NYC: My Notes

Throughout my time in New York I took a few notes in my phone of things that I observed:

• There are a lot of children riding scooters/skateboards. Perhaps this is a way to help them keep up with the adults without tiring their little legs?
• People were friendlier than I expected. New Yorkers get a bad reputation for being rude and in a hurry all the time, but my overall perception was positive.
• A lot of smokers :( Though smoking is not allowed in any bars or restaurants :)
• Subway system = certainly cheaper than taxis, slightly sketchier in that there is little to no cell service underground. Lot of travelers had headphones on or were reading a book/magazine. I took the subway to Brooklyn twice and if that were my normal commute I could see needing to find something to do to entertain myself for the 40-45 minutes. 
• Cab rides = possibly the most terrifying experience of my life. Jesus, Mary and Joseph those drivers live by the skin of their teeth! They zip in and out of other vehicles cutting people off and honking their horns just to get to the next stop light 2 seconds faster. My strategy was to just look down, not at my phone (for fear of getting car sick!) and try to zone out. I did not witness any wrecks and upon discussing the subject with Andrew was told that there are fewer collisions that you would suspect. Still stresses me out just thinking about it.
• Men in TriBeCa (which I found out stands for "Triangle Below Canal Street") wear suspenders and bow ties.
• I overheard a lot of conversations in different languages. I couldn't identify them all but definitely French, Spanish and Italian. 
• Citi Bikes are these blue bicycles that you rent from one of their hundreds of stands, ride wherever you need to go, then return to a stand convenient to you. Cool concept for transportation. Though I don't know how safe I would feel biking the streets of NYC with the lunatic cab drivers I mentioned above. 
• There were Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks on every corner. According to an article published in December 2013, there are a whopping 515 DDs and 283 SBs in the five New York boroughs! That makes DD the number one chain in the city. New Yorkers are never far from their coffee and breakfast pastries, that is for sure!