same thing. That's why the economy had a boost in the Clinton years, not well-thought out economic policy, but coins dammit, coins!

3) The conspiracy between banks and storeowners. You go to an ATM, say gimme 100 euros, and does it give you 5 twenties? No. TWO FIFTIES. So, the next time you want to spend money you end up buying as much as possible in the store just so you don't feel guilty about making them break a fifty. Instead of getting an espresso for 60 cents, you get an espresso, croissant, two bottles of wine, a new set of china, and an oversized bag of cat food and you still feel guilty about that damn 50 euro bill.

So there, America, redesign (again!) your bills, make a ten dollar coin, and only give banks one hundred dollar bills (because, of course, everything in America must be bigger). And please do this soon, I'd like to see a stronger dollar for my next few months in Europe :)

Ciao.

Florence as a City

2005-09-14T15:22:00.000-04:00

Florence is a beautiful city. Its rich history makes every step down the street a leaning experience. However, the paradox is that its history nearly destroys all that is wonderful about the city.

I have visited Florence three times before coming here to live for a semester, and in those three visits I did not see a single flaw in all of Florence. Now, living here, its flaws are utterly apparent. It is a city that is just too good, too famous, too international for a city of its size.

Every year, the city is overrun by loads of tourists flocking to view Florence's amazing history first-hand. During the schoolyear, you are more likely to hear English spoken on the streets among the thousands of American students that "immerse" themselves into the Florentine culture. How can such a small city adjust to such an incredible inflow of mass tourism?

A city like New York has plenty of mass tourism, but its size more than compensates for that fact. Florence, however, becomes dominated by a complete other culture for half of the year. Restaurants claiming to be authentic churn out plate after plate of what outsiders think to be typical Italian cuisine, but is in fact nothing more than pre-packaged pasta. Museums flaunt their one masterpiece and overcharge for entry after hours of waiting.

But what makes everything worth it is that one place you find that seems untouched by the tourist industry. The restaurant that could churn out terrible food and no one would notice, but still provides tasty, only-in-Italy dishes. The neighborhood where you can walk into a store and not be greeted in English. The street where there is not a single camera in sight, but is the most photogenic Italian street ever. In my Florence, these places will remain untouched, if from nothing else but sheer stubbornness.

Palm Trees? San Francisco?

2005-08-10T01:46:00.000-04:00

Please take the palm trees out of San Francisco. It's just plain confusing, even misleading. I love the Embarcadero, but all those palm trees try to make it something it's not: a tropical, warm waterfront. No. This is San Francisco. It's an often windy, somewhat chilly waterfront. And I love it for that. Like a spring day in a snow-afflicted city, its still, warm days are that much more of a treat.

Right now I'm in Dolores Park, which is mostly grass with "normal" San Francisco trees (at this point it would be nice to quote some tree names from this awesome site, however, it's daunting and Greek names scare me). But, there are also a few palm tree patches. Where did these come from? Palm trees don't belong on hilly lawns. They are more suitable for white sand beaches.

Wait, now I see more palm trees. They were dotting the median of Dolores Street. Now that they're just about everywhere, I do see that they're quite attractive. Maybe not so realistic, but that California sun beating down on me is starting to change my mind...

Lawlessness in the Wild West

2005-05-30T12:33:00.000-04:00

So I'm in Scottsdale/Phoenix/Chandler/Tempe/Carefree/sprawlicious, Arizona on vacation, so I'm of course spending a good amount of time at strip malls, regional malls, and other such places with large parking lots. It seems like I'm spending more time navigating through these than I do on actual streets. Is this our urban future?

First of all, it's so easy to get lost. Your only sense of landmarks are large anchor stores that dominate one side of the lot. Instead of "Our store is at 33rd and 5th," it's more like "We're right next to the Border at 101 Scottsdale." What would happen if we give the rows of the parking lots street names? You'll always remember where you parked, and stores could give more accurate directions.

Secondly, there is never any clear law of how you should drive within these lots. Who has the right of way? Do you use your turn signals? What's the speed limit? There are no sidewalks leading to your car, so people are just walking willy-nilly all over the place. It's the Wild West I tell you.

If this is indeed the future of the metropolitan area, we need to try and restore some of the pedestrian aspect by taking into consideration how the person, not just the car, interacts with the mall at large. They solve a lot of problems of living, say, in the middle of the desert, but take away a lot of personal interactions that you see on the streets of a traditional city.

Babble

2005-05-04T00:38:00.000-04:00

You ever walk by someone on the street or in the subway doing something strange, then notice that you're muttering to yourself?

I Heart....New York State?

2005-04-27T00:25:00.000-04:00

Not that tourism commercials ever make sense, but the latest from the New York State tourism board make even less sense.
It takes the "I Love New York" song made famous by the post-9/11 commercial (okay, that tourism commercial made sense) and jazzes it up and plays it in the background. The infamous I[heart]NY logo is on the lower left corner. Yet in the entirety of the commercial, the city is not shown at all. It is all shots of golf games, beaches, boats, and the tooliest of tools, Governor Pataki proclaiming, "I love New York in the summer!"

I understand that the rest of the state is plenty pretty and great and all, but the logo has always and will always mean New York City and the "I Love New York" song will always symbolize a city coming together after devastation saying that it's still the place to be.

To tie this back to urban policy, this just shows that Pataki could give two shits about the city. No wonder why he constantly stiffs city agencies such as the MTA in his budgets.

Ultra Rich? Try Ultra Gentrification

2005-04-12T14:29:00.000-04:00

In this week's New York Magazine, there's an interesting article about what they call the ultra rich. It's a bit long, so I'll sum it up: In New York, there is a growing number of super-rich people, and their lifestyle "requires" certain things such as chauffeurs, private jet transportation, and $19 hot dogs. Thus, the article says that the top 1% of the New York rich sustain about 153,000 service jobs, and many of these jobs receive six figures.

Now I have a lot of problems with this. Of course, the article doesn't just say this is the greatest thing to happen to New York ever, but it understates how much it really affects the makeup of the city. The ultimate effect will be a sort of super-gentrification of the city. Nothing will be affordable any more because the rich will just keep driving real estate prices upwards, as well as everyday goods (the CPI here has been growing at a rate 30% faster than the rest of the country, according to this article). So what people see and love in the vibrancy and life of Manhattan will no longer be attainable by average joes.

This, as the article explains, creates New York outposts, former edge cities now drawing like-minded people who want the New York experience but can no longer afford it. What is unfortunate though, is however many restaurants, parks, or urban-hip dwellers Hoboken might get, it will never get the cultural advantage that Manhattan enjoys today.

Why? First of all, New York simply just has a historical advantage. It takes many years to develop a vibrant city culture. Plus, who do you think supports things like the Metropolitan Museum and the New York Philharmonic? The super-rich.

So New York does need them. We need them for supporting our culture and their creation of jobs (though we can't stop there with job creation, but that's another post). But to bring back a point I have made several times, all this luxury housing is just making New York harder and harder to live in, and is taking away just as much culture as it may be adding. While the ultra rich may be a economic neccesity, their place in the city must be limited.

When Decent Architecture and Bad Urban Planning Collide

2005-04-10T01:53:00.000-04:00

If you've been around the Western East Village, then you've most likely seen the Astor Place tower going up. I've been feeling very conflicted about this building for quite some time now, and I think I've figured out why. It succeeds, or seems like it will, architecturally, but fails miserably in what I (uneducated on the matter) consider to be good planning.

Architecturally, its seamless, smooth glass facades recollect those of Mies van der Rohe, while its undulation recalls Alvar Aalto's Baker House and even Auguste Perret's Rue Franklin apartment house in its attempt to get the most from its views by extending the facade's length within a certain footprint. Just down Lafayette is One Kenmare Square, a more understated version of the same idea. The window rhythms are not not simply redundant but have smaller rectangles topped by larger rectangles, and the main bulk of the building seems (or will seem, according to drawings) to float above the base.

Even so, there are just too many things wrong about this building to consider it an appropriate use of the space. First of all, look at the buildings around it. It makes no references whatsoever to the historical aspects of that site. It just dominates the older, shorter buildings that surround it. Its glass reflects the surrounding buildings, almost making a mockery of them.

Secondly is its name, simply "Astor Place." This is the name of the street. It is as if no other building on that street is significant any more. The building not only towers above everything else physically, but it erases all other Astor Place addresses.

Finally, and this is something I've been noticing more and more, is that it is luxury housing. Does the city really need any more of that? Regular housing prices have risen enough, why do we need to create places that will just drive up surrounding values as well? From a street life perspective, your typical luxury resident does not add much to the vitality of the streets. Not to generalize, but while many moderate income residents will spend a lot of time walking around their neighborhood, taking the subway, luxury residents are more likely to take taxis, personal drivers, and will be less inclined to walk around the East Village which they may find dirty or just too young for them. The emphasis here is on downtown cool without having to be too downtown, and views.

This isn't the only place where luxury housing is going up either. All over the city, loft residences are being created and sold for millions of dollars, while the waiting list for a low to moderate income project, such as Penn South can be up to twenty some odd years.

My Kind of School

2005-04-07T18:19:00.000-04:00

So I was walking down East 22nd today and passed by The Epiphany School.

I envision a class of students just sitting around, gazing into space, then all of a sudden a student leaps up and exclaims, "Ah ha, I've got it!"

Liveblogging the Seaport

2005-04-06T17:05:00.000-04:00

5:06- Sitting on the third floor deck of Pier 17 with free wireless.

5:10- It's really nice up here. Fairly quiet compared to the rest of the Seaport. Unfortunately a little dark for using my computer, but I'll live. Who knew I could be reclining on a chaise lounge in the middle of the city without being at some overpriced health club?

5:14- While this is great, I don't advocate it in our parks. Could you imagine Central Park full of people on their computers? Parks should be more organic than that.

5:21- These chairs are surprisingly comfortable. A group of annoying people left. Phew.

5:38- A Circle Line boat just went by, you can hear the tour guide's voice. That is all.

5:54- Just saw a Circle Line boat going in the other direction...pretty sure it wasn't the same one. Do they have a clockwise and counter-clockwise option available? If so, which is better and why?

6:00- There is always a helicopter in the air around here it seems.

6:01- I swear there's some sort of Circle Line parade. A lot of them are empty.

6:26- Back home. They like turned off the wireless or something. That was fun, I'll have to go back since I live across the street. I thoroughly recommend it, computer or not.

Cab Post #1

2005-03-25T02:05:00.000-05:00

Just had a great cab and cabbie experience. I got in, told him where I was going, and we were on our way. Not too long after that, he asked me how I was doing. Asked me if I had a busy day tomorrow. Talked about how bad the traffic had been all night. Then we got on to tomorrow, where I mentioned it could rain, which would of course make driving conditions worse. He then turned on the news to hear a weather report, but instead, they were reporting on the state of the Terri Schiavo case (notice the lack of link: I'm tired of the story and the media).

I wasn't going to say anything about it. I'd just let it pass over, and we'd hear some weather. My parents are in town, and I'd like it to not rain for them.

But he started talking about it. I started talking back. By the time we were a few blocks away from my destination, we were in a full-fledged argument that turned into a Bush bash.
Interesting how two very opposite points of view on such a highly politicized Left v. Right battle can end up both hating on our current President. Just goes to show how he's completely abandoned any coherent policy and just seemingly operates on some sort of whim.

I handed my cabbie the fare, told him I hoped his day tomorrow would not be too busy, and we were on our separate ways. A great city interaction.

The new subway system

2005-03-16T18:01:00.000-05:00

Anyone who knows me knows I am borderline obsessed with public transit and various modes of transportation. If you are too, then check out the movie Robots. So damn cool. You'll see what I mean. It's clearly the solution to MTA's woes.

Very cool

2005-03-09T00:14:00.000-05:00

Great film that communicates the extremes of architecture, and how everything is really just based off the same miniscule elements:

http://www.michalevy.com/gs_download.html

Good choice of music too- "Giant Steps" is known as having one of the most complex and difficult chord progressions, which you can relate to the internal engineering and construction of a building, yet the melody is so simple, just as the surface of much architecture. As the chorus turns into a solo, and Coltrane begins navigating the chord progression, the building process turns from external structure to more complex, internal workings and additions, until the music returns to the chorus, when the structure is stripped back down to what started everything--that one dot, that one note.

Enjoy.

A few of my favorite things...

2005-03-06T22:10:00.000-05:00

In studying for my 20th Century Architecture class, a few things I like a lot:

Double height living rooms with matching windows
Ribbon windows
Vertical emphasis
Sweeping horizontal emphasis

That is all.

The 'Hood Game

2005-03-06T13:09:00.000-05:00

If you ever study gentrification in a class, chances are you will read about the Lower East Side of New York City. It is just the quintessential example of gentrification, rent gap theory, and the gentrification of the area is still happening.

The Lower East Side, aka Loisaida, was once considered the area from 14th St. south, east of, oh, let's say 4th Avenue. It was inhabited mainly by low-income ethnic families; the latest dominance being Latino families (hence Loisaida). As early as the seventies, artists started living in the area east of 4th Ave. and north of Houston St. By the late eighties, the newly dubbed East Village was the place for everyone hipsters to young Wall St-ers with a lot of disposable income. The realtors and developers, wanting to get away from the bad associations with the name Lower East Side, started using the name East Village to stand opposite to Greenwich/West Village, sort of the anti hoity-toity of downtown.

So last week, when there was an article in the NYTimes about food delivery by neighborhood, I wasn't surprised that a restaurant on Rivington St. at Orchard St. was thrown into the East Village category. This area, during the first East Village renaming, remained the Lower East Side, and still does in most people's minds. But, if the name East Village represents hipster gentrification south of 14th St, then the area south of Houston on the east side of Manhattan is part of the new East Village. The LES is becoming increasingly "tame", just like Avenue B, and immigrants and low income families are being forced out by ever-raising rents.

So if re-naming a neighborhood could be the key to attracting business and renters, how about the area where I currently live, the Financial District? Unlike Loisaida, that name is just too tame. It conveys anonymous glass skyscrapers, a daytime population greater than its nighttime population, and overall boringness. The neighborhood, in a way, has to be de-gentrified to return to its glory I am told it once had. Rents here are inflated because of its proximity to the downtown Central Business District, but the area offers little else. And every new development I see down here is more housing, with the extreme example being Calatrava's 80 South Street Tower. By just adding the type of person that will pay 30 mil+ for such a place will not add to the character of the neighborhood in any way. What "worked" about the East Village is that middle to middle-upper classes infiltrated the neighborhood, and hence brought with them the requirments of wanting to be right in the middle of a great city, with diverse shopping and food possibilities. All that super luxury developments will do is increase the feeling of the Financial District as the anti-Manhattan, reinforcing the suburban aspects of the neighborhood, such as businesses closing by 7pm and keeping late night pedestrian traffic low.

Since everyone else is doing it...

2005-02-23T02:41:00.000-05:00

I was going to lay off the MTA and just let what seems like everyone in the universe (ok, everyone in NYC) expose their shortcomings, but I just couldn't resist after this happened to me the other night:

The 4/5 Lexington Express currently does not stop between Atlantic Ave in Brooklyn and Fulton Street in Lower Manhattan Late Nights and Weekends. You must board the 4/5 at Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall.

The 4 always runs on the local track in Manhattan Late Nights.

So why could I board a 4 train at Fulton Street and then ride it locally, as if it were a Late Night. Shouldn't the train not have been there at all if it was considered a Late Night vehicle? (it was 9:45, certainly not late by my definition, nor by MTA's definition).

Obviously, subways have non-scheduled track changes. But these are usually announced by the train conductor at each stop. Obviously this story has nothing to do with how the MTA is broke in a time of desperate need and is also being stiffed by Albany. It's simply another example that demonstrates that something needs to be done to our beloved subway system, the "artery" of the city, so that it can run faster, more reliably, and safer.

A few of my favorite examples of such a subway are London's Tube, the Paris Metro, the Barcelona Metro, and from what I've heard, the Tokyo Metro as well. Even their websites are much better. MTA no longer has the excuse of being old. All these systems are old as well: the Tube dates back to the 1860s, the Paris Metro 1900, around the same time as the MTA, and Barcelona and Tokyo date back to the 1920s. It's 2005, 101 years after the first subway ride in New York. The system has simply not evolved as much as these other systems.

Nipple (NYPL)

2005-02-12T16:50:00.000-05:00

I bet you expected me to write about The Gates of Central Park. I saw them today, and yes, they are cool.

But there's been something much more significant on my mind since last Saturday, when I spent the later part of the afternoon sitting in the Microform Room of the New York Public Library, staring at page after page of the San Francisco Chronicle pass my eyes on a dimly lit screen. It was my first time at the library, and had always wanted to go in. The exterior is breathtakingly beautiful and stately, just inviting you to come in and browse through some of the most important books ever written.

My first impressions of the interior of the building were quite underwhelming. I was hoping for great halls filled with ancient books, but instead, I got great halls filled with emptiness. They also have one restroom in the entire building, and it took me about fifteen minutes to find it up on the top (third) floor. So far, a lot of empty space, a museum, a shop, and a hard-to-find bathroom.

So I wondered down to the first floor Microform Room, where I read, and printed (for 25 cents a page!) various articles from 1969 issues of the SF Chronicle. I had hoped to hit up the general book reserves after that, but they announced closing time, and I was forced out.

I hated it. But I knew I didn't give it a fair chance, and since I was stuck in a windowless room, I decided not to bitch about it here. But today, I went back, planning to hit only the General Reserves and the Reading Room. Now I have advanced to a complex love/hate relationship with NYPL.

Here is how you obtain a book (only three at a time!):
1) Look up the book on CATNYP, their online catalog
2) Write each call number, author, title, and your name and address on a call slip
3) Bring the call slip(s) to the call slip person, who assigns you a number.
4) Walk to the Reading Room, and wait for your number to come up on the screen.
5) Approximately 15 minutes later (one took more like half an hour), retrieve your book
6) Join the hordes of people in the 297 foot long reading room taking furious notes on your reading, since you can't take the book out of the room, and to my knowledge, there is no photocopier in there.
7) Sadly return the books knowing that they exist nowhere but in this building and you must go through the entire process again to get that one piece of information you forgot to write down.

So it's a monotonous process that leaves you wanting more. The ceiling is full of trompe l'oeil skies that look like what the sky would be like if the earth were surrounded by a gaseous swamp.

But why do I love it? Well first of all, your books get to take a ride on a book dumbwaiter from wherever they retrieve the books up to the Reading Room, which is pretty cool. I really want to know the inner-workings of the entire reserve system and get a glance at the library's collection. Also, you really can get pretty much get every book ever written.

But there's something so great about looking up the call number, then navigating through seemingly endless shelves of books and finally, in all the mess, finding the exact book you are looking for. Someone else doing this takes away that sense of accomplishment that I like to find in a library.

Overall, I got what I needed, but left knowning that I will return in the not too distant future because I got lazy and stopped writing complete notes.

Eccentricity, Barcelona Style

2005-02-02T19:57:00.000-05:00

At Comerç 24, a supposedly hot Barcelona restaurant, the dinner started with various single bites, including pulverized popcorn crumbs served in a small paper cone. The meal ended with an array of sweet tapas, including Crema Catalana (a sort of creme caramel type dish) foam. It was far from your normal fine dining experience, but it was damn good. At some point during the meal, my sister remarked that this seems to be a city that accepts its eccentrics, and even nurtures them.

This is not only apparent in this one of a kind dinner, but think about its influential figuresGaudí and the other modernista architects, and artists such as Picasso and Dalí. They and their works are not what we would consider normal. The city is in fact full of various eccentricities (I use the term in as much of a non-offensive way as possible)from street performers, some playing Vivaldis Four Seasons on accordion, others singing opera, and others playing with a giant marionette set, to the traditions of the people here. For example, in every Barcelonan Nativity scene, crouching behind the main focus is a crapper. Its simply a man defecating secretly, and no one can really explain why he is there. Another similarly themed tradition is that there is a log in the middle of the table during Christmas that kids beat with a stick until it spits out their presents. Another inexplicable tradition that is, well, a little far from what we may consider normal.

So from the outside, the eccentricities of Barcelona may just seem strange, but it is really what makes this city so unique and wonderful. After all, which is more fun, a city full of redundancy and normality, or a city that may be a little off but gives you something new behind every turn?

The Inconveniences of Winter

2005-01-28T14:27:00.000-05:00

From twenty five stories up, a snow-covered Manhattan is beautiful. Walking through a park, the snow is beautiful. Playing in the snow late at night in a deserted South Street Seaport is indeed fun. But, walking on plowed streets and shoveled sidewalks is not enjoyable whatsoever.

During the rest of the year in New York, people cross streets diagonally, jaywalk from the middle of one block to another, and generally just don't follow the grid pattern when at all possible. While the grid is simple and easy to follow, for fast-paced Manhattan, walking tends to take a more "the quickest way from point A to point B is a straight line" approach. Say your destination is the corner of 53rd St. and 5th Ave., and you are walking up 5th Ave. from 52nd on the opposite side of the street from where you need to go. If traffic permits (ok, maybe 5th wasn't the best example here, but use your imagination), you will cut across Fifth in between 52nd and 53rd, reaching your destination decades more quickly than if you were to go all the way to the end of the block and cross the street there. Imagine a right triangle, and by crossing the street in the middle of the block, you are taking the hypotenuse, which is shorter than the sum of the two legs.

Now, add the snowdrifts that are created by plows to the sides of the road (which can be otherwise dangerous too), and you have no opportunity to take the hypontenuse route. You are trapped on sidewalks by mountains of snow, which is by now, not silky white, but shit-colored re-frozen slop. So, in formulating walking times for winter, not only do you have to figure in the wind coming at your face at fifty miles per hour, but you also have to add all that time wasted by crossing the street in the sidewalks. Oy.

The Expiatory Temple of the Holy Family

2005-01-25T11:33:00.000-05:00

Seeing the Sagrada Familia, a cathedral started well over a century ago, still under construction really reminds you how much we take architecture and building for granted these days. Skyscrapers go up in the matter of only a few years at most, but the great cathedrals of the Middle Ages took hundreds of years to complete. If such a project were started today it would be met with impatience and the need to build something quickly. What cathedrals symbolize is a heritage left for the city, whereas skyscrapers fulfill an immediate need. Both show civic pride represented in the form of mine is bigger than yours, but the cathedrals of Europe are works that are passed from generation to generation, creating a much greater appreciation of their existence and building.

Barcelona is the perfect city for such a project in modern times. Barcelona is not afraid of the little things that while bring no immediate profit to the cityornamental streetlamps and sidewalks, public art, and colorful buildings. They are thus concerned with portraying an image of civic pride, fitting in with the Catalonian pride of the region. This is exactly the kind of pride that continuing the construction of the Sagrada Familia which, after nearly 120 years of construction, will most likely continue for at least another fifty. The final product will be an amalgamation of various styles, starting with Gaudi, and will be the perfect summation of the city from 1882 to 2050.

Yesterday, in my 20th Century Architecture class, I learned a little more about this church. And it left a bad taste in my mouth. Apparently, the church was funded by a group of people that thought society had a little expiating of sin to do. Now, society doesn't have the normal Se7en sins like a person. The sins of society include, but are not limited to, revolution, republican government as opposed to monarchy, Darwinism and evolution theory, and the separation of church and state. Parts of that sound familiar? A lot like Bush Christianity, the type of "moral value" shit that seemingly won the last election.

I have never let ideology come between me and a piece of great architecture. Seeing traditional Gothic Cathedrals and churches in Barcelona, I was completely awe-struck, even knowing they were possibly central to the Spanish Inquisition, something far worse than a few people wanting to expiate society's sins. I just can't get over the fact that Darwinism is a sin. Maybe it's because that issue is so relevant today, and I am (to put it lightly) unhappy with the form of Christianity that Bush and his colleagues are pushing. My feelings on the Sagrada Familia are entirely complex, and I really want to grow up, get over my personal emotions, and just like the building without reservations.

Maybe in a few years.

"Mundane" Designs

2005-01-23T23:45:00.000-05:00

The first few posts here will be from my recent trip to Barcelona, just a few musings on the wonderful city...

When considering the design of a city, at least in America, streetlamps and sidewalk bricks are not the first thing that come to mind. Their form is lost in their function; they are nothing but pure functionality. There is nothing spectacular about most American streetlamps. It rises above the street, and if doing its job, it illuminates the area underneath it. It ends with that. It is nothing to look at during the day but a steel rod. The sidewalks of America are largely nothing more than a big cement area with cracks forming large squares and rectangles and most of the time also going haphazardly every which way, though these kind are not intended. Sidewalks are nothing nice, but rather, just for walking.

In Barcelona, the exact opposite is the case with both of these everyday urban forms. Most streetlamps are large black iron casings with a bright white light inside, clustered in groups of three. While being great to look at during the day, at night, they illuminate the streets wonderfully. Though this is their dominating form, there are other lamp designs as well. In the Placa Reial, the lamps in the center are said to be Gaudi’s first designs. They are intricate, and true to Gaudian aesthetics, vibrant and nearly alive. Not what you’d expect from something as “mundane” as a streetlamp. In New York do we walk through Washington Square Park and point out how the lamps are Gwathmey Siegel’s first designs? No. Though in many of New York’s parks the lamps may be somewhat more interesting than elsewhere, their design is not particularly notable.

And the sidewalks—in Barcelona, the bricks vary from block to block, neighborhood to neighborhood. In many places they are stately and fairly large, but in other places they may be circular with intricate carvings repeated from brick to brick. They’re still just as easy to walk on. The transformation of the everday—the lamp and the sidewalk—into something more elegant is exactly what gives this city its character. While these aspects go unnoticed consciously, there is no doubt in my mind that they subconsciously invite people to the streets, welcoming them heartily.

Maybe that’s why people seem to walk the streets here more than anywhere else.