I Don't 'Heart' NY

I admit, I don't really love New York the way most people do (and by 'most people', I mean the tourists and business people who come here for a few days a year and think the city is wonderful and has 'color' ; and, I mean the people who live here, or were born and raised here).

Anyway, I find the city too big, too loud, too busy. I really do not like Midtown - to me, it has no charm, no character. Midtown is all offices and shopping, I find restaurants and bars few and far between. Yes, I know you have to go uptown or down to the Village for such things, but I don't want to do that. I do not like the Metro here.

Some other random observations this week :
--New Yorkers commute in high heels (well, the women do), and most of them cannot walk gracefully in them. They are either teetering, lurching or stomping ; and, the heels themselves look like they're going to break off from such misguided walking.

--New Yorkers do not commute with iPods or other music devices - don't they need something to block out the noise?

--Why aren't museums open later in the evening (i.e. MoMA and the Met)? And why is admission for each $20?

--What happens to all the half-used bars of soap that are in hotel rooms when people check out? I cannot imagine these are rewrapped. Even if the cleaning crew took them home, they'd have pounds of them. So, where do they go? Ok, we all take the mini bottles of shampoo, but bars of soap?

--The Grand Hyatt on 42nd & Lex is tired. Compared to the Hyatt's in Madrid, London and Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, this one should be ashamed to have the Hyatt name. Fine, I understand if the decor is a bit outdated - it takes a lot of money/time/logistics to renovate - I get that. But the meeting facility services are sub-par, in my opinion. No one comes to clean away the dirty breakfast glasses/plates, instead they pile up all day - we had to put one tray of them in the empty room next door - that tray was still there the next morning. What they charge for said 'breakfast' service is absurd.

--I absolutely LOVE Pandora radio and keep hoping that all the copyright and legal issues will be fixed so it becomes available in France. Whenever I'm in the US I log in, go through my stations, and just have fun. Sure, if you are in the US and listen to it a lot, certain songs and artists repeat too often, but if you are only in the US 2-3 weeks per year, it's all new to you!

One more evening in NYC before heading back to Boston for the weekend, then back home to Paris. Not sure what I'll do tonight in the city.