| Hello from New York City (5) - A Local Expert Takes | | | | savory Chinese dumplings. All the time she explained |
| Us Through Queensby: Susanne Pacher | | | | to us the multicultural character of Queens, and that |
| Yesterday was a pretty interesting day, the weather | | | | one of the main subway trains (the 7 train) is called |
| was cool and overcast, with rain coming in during the | | | | "The International Express" because it cuts through all |
| latter part of the afternoon. A few weeks ago I had | | | | sorts of ethnic neighbourhoods. |
| booked a meeting with one of the Big Apple Greeters, | | | | A quick jump onto this very subway later, which runs |
| an organization of local NYC volunteers that takes | | | | on elevated tracks through a good chunk of Queens, |
| out-of-town visitors around the city and shows them | | | | so you can actually see the neighbourhood, and we |
| local sights and shares local information. The service is | | | | arrived in Jackson Heights, an area with a lot of Latin |
| a great way to link up with a local New Yorker, and | | | | American immigrants and further west we saw lots of |
| best of all, it's free of charge. | | | | South Asian (Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi) stores. |
| We were supposed to meet Suzanne, our greeter, at | | | | For a Torontonian seeing all these ethnic stores is not |
| 11:00 am at the 71st Street subway station, but we got | | | | all that unusual, since we have a lot of that in Toronto |
| a late start after breakfast and there were some | | | | too, but I am sure these ethnic neighbourhoods must |
| delays on the subway system, so we didn't meet | | | | be quite unusual and unique for people who come |
| Suzanne until 11:50 am. Suzanne is a former highschool | | | | from smaller less international places. |
| teacher, in her sixties, and a very friendly and outgoing | | | | We then took the 47 and 19 Queens bus to a |
| individual. We felt bad about being late, but she said it | | | | neighbourhood called Astoria, where a lot of Greek |
| wasn't a problem at all. She was extremely gracious | | | | immigrants congregate. We ended up having dinner in |
| and helpful throughout our entire time with her. | | | | a little quaint and cosy Greek restaurant called Zygos |
| Suzanne started the tour by taking us through a very | | | | Restaurant ("zygos" means "libra" or "balance") where |
| upscale Queens neighbourhood called Forest Hill | | | | we continued our nice conversation with Suzanne, our |
| Gardens, which is a neighbourhood with private streets | | | | local expert. Suzanne has been a greeter for the last |
| where local residents pay higher than normal taxes for | | | | 12 years and has studied all areas of New York City. |
| additional services, such as more frequent garbage | | | | She said she travels, by herself, into all areas of NYC, |
| pickup etc. Suzanne indicated that these homes go | | | | including Harlem and the Bronx, and she loves exploring |
| from anywhere from US$ 1 million and up. Everything | | | | and sharing the city that she loves with people from all |
| was blooming and many local handymen, gardners and | | | | over the world. |
| maids were on the road. We also had a chance to | | | | When we left at about a quarter to 7 pm, Suzanne |
| visit the old US Open Tennis Center which is located in | | | | had spent more than 7 hours with us and we had |
| an amphitheatre right next to the Forest Hill Country | | | | really gotten to know each other quite well on a |
| Club. | | | | personal level. We also we ended up exchanging email |
| On from there we took a bus to the Flushing | | | | addresses and we extended mutual invitations to stay |
| neighbourhood, an area with lots of Chinese and | | | | in touch and I said I'd love to take her around |
| Korean stores, where Suzanne treated us to same | | | | whenever she comes to the Toronto area. |