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| Ichiban Radio Productions |
Last week, we had a visit from listener Wim Reckers from the Netherlands. We were the last stop on his bicycle tour of the USA!! Here's his take on NYC.
What an amazing city New York is. Nothing to compare with. Twenty-four hours a day you are stiff with stimuli, everywhere there is something to see and experience. This time (I've been here many times) I went a little more off the beaten track, through the Bronx, Harlem and Brooklyn. You lack eyes and ears.
Yesterday first – for the weekly radio broadcasts on Noord and OOG – to the radio studio of Boss Radio 66 (photo 1), an internet station in Brooklyn that broadcasts old rock & roll, blues and soul 24 hours a day. I listen to it very often, you spontaneously wash and vacuum faster. From there, yesterday, the contributions with the Netherlands.
Then strolled through Brooklyn. What a circus! Stalls, music, crowds, life everywhere (photos 2, 3 and 4). Just an afternoon lunch at the Chinese, cozy between the parked mopeds (photo 5), and then on to Harlem. Same sheet a suit (photos 6 and 7). Finally, across the High Bridge (New York's oldest bridge, photo 8) to the Bronx, to Yankee Stadium for the usual game of baseball.
The New York Yankees want to convey that they – and only they – are the epitome of baseball in America. They built a stadium in 2009 for the sweet sum of 2.3 billion dollars, in the middle of the Bronx working-class district. Everything should radiate that you don't just come here to watch a baseball game. No, it's a baseball experience. The idea is that you will be taken by the hand to the baseball mecca.
To begin with, the exterior view. I came walking through the dingy Bronx streets and suddenly there he is, as if a spaceship has crashed. I don't think it's beautiful; maybe a little ugly to say, but the thing could have been designed by Albert Speer, the notorious architect of the Third Reich (photo 8).
Inside, it's all Yankees splendor. A real Yankees museum, where the old heroes can be idolized. There is a solemn silence as we shuffle reverently from one Yankees greatness to the next (photos 9 and 10). Further on is a 'Monument Park', where they are once again immortalized in bronze. The match will be lost, by the way.
At night a stop along the East River. You probably recognize this image (photo 12). New York all the way. Now some museums and shopping (it's raining here!) and then slowly packing up luggage and bicycle for the return trip next Wednesday.
Finally, I would like to thank you again sincerely and sincerely for all your sweet and heartwarming responses, over and over again. Fantastic, it was a motivation every day, and sometimes also a heart under the belt. Glad you cycled with me a bit every day, on the back of the luggage carrier. It's helped me a lot to be able to do what I've done here.
