Hi, Terry, you're just back from New York.
Yes.
It must be an exciting trip.
Well, I've really seen lots of things. I saw the most spectacular view when I was crossing a bridge to Manhattan at dusk, and the skyscrapers were lit up producing a classic nighttime view of Manhattan.
That's really beautiful.
But that's not the whole picture. Some of the streets in New York are very rough. I saw large piles of garbage cans at the roadside, and graffiti all over garage doors and store shutters.
I can't believe it.
The garbage are tidily bagged and boxed, though.
Did you stay in a hotel?
Yes. The hotel we stayed at turned out to be fairly decent, though the room was small, with a tiny bathroom that was only about 3 feet larger than the bed. As I was inexperienced with tourist-area hotels, I was startled, I mean, the room was $129 a night. But at least the room was clean and the bed reasonably comfortable.
What's your general impression of New York?
Well, restaurants pack their tiny tables very tightly; grocery stores and bookstores have aisles that are narrow; the sidewalks are cluttered with newsstands, vendors and their carts, and places that aren't restrictively small, such as the lawns around the Natural History Museum, are full of people, so they're no escape.