Empire State Building or there's always a free cab for you in NYC

Fa uns dies vaig visitar l'emblemàtic Empire State Building. Aquí van un seguit de reflexions:
1. Si podeu, no agafeu mai la audioguia en castellà. O potser no, de fet, millor agafeu-la en castellà, pot ser força divertit.
2. Sabeu allò que passa a "totes" les pel·lis i sèries americanes de que el protagonista surt al carrer i justament passa un taxi? Doncs, com a mínim a Nova York, no és que justament passi un taxi, és que no paren de passar taxis constantment. I des de dalt de l'Empire State Building es veu molt bé.
3. Les vistes són espectaculars miris cap on miris. I Central Park és realment gran.
4. La màquina de fer diners americana funciona molt i molt bé: arribes a la illa de cases de l'Empire State i una grup de venedors uniformats et rep per vendre't entrades (si no en tens ja). Entres a l'edifici i és com pujar a una atracció o encara millor anar dins d'una cadena de muntatge. Pugi per les escales automàtiques, ensenyi la motxilla aquí, les entrades allà, faci's una foto (per comprar-la després si vols), agafi l'audioguia, puji a l'ascensor, puji al següent ascensor i ja hi és. Tot això es fa a un ritme frenètic, si tens sort i no hi ha cua evidentment, i en el procés recorres un seguit d'escales, passadissos i ascensors d'una certa elegància i opulència.
5. La botiga de souvenirs és "espectacular" però de friki.

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Some days ago I visited the Empire State Building. I leave you with some thoughts:1. If you can, don't choose the Spanish audioguide. On second thought, actually, do take it, it can be fun.
2. Do you know that thing that happens in "every" american movie or series where the main character goes out on the street and he/she always finds a free cab to take? Well, at least in New York City, it's not that a free cab happens to be there by chance, the thing is that there are cabs passing by all the time. And from the top (or close to it) of the Empire State Building you can see that quite well.
3. The views are just amazing no matter where you look. And Central Park really is one big park.
4. The American money making machine works pretty fine: you get to the Empire State Building block and a group of uniformed ticket sellers receives you trying to sell you tickets (in case you don't have them already). You get into the building and it's like getting on a roller coaster or even better like being in a assembly line. Take this escalator, show the bag here, tickets there, take a picture here (to buy it afterwards if you want to), get the audioguide, get on the elevator and on the next elevator, and there you are. Everything at a breathtaking speed, if you are lucky and there is no queue, and in the process you go through a number of stairscases, walk some corridors and take a couple of elevators of a certain elegance and opulence.
5. Gift shop is "espectacular" in a freaky sense.

4th of July: Independence Day

Aquest any la festa nacional dels Estats Units ha caigut en dilluns i vam decidir anar a Nova York. Vam passejar per Central Park, per Broadway fins a Times Square i per la 5a avinguda. L'ambient de 4 de juliol el donaven bàsicament les banderes, una mica més nombroses que habitualment, però tampoc res espectacular. A part d'això, Central Park continuava igual de bonic, els carrers en estiu estaven molt més plens que quan vaig ser-hi la tardor passada, la plaça del Temps farcida de turistes bombardejats pels anuncis en forma de cartell o pantalla de video sempre més enormes i la 5a avinguda plena de botigues de roba, un parell d'elles fins i tot tenien una cua a fora i probablement una festa a dins; era difícil de dir si eren botigues, discoteques o ambdues ("botiteques", perquè clarament no eren "discotigues", oi?).

Se m'havia oblidat parlar-vos dels anys xinesos. Segur que molts ja n'esteu al corrent però cada any va acompanyat d'un dels animals que podeu veure a la foto superior (podeu consultar el vostre). Als del 1984 ens va tocar la rata. La veritat és que hi ha una certa semblança no?

I had forgotten to tell you about the chinese years. Sure many of you already know but every year comes with on of the animals that you can see in the photo above these lines (you can check yours). For those born in 1984 it's the rat. Actually there is some resemblance, right?

Això és Times Square i sembla ser que jo devia estar ON amb la festa nacional a jutjar per la meva cara, el cartell i la bandera. Les aparences enganyen.

This is Times Square and it looks like I was ON with the national holiday if judging by the look on my face, the sign and the flag. Appearances can be deceptive.

A Times Square hi ha lloc per tot, encara que sembli que no pugui ser. A part del muntegar d'anuncis per tot arreu, també hi ha espai per anuncis més modestos com ara els d'aquesta foto: Jesus saves from Hell. També són força curioses les noies amb patins i banderes.

In Times Square there is room for everything, no matter how impossible it seems. Apart from the bunch of ads everywhere, there is also space for more modest ads like the ones in this pictures: Jesus saves from Hell. The ladies in rollers and waving the flags are funny too.

Més tard, ja a New Haven després d'una mica menys de 2 hores de tren, vam poder gaudir d'un segon Sant Joan amb els petards i focs d'artifici que també són típics de la festa del dia de la Independència.

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This year the national holiday fell on a Monday and we decided to go to New York. We walked in Central Park, on Broadway to Times Square and on the 5th avenue. The 4th of July atmosphere was basically created through some more flags than it is usual, but nothing really spectacular. Apart from that, Central Park was as beautiful as always, the streets in summer were much more crowded than when I first was there last fall, Times Square was stuffed with tourists bombarded by bigger and bigger ads in posters or in video screens and the 5th avenue, as expected, was packed with clothes shops, a couple of them even had a queue outside and looked like there was a party inside; it was hard to tell if they were shops, clubs or both ("shubs", because they definitely weren't "clops", right?).

Later, back in New Haven after a little less than 2 hours by train, we enjoyed a second "Sant Joan" with the fireworks that are also typical of the festivities of the Independence Day.

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Vol Part II: El Retorn - Flight Part II: The Return.

Fins al moment tot havia anat com una seda. A l'aeroport de Barcelona tot bé. Tot i les 8 hores, el vol també gràcies a que viatjo acompanyat (la Laura), a la lectura (The Godfather), una pel·lí (Appaloosa) i alguns jocs d'ordinador a la pantalla del seient (Trivial i Reversi aka Othello). Però arribats a l'aeroport de Nova York (JFK) la cosa es complica. Els aplaudiments que alguns viatgers dirigeixen als pilots després de l'aterratge són el preludi alegre contraposat a l'hora i mitja que haurem d'esperar abans de poder sortir de l'aeroport. Abans de poder sortir de l'avió, el pilot va haver de demanar dues vegades a la gent que tornés a seure perquè encara no havia acabat la maniobra d'aparcament. Després d'aquest incident "graciós", comença el camí per etapes fins a sortir de l'aeroport. La primera etapa succeeix en un túnel on ens amunteguem amb gent d'altres vols esperant que ens deixin sortir cap al control d'immigració. Allà passem un quart d'hora (i vam tenir sort perquè vam poder sortir aviat de l'avió). Però aquest quart d'hora no és res en comparació amb els tres quarts que hem d'estar-nos dempeus i amb ganes d'anar al lavabo a la cua d'immigració. Arribat el moment, preguntes, empremtes, fotografia i llestos. I a buscar les maletes que fa com a mínim mitja hora que s'esperen ja fora de la cinta a que algú (afortundament nosaltres) les reculli. Fet això, toca passar un control d'equipatges i com que m'ha vingut de gust arriscar-me a respondre "Sí" a la pregunta de si porto algun tipus de fruita, llegums, etc., em fan deixar un parell de guacamaios (a la seva salut, estaven força madurs així que devien estar ben bons).

Un cop fora, lliures per anar on vulguem, és hora de buscar al noi que ens relloga el seu estudi. Si és que després de més d'una hora encara hi és. Però ens ha de donar les claus, així que el pobre no ha tingut més remei que esperar-nos. En Chris, que així es diu, es mostra molt amable i fins i tot ens ajuda a orientar-nos per trobar el teléfon amb el qual truco per demanar pel transport que ens ha de portar fins a New Haven. Ens acomiadem i al cap d'uns 20 minuts ja estem instal·lats a dins de la furgoneta. El conductor, en saber que som de Barcelona, diu "Catalans, huh?" i fa un comentari sobre la quantitat d'èxits del Barça últimament. Recollim unes quantes persones més i fins que no deixem a la primera al cap d'una hora, anem apretats, 4 persones al seient del darrere. La radio parla dels conflictes a Líbia, a Síria i a Grècia. Diguem que la seva visió no és gaire propera a la meva. Finalment, després d'unes 2 hores i mitja de viatge, arribem a la que serà la nostra casa durant els propers 2 mesos.

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Until that moment, everything had gone smoothly. At the Barcelona airport everything OK. In spite of the 8 hours, the flight as well thanks to the good company (Laura), reading (The Godfather), a movie (Appaloosa) and some video games on the screen of the seat in front (Trivial and Reversi aka Othello). But once in JFK airport everything starts to go wrong. The applause from some passengers to the pilots after the landing are a cheerful prelude contrasting with the hour and a half that we will have to wait before being able to leave the airport. Even before being able to get off the plane, twice the pilot had to ask some people that had stood up too quickly to regain their sits until he had finished the parking maneuver. After this "funny" incident, our way out of the airport by steps starts. The first stage is occurs in a tunnel were we are crowded together with people from other flights waiting to be sent to the immigration control. We spend 15 minutes there (and we were lucky because we were among the first passengers to leave the plane). But those 15 minutes were nothing compared to the 45 minutes we had to stand, eager to go to the restroom, at the immigration queue. When the moment came, questions, fingerprints, pictures and we are set. Now go get the baggage that has been waiting by the carousel to be picked up (fortunately by us). Once that done, it is time for yet another baggage control and as I've taken the risk to answer "Yes" to the question whether I carry any kind of fruits, legumes, etc., I have to leave a couple of guacamaios (good health, they were quite ripe so they probably were tasty).

Once outside, free to go where we please, it's time to look for the guy that is subletting us his studio. If he is still there after more than an hour. But he had to give us the keys, so the poor guy had no choice. Chris, that's his name, is a very nice guy and he even helps us find our way to the phone to call the shuttle that has to take us to New Haven. We say goodbye and 20 minutes later we are sitting in the van. The driver, discovering that we are from Barcelona, says "Catalans, huh?" and makes some comment about the many successes that Barça has had lately. We pick up some more people and we travel pretty cramped on the rear seat until we leave the first passenger an hour later. On the radio they speak about Libia, Siria and Greece. Let's just say that their vision is not very close to mine. Finally, after 2 hores and a half of travelling, we get to what will be our home for the next 2 months.

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Post exclusivament a base de SPAM - Post made exclusively of SPAM

Per començar una mica de SPAM. L'autèntic, l'original, el clàssic. Un bon moment per recordar el famós gag dels Monty Python. I ara, quelcom completament diferent, una mica de música!

For starters, a little bit of SPAM. The authentic, the original, the classic. A good opportunity to remember the famous sketch by Monty Python. And now for something completely different, some music!

Didn't you like it? It wasn't enough? Have some more SPAM!

                                                  SPAM!

Video by Laura.