Traveler's Guide

How do Americans imagine Europe? How do they view a trip to America?  These are questions that have no real right answer. I believe that when Americans think of Europe they think of toilets spinning the opposite way, cars with the steering on the other side, culture, buildings and monuments that are to be visited.  I as a history major personally think that everything holds a different type of weight and appreciation for things like the Roman coliseum, the Eiffel Tower, the Running of the Bulls in Spain, and other events and locations, copmared to people who are just going for the experience.  That is kind of biased but for the lack of a better description thats how I feel about other Americans and their trips.  I feel like people are just travelling to these locations and dont actually care about the significance about these locations, just a gyst of the location is adequate...me personally, I want a background in detail of everything that I am there to observe and not rush to see it and then go.  The biggest thing in the old country is just the simplistic elegance and culture.  You got canals, monuments, ridiculous amount of history that is still easily accessible through art galleries and cultural annual events. 

These events may include but are certainly not limited to, running with bulls, and tomato throwing,(Spain),

 

drinking ridiculous amounts of top quality beer (Germany),

and touring a colosseum that was used to slay thousands of men annually for the cheer of the crowd (Rome),

 but hey, that is what traveling is for, seeing things you would not anywhere else.

I cant do anyone place justice with just one blog but I want people to know that in Europe their is totally a huge difference in culture and people than in the U.S.  In and of itself Europe is a beautiful experience and so is any place you go no matter if its big tourist locations like these or if its a quite small town, much can be learned from every new location.

The United States is also percieved differently by other nations and countries.  Not so highly nowadays, but the States still hold a glimmer of hope in the eyes of every indvidual, both foreign and local.  In my search of different site locations for tourists traveling around and to America I found that Disney World almost has its own category in some web sites lol.  The top visited areas are Las Vegas, New York City, Chicago, California, Hawaii, Miami Florida, and the Grand Canyon.  All of these places are what people come to think of when they think of the United States. 

I think people normally imagine New York City as our center even though its one of the most eastern of cities in the States.  Big city, lots of different people and cultures, money, big buildings, ranges of dress from rich to slummy, the place where anything is possible, and of course it is one of the most visited and toured cities in the entire world.  New York is gritty, fancy, elegant, poor, rich, so many words describe it, I believe that is why it is viewed by other people as the first thing they think of when they think of America.

Las Vegas

Chicago!!!

All of these locations have significance and at night are literally exploding with light and movement.  People see advancement, struggle, achievement, corruption, adventure, fun, hope, all of these things come from the big cities in the United States.  Our culture is just as complex and different as Europeans.  Food, festivals, recreation, class, all of these things mean different things to Europeans and Americans.  I think that America is viewed as a high pace, rapid, dog eat dog world, advanced nation, and rightfully so from the cities I have already mentioned.

Traveling is an experience and adventure in and of itself and life isnt worth living till you travel
 WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN LATELY???

Panorama!!!!

I am going to discuss and compare two bigger cities and their panoramas.  I have chosen Chicago because it is a huge metropolis and I went there recently for a vacation.  I have also chosen Tokyo from Japan because it is the first place outside of the U.S. that I wish to visit.

Chicago is the largest city in Illinois and contains over 2.8 million residents, which happens to be the third highest populated city in the U.S. It is a gigantic city to behold I can tell you that having visited it personally.  Its metropolitan area is like non I have ever seen before.  Chicago was founded in 1833 and is near the Mississippi River and the Great Lakes.  Everyone knows about the Great Chicago fire of 1871 which destroyed a third of the city including the central bussiness district.  But this would not be enough to slow this juggernaut down as it would eventually build the first skyscraper in 1885.  Chicago happens to dwarf many cities and happens to rank among the top ten in many important factors that determine a metropolis and elite ranked city in the entire world.  It grosses huge numbers and has a huge transportation system.  The city literally has something called the "Magnificent Mile" where you literally get nothing but the biggest skyscrappers you'll see in any other city in America besides New York and contains many different downtown stores to help its inhabitants.  Walking through these streets I felt tiny I must say. I have been to New York and Chicago and I was shocked by both to be honest, I think New York might be bigger still but I was more impressed with Chicago's urban development and structure.  Chicago like New York has its own style of Pizza, "Deep Dish" which I have tasted, fabouls I must say.  Chicago is segregated slightly as with most huge cities and its North and South side mimic for sure.  The North Side contains Wrigley Field with the Cubs and the South Side has U.S. Cellular Field with the White Sox...I must say that visiting both stadiums you can tell that their are some serious differences between both stadiums and their inhabitants.  The city of Chicago still has rich culture and is by no means to be underestimated just because foreignors think of New York City first.

Tokyo in Japan is another metropolis but this world is literally on the oppositie side of the world.  Tokyo is one of 47 prefectures of Japan.  It is located on the eastern side of Honshu which is the main island in Japan.  This metropolis was formed in 1943 and is a merger if smaller prefectures.  Tokyo city does contain the biggest metropolitan area in all of Japan and is home to Japanese government and also the Imperial Palace.  Japanese contains different focus on religion which is Shinto and Buddhism and the main two.  Like Chicago this metropolitan area has wards, which contains over 8 million people with the total amount around 13 million.  Tokyo does exceed Chicago in people and GDP though, and well most of the world as well for that matter.  It contains the worlds most populous metropolitan area with 35 to 39 million poeple and the largest economy with 1.479 trillion in U.S. dollars.  Tokyo was originally known as Edo and was changed to Tokyo in 1868.  Tokyo's uprising was that of war though between Japanese samurais who fought for land, not found on better terms like Chicago. Unlike many American cities which are low-density and automobile-centric, Japans Tokyo is  built with major train stations in a high-density and have their own right of way system as the main means of transportation.  Besides their religion, the culture is extremely different in Japan than in America as it should be.  Japans national sport is Sumo, unlike baseball and football in America.  They believe in smaller things though Tokyo might be an exception to that rule.  Unlike Chicago, Toky is ranked as one of the three world finance command centers along with New York City and London.  Tokyo even has its own and relatively big stock exchange.  Tokyo and Japan as a whole focuses on the arts, like the Noh and Kabuki theaters, The city has changed much due to disasters like the Great Kanto earthquake in 1923 and after WW2 but has recovered very nicely and has many parks and gardens.

I do think that culture has much to do with the shape of a city.  I dont think that it matters much when a city was built when it comes to metropolises though because their time frames are vastly different and yet big cities all take new shapes constantly in order to keep up with other metropolitan areas in the world.  Chicago and Tokyo are literally two of the biggest in the world, and for good reason.

The Location of my Birth: Buffalo's Lower West Side

So for my blog entry this week I decided on the place of my birth, Buffalo's Lower West Side and surrounding area.  Ofcourse I need to be a bit specific here so I will proudly admit that Busti and Hudson was the corner where my house was closest to growing up.  My house actually still stands even though we havent owned it for most of my life now.  I have always known about Buffalo and its hugely segregated blocks, though nowadays things are changing slightly.  Anyone who has lived in the area of the West Side can tell you that it used to be owned pretty much by blue-collar Italians until the 1950's-60's when thousands of Puerto Ricans made the trip over to America, my descendants coming and settling in Buffalo New York of all places.  Then their is the now, where lots of Somalians and Burmans are coming, to me and the rest of the Puerto Rican community that still occupies the West Side, they are simply Africans (for lack of a better term, dont judge me). 

When I grew up Buffalo had tons of these little corner grocery stores all over the place.  The picture above is from the store Lorigo's and shows some sugar cane and sofrito, common Latin items eaten all the time by West Siders.  It also features Somali and even Dominican food.  All but the very top pic show some art and graffiti taken on by many individuals who owned these storefronts.  The very top pic actually shows some change, the picture has graffiti and gentlemen that are puerto rican and black instead of just one type of person (primarily puerto rican). 

Buffalos landscape has been that of industry

The West Side was settled by Italians who worked (then) Buffalo's many steel and industrial factories.  The landscape as far as housing has barely changed, many of the Italians moving away from the West Side.  The only problem is that the poverty rose constatly in the area, Buffalo and its surrounding areas hold over 5,000 abandoned homes.

Another staple of the Lower West Side that has deep roots in Buffalo is the Holy Cross Church for Catholics was erected in 1948 and a Rec/Charity center was built in 1951 and really is a sign of  Puerto Ricans taking hold as the center and church are representative of many Puerto Ricans faith and was the primary place for Puerto Ricans to go come Sunday morning (my cousins still go there to this day).

I decided to save the best for last, one of Buffalo's big local restaurants and the #1Puerto Rican spot in town.  Niagara Cafe located on Niagara street is totally symbolic of Puerto Ricans taking root.  It was founded in 1992 (so it hasnt been around that long) this restaurant is truly one of the center pieces of the lower West Side of Buffalo and signifies Puerto Ricans stake to the area.  Niagara was dubbed San Juan ave with its many other stores that have Latin Entreprenuers.  It is truly a Latin Ethnic Landmark.  It is one of the only streets in Buffalo that actually has a flag, not the American flag, hanging off of one of the light poles.

The old Niagara Cafe restaurant was located on Niagara as well and is called Latin Romance now, and contains dressware and lingerie

Decorative treatment has always been the symbol of the Puerto Rican flag, I remember growing up that was almost all you seen on every other house, at least one on a blog.  To the plain old eye the Lower West Side might seem like just another poor section of a dying rustic town like Buffalo, but for me it will always be the place of my birth and where I grew up learning most of my Latin Heritage at rec centers, school, home, and the neighborhood.  Buffalo like all places is not meant to stay the same, the Puerto Ricans moved the Italians long ago, and now the Africans are moving from Buffalo's dead East side and moving into the poverished areas like the Lower West Side, taking the place of the Puerto Ricans who are now, finally moving out of the ghetto and becoming more middle-class individuals.  In terms of Landscape it was typically housing, but the commercial establishments, public buildings, and religious structures have changed the most in the area before my lifetime signifying the change from Italian to Puerto Rican, and maybe in the future more of an African/Somolian change will occur.