Walk in the park

My last full day in New York had arrived.  I thought it would be best to spend it with friends.  Early in the morning, I went to catch up with Rachel in Soho.  She hadn't been living in New York for all that long, so we both went to get breakfast in one of the fancy restaurants in the area.

After I said goodbye to Rachel, I headed up to Central Park to catch up with Reks.  She hadn't been living in New York for very long either, having moved there from London.  We walked through the park on this beautiful day, admiring the scenery and watching the random shows.  At one point, some of the performers tried to drag me into the middle of the performance before I made a lucky escape.  It was all part of the tried and true shake down and the person who took my place wasn't allowed to leave until he parted with $20.

Over the last few visits, I've probably only walked a small fraction of Central Park.  It is such an enormous space in the middle of New York and its presence adds to what makes this city so special.  I can't think of many cities in the world which have a dedicated park space the size of a small city located within its heart.  As we walked around, we saw a Jewish wedding happening and joined the small crowd of people watching the happy event.

Before I headed back to my apartment to pack, I walked over to get a Papaya King hotdog.  They're probably the best hotdogs in New York and it was kind of on my way back.

I then went back to the apartment and packed my things.  It was sad for many reasons.  Not only was the trip over, but it also meant I had to go back to work.  That alone was enough to depress me.  I decided against a cab to save some money and tried to get the subway to JFK.  Several lines were closed and so my well timed trip out to the airport became far tighter than it should have been.

As I walked to my gate inside of JFK, I saw a Shake Shack.  I wasn't hungry, but it would be the last time I would be able to get any of their burgers for a long time so I jumped at the opportunity.  One for the road wouldn't hurt!

Spring Awakening

I was down near the Meatpacking District and I needed to get back to Midtown.  I was hungry though, so I popped into a pizza joint for a quick slice.  The rain outside suddenly started to come down hard as I ate my pizza and drank my grape soda.  As I sat eating my pizza, others started to dart into the store for some refuge from the heavy downpour.  They would shake themselves off, then look at the pizza with an almost "why not" expression before buying a slice.  A New York slice seems so universal in this city, an activity that seems to be common to all.

I had bought a ticket to a show earlier that day, so once I finished eating I caught the subway back up to Broadway.  The options for entertainment in New York are so varied.  One of those options which is constantly available are the shows on Broardway.  I had been taught about the cheap ticket booth in Times Square and had bought a half priced ticket for "Spring Awakening".

My seats were fantastic, and I was only a few rows from the very front.  I sat down and waited for the show to start with almost no expectations about what I was going to see.  I didn't know this show, I didn't know the story or the background.  I was a true clean slate.  What I saw was incredible and inspiring.  The story and music in Spring Awakening are catchy and memorable, but this production was something different again.  Half of the cast was deaf and so the production was built around their dancing and movements, with other actors providing the singing as required.  It was seamlessly done and the additional actors didn't crowd or overwhelm the stage.   When the show finished, the entire theatre jumped to its feet in applause, with many people giving the sign language version of applause with their hands outstretched into the air and waving.

I walked back into the evening air, truly awed by what I had seen.  The talent of the performers was undeniable, but the courage and dedication of the deaf performers was as inspiring as anything I had seen for a long time.  Walking around outside, the noise and lights of Times Square seemed even bigger than normal.

It was getting late now, so I got the subway to head back up to Spanish Harlem.  When I got out of the station, I walked past the taqueria near the apartment.  It was still open, so I immediately went inside for a quick taco snack before bed.

Food and a show, it's an easy way to enjoy New York.

Whitney and Mona

My time in New York was nearly over, but I still had enough time to complete some final cultural visits.

I went over to the Whitney to have a look around.  I hadn't had a chance to visit the last time I was in New York, so I was excited to see what it had on offer.  Besides having an incredible building, it has some pretty weird and wonderful exhibits on display.

For a New York gallery, it has a huge space, but there didn't seem to be any particular theme which drove what they were trying to show.  It must be difficult for many of these galleries to get the right balance between the older (but more famous) pieces that everyone wants to see and some of the newer (but clearly less popular) pieces that no one has heard of.

There were a few pieces in the Whitney by Jasper Johns which I really liked.  His work with the American flags in particular caught my attention.  Besides the obvious fact that they were American flags, the texture and the style embodied true "Americana" for me.  It looked like something which had been created in the sweeping plains in the country's West.  Something which had been made from weathered scrap wood on someone's ranch.

After walking around the Whitney all morning, I walked across town to visit MoMA.  I remembered my visit to MoMA from my last visit and I had fond memories.

MoMA is in such a huge space, it means that it's able to maintain a truly enormous permanent collection of works, whilst still giving lots of attention to some different temporary exhibitions.  The Andy Warhols were all still on display, their bright colours grabbing at the attention of everyone who walked past.

The Piet Mondrian section was still there.  I still remembered when I was first properly introduced to his works back at the Tate Modern all those years ago.  I loved his work then, and I still love it now.

One of the loveliest pieces in the entire museum is a small work by Dan Flavin called "Roses".  It's quite a small work, but it literally glows.  Dan Flavin was another artist that I grew to admire when I first walked through the Tate Modern when I was younger.  "Roses" is such a different piece to his other works.  Flavin often created huge works, large scale pieces which used the light to create structures and images that took up an entire space.  It was often close to being installation art, such was its size and also because of its ability to dominate a room.  This lovely little work though, it was different.  It was a small little sculpture, shaped like flowers inside of a lightbulb, which let out only the faintest of light which brought out the colour of the flower.  It was a subtle, but beautiful work of art.

The space of MoMA is also exceptional.  From the outside, it seems fairly non-descript with its imposing and clean facade.  Inside it is a towering building, with huge rooms and vast open atriums.  There is even a small garden, hidden away from the busy streets where you can sit and contemplate the world.

New York's cultural side is really something to behold.  It is such an amazing concentration of different ideas and values.  I'm really not sure there's anything like it anywhere in the world.

Big city

This city is incredible.  It really is one of my (if not my actual) favourite places in the world.  I love just walking around and looking at the views, stopping by the random shops everywhere and soaking in the atmosphere of all the different neighbourhoods.

I caught the subway across to Brooklyn Bridge Park so that I could look at the skyline.

I sat in the park and I looked across the water and admired the beautiful view.  The size of the imposing Manhattan skyline doesn't make me feel small or insignificant as you might expect.  It has the opposite effect on me.  It makes me feel invigorated.  I look at it and I think about all that is possible, about all the heights that people can reach if they are working together in unison.  It is a scene that demonstrates what adversity can be overcome when we strive for something great.  For me, it is one of the most inspiring views in the world.

After walking around the park, I went and bought a shake at Shake Shack (always chocolate with some malt added) and walked back to Manhattan across the Brooklyn Bridge.  I felt I had been overindulging of late, so the walk did me good.  It was a scenic walk and there were dozens of other people who had the same idea.  The weather was exceptionally good, so I couldn't really blame them.

The walk across this famous bridge is a great way to see the city, and the walk across the water comes with a strong breeze which helps to clear the lungs.  It takes you out of the density of the city and into the natural surrounds.  It also gives the truly wonderful experience of seeing Manhattan slowly growing before you as you get closer and closer.  As you're about halfway across you feel completely enclosed by the web of cables that cover the bridge.

On the other side of the bridge, I kept on walking until I reached Russ & Daughters.  New York's old Jewish eateries are spit into delis and appetizers.  Traditionally, the delis deal with all of the meats like the pastramis and salamis, whereas the appetizers deal with the various fish like sturgeon and salmon.  Sadly for New York, it seems like the continued gentrification of the city is pushing more and more of these great places out to the wayside.  Thankfully Russ & Daughters remains and it still does a great bagel with lox.

I didn't have anything to do that day, so I just took advantage of the good weather to walk around.  I walked up towards midtown and looked at the elegant art deco forms of the Chrysler Building.  There's no climbing to the top of this building, and you don't really get much out of visiting it.  Instead, it is there to be looked at from a distance, to be admired from a far.

As it started to get dark, I walked over to One World Trade Centre.  I had booked a time to go to the very top, so I needed to get in line to make my way up to the top.  Before heading up, I stood at the bottom of the building and looked straight up.  This is now the tallest building in New York, a reminder of the loss of the old towers which used to stand in this space.

From the viewing floors near the top, you get an incredible view of the whole of New York.  I've always enjoyed going to the top of the Empire State Building and Rockefeller Center, but this may now take the crown of the best viewing platform in New York.  It's location downtown along with its height means that you can see far off into the distance all the way to Midtown.

I loved standing at the windows and looking out at the city.  Even from up here, it was such a hive of of constant activity.

The New

I'm glad I went to Montreal.  It was a nice change from the United States.  It's such a close flight, I'm surprised there aren't more Americans visiting for a holiday.  Maybe that old cliche about Americans never leaving America is sadly more true than we realise.

I was back in New York now.  I had a few more days before I would be heading back home so I wanted to embrace as much of this great city as possible.  I got myself an airbnb up in Spanish Harlem which was now firmly in the grips of gentrification.  I had been traveling for a while, so I had some chores that I needed to do first, in particular laundry.  I walked downstairs and found the closest laundromat.  Hanging around in a laundromat felt like something out of a sitcom.  The low hum of the machines and the occasional sounds of Spanish conversations continued on as I sat there patiently waiting for my clothes to wash and dry.

Once all my chores were done, I set out for the New Museum in Nolita.  I had tried to visit the last time I was in New York, but it had sadly been closed.  New York is filled with galleries and museums, but the "New" would definitely be considered one of the "big" galleries of the city, even if slightly below the likes of Mona, the Guggenheim and the Whitney.  I went in and found it almost deserted.

There was a strange mixture of art and displays throughout the gallery.  There wasn't a particularly theme to anything and each floor seemed dedicated to its own particular show or category.  I wasn't quite sure if there was a permanent display, possibly this was what was there on the top floor, with all the other floors instead seeming to be dedicated to temporary exhibits.

Nothing really grabbed me.  The displays were interesting enough, but nothing was memorable.  What I actually found to be far more eye catching was the interiors of the building itself.

There was a sparseness to the design of the building, with huge amounts of polished concrete, white and light being used to accentuate the clean designs.

I walked around for a bit before I walked towards the cobbled streets of Soho.  The contrast between the New and the old world charm of Soho was as dramatic as it comes.

Greek wedding

I woke up with a bit bleary eyed.  Dinner the night before at the Greek restaurant had been fun, but we had all overindulged.  I was still sharing the twin room with Reh and he was snoring in his bed.  He was in a far worse state than I was so I left him to keep sleeping off the booze.  I had a shower, got changed and walked out into the fresh morning air of the city.  I was hungry and I needed something to stop the hangover.  I looked at my phone and found the closest diner to where I was staying.

I pushed open the metal door of the diner and walked straight in.  There was no one to greet me and instead I made my way towards the counter stools.  Sitting at the counter, there was a constant buzz of activity both in front and behind me.  The waitress in front of me handed the menu to me without a word but with a smile.  I looked through the list of options and settled quickly on the corned beef hash.  To wash it all down, I had a glass of orange juice and a cup of coffee.  The entire spread of food and drink is nothing if not comforting.  It's food that's made for cold weather and hard physical work.  It's certainly not the type of food you would want to be eating all the time if you were working in a sedentary office job.

After breakfast, I went back to the hotel and changed into my suit.  Reh had now woken up and was also getting ready.  It was time for the main reason that we had all gathered in New York, Kosta's wedding!  A whole bunch of us had traveled in from various parts of the world to attend this wedding.  In the early afternoon, we all gathered in the Greek church in Queens and watch our good friend get married.

The ceremony was lovely and full of all the traditions of an Orthodox Christian wedding.  Like the weddings I had been to in the past, I loved to see the pageantry and traditions which unfolded before us.  One of the final acts that occurs between the couple at an Orthodox wedding is the placing of gold crowns on the heads of the groom and bride, which the priest then symbolically switches back and forth between their heads.  It's a nice act and for me it creates a link not just between the couple, but also through to the past and their history.

Once the wedding was over, we were all bused over to the reception in Westchester.  I have never seen so much food in my life.  There was a buffet which had been prepared just for the cocktail hour before the formal reception actually began.  By the time the reception began, most people were far more interested in the party than the food being served.  The band kicked off and in traditional Greek fashion, money was thrown to encourage the band to play harder and louder.

The party kept going deep into the night.  The floor was covered in money and once things started to finally wind down, brooms were brought out to sweep the money into boxes for the band.  Most of us were bleary eyed as we began our treks back to the city.

Met and pastrami

I love being able to catch up with friends when I'm overseas.  One of the nicest types of catch up is when you somehow manage to run into friends who are also traveling to the same place you are.  By a stroke of luck, I found myself in New York at the same time as Jimmy and Eva.  They were traveling as part of Jimmy's work to California and had decided to stretch out the trip with a visit to New York.  They had seen on facebook that I was also in the city, so we quickly arranged for a day out together.

They hadn't been to New York before, so I thought it would be best to immediately introduce them to my personal favourite, Barney Greengrass.  We arrived on a very full morning, excited and happy to see each other.  The dining room was packed, so we sat down at a table in the front room next to the groceries.  The huge menu was put in front of us, and I felt like an established old pro as I guided them through the different options.  The service was quick as always, and our table was soon covered with the heavy diner style plates and cups.  Jimmy and Eva delighted in the eggs, lox and bagels.  All of it was "simple" fare, but done in the way that only Barney Greengrass is capable of.  The eggs were fluffy and not greasy.  The lox was all mixed in just enough to keep its form and to still give the intense salty bursts of flavour.  For me, this was what spending time in New York was about, far more so than merely visiting the tourist spots.

After the very filling breakfast, we went for a walk through Central Park.  New York in the autumn is a lovely time and there is no better place to experience that than in Central Park.  The leaves were golden and there was a light breeze in the air.  Since we were all full, the walk was needed for our collective digestion.  On the other side of the park was the Met.  I still remembered how overwhelming the Met was when I first went there.  The sheer volume of exhibits inside was like nothing I had ever experienced before.  Others clearly had the same idea as us that day and we found the foyer to be a crowded mass of people.

Once we moved inside, the crowds dissipated a bit and we were able to walk through the halls at our leisure.  Jim and Eva were traveling with their baby, so we had the additional task of pushing the stroller everywhere.  People were generally well mannered and the presence of the stroller didn't seem to cause any delays or annoyance.

The Met is truly enormous.

It isn't just the huge collection it owns, the space itself is cavernous, so much so that it holds smaller disassembled buildings within its confines.  There are temples and small buildings which are located throughout its interior.  Deep within the centre, there is even an old American colonial house which has been completely relocated.  You can wander around inside and look at the recreation of how life would have looked for those who lived in the past.  I also remembered the Egyptian temple which had been rebuilt inside of it from my last visit and Jimmy and Eva had a great time exploring it as well.

The Met's building itself is quite classically designed, but they've been smart enough to incorporate modern touches and renovations throughout.  I enjoyed sitting with the stroller in the Egyptian temple hall while Jimmy and Eva had a closer look inside.  Looking out of the huge windows, I could see out towards the park and the natural light filled the room with a brightness that you would never see in the stuffier old museums in Europe.

The collections inside were just as incredible as the best places I had visited in Europe.  The wealth of New York's elite had helped to build this place and so it wasn't surprising at all that they had managed to gather up some of the most incredible pieces from around the world.  Every room we walked through held treasures from various times leading up to the modern day.  It was a great way to spend a day, looking through all of the different wonders our shared history has managed to produce.

The long day of walking through the Met had reinvigorated our appetites.  Anyone who claims that old cliche that American food is "terrible" has never been to New York.  This is one of the gastronomical centres of the world.  Every time I've been here, I've been amazed by variety and quality of the food options.  It ranges from the simple food carts by the side of the street, all the way through to some of the best fine dining restaurants in the world.  We decided to go with something more in the middle of that range.  We arranged to catch up with some of Jimmy and Eva's friends for dinner and decided on going to Eataly in the Flatiron district.  Eataly is incredible.  Inside Eataly, we were once again amazed by the sheer volume of items like we had been inside of the Met, though this time for different reasons.  We walked around all the different aisles of food and then bought cheeses and meats, along with bottles of wine to eat amongst the throngs of people shopping, eating, talking and laughing.  We were just getting started with the eating though.  This was just a simple appetiser to get us ready for more food, as we arranged to go upstairs to one of the many restaurants inside of Eataly.  When it was our time to go up, we walked up the stairs and found ourselves walking past Nina Dobrev from the Vampire Diaries.  The girls all giggled at having seen a celebrity, adding to this New York experience.  Once we were seated upstairs, the food began to arrive.  We all felt like family, so the plates were all pushed to the centre as everyone picked bits and pieces from every dish, trying to experience as many different flavours as possible.

Once we finished with dinner, everyone sat back satisfied (or so we thought).  A few drinks were ordered as we talked about our days and our respective trips.  The waiters came back to the table with menus for dessert.  We looked through the menus, but nothing in particular popped out at us.  Someone at the table started talking about Katz Deli and the incredible pastrami sandwiches they made.  Eva and Jimmy had never been, so they listened intently as everyone at the table described in detail the fatty delights offered at Katz.  It was at that point that someone at the table asked "why don't we go now?"  I'm not sure who it was who made that suggestion.  At first we thought they were joking.  We had just finished dinner, and it was close to 10:00pm at this stage.  We all looked at each other and we all started to think "why not?"  It might be a bit strange, but there wasn't actually anything stopping us from going.  We all started to respond together, as though a wave had overtaken us, and decided that this was actually the best idea of the night.  We paid our bill, then went downstairs to grab a couple of cabs to take us over to the Lower East Side.  Our two cabs made their way through the city and dropped us right next to the shining lights of Katz Delicatessen.  We were late enough that there was no more lineup outside.  Inside, there was still a bustle of people, but there was enough space for us to all grab a large table together at the back.  A group of us went to the counter with our tickets in hand and ordered our sandwiches.  It was hard not to laugh, as we then carried the trays laden with food back to the tables.  We joked that this was in fact our "dessert" for the night.  The earlier dinner did not stop us as we all started eating.  We were clearly not famished or hungry, which strangely helped to give us an additional appreciation for the food.  We were here purely for the pleasure of the food rather than any need to satiate hunger and that changed our collective perspective entirely.  Every bite was chewed more, savoured a little bit more which made us appreciate how special it was.  The sandwiches were all eaten and we were left with plates of pickles to gnaw on as we realised just how much food we had been eating over the last few hours.  With that, it was time for everyone to go.  We gathered outside of Katz to say our goodbyes.  Some hopped into cabs, whilst I headed towards the subway.

It was a great day.  A day filled with far more food than I could have ever imagined.  The bookends of two meals from Jewish establishments with a middle of Italian food seemed to be an apt analogy of what New York is.  This city, so rich in its history of both Jewish and Italian Americans, has pushed out a unique culture towards the rest of the world.  We had experienced a true overload of that cultural mix in a single day.

Norfolk and Newport News

We woke up to a miserable day in Richmond.  There was a huge storm rolling in and the sky was dark.  We still wanted to explore the region a bit more, so we decided we would drive out towards the coast.

The coastal region around Virginia is famous for its association with the US navy.  Along the coast are famous ports and shipyards, and Reh and I both wanted to see some of these.  His work with the military and my own personal interest in military history was more than enough reason for us to make the drive out.  We reached Norfolk a bit before lunch.  We went to the naval base to join one of the tours, but got lost on our way there.  We found ourselves stuck in front of a huge entrance area, looking through our phones to try and work out how to get to the start of the tour.  Looking in the rearview mirror, we could see two armed servicemen approaching the car.  One of them walked straight to the driver side window, whilst the other stood back, his hand on his gun.  The serviceman at our window was incredibly polite and helpful and directed us back onto the road towards where we needed to go.  We found our way to the small office where the tour of the naval base started.  The rains started coming down as we jumped into the coach to take us through the base.  We passed row after row of enormous ships, gawking at their size.

No photos were allowed on the naval base!  It seemed an appropriate requirement given where we were.  We were happy to be there, so we pressed our faces up to the windows of the bus as we slowly drove by the ships.  Somehow, even with clear instructions to take no pictures, there were still some people on the tour who felt compelled to take photos.  At the end of the trip, those people were pulled to the side by large American military personnel and forced to delete the photos from their phones and cameras.

After the naval base tour, we made the short drive into the centre of Norfolk and went onto the USS Wisconsin.  This old battleship from WWII is now a permanent museum and we were able to walk throughout the ship and its interior.  It was a great opportunity to see a ship like this.  In the past, I've been able to go onto other museum ships to have a look around, but never have I been on anything this enormous and famous.

It was incredible just how open the ship was.  It didn't seem like any part of this floating museum was off limits and we were able to walk through what seemed like every section.  We moved from the operational parts of the ships all the way through to the living quarters.  Being able to walk through all these parts of the ship, I felt like I could imagine far better the conditions that these sailors would have gone through.

Even though the ship was now decades past its retirement, it was still an imposing and impressive vessel.  This was one of the most powerful battleships ever built, probably the most powerful ever built by any of the Allied nations.  With its huge forecastle and enormous guns, it was like a guard for the city of Norfolk, even if the guns were, strictly speaking, pointed towards the city...

The rest of Norfolk felt deserted.  With the storm coming in, most people seemed to have retreated inside.  Walking through the streets, we found ourselves almost completely alone.  It wasn't clear whether this was just a quiet town or if it was a sign of a greater level of malaise.  It made me think back to my days living in Canberra.  On certain days, going into the centre of Canberra you could have been mistaken for thinking you had walked into the scene of some post apocalyptic world where all the people had disappeared.  This place sadly had that same feeling.

We went back to the car and drove back towards Richmond.  On the way there, we decided we would go through Newport News.  This town with its pretty name was any but pretty to look at.  Following on from our nautical themed trip, we drove to the shipyards to try and get a better look at the creation of America's naval might.  The whole area around the shipyards was awful.  There were crumbling and decrepit buildings everywhere.  It wasn't like in Baltimore, which had old and beautiful buildings which had fallen into disrepair, these were just terrible looking buildings in terrible condition.  Driving past the shipyards themselves, we saw some enormous industrial equipment and monstrous ships that towered over all the surrounding buildings.  As we had been driving close, I had even caught sight of an enormous gantry crane, so large that the words "Newport News Shipyard" was written across the length of the beam in script legible from a huge distance away.  I wasn't sure if other parts of Newport News were nicer, but driving around these areas didn't seem nice at all.  We drove a bit further South towards a park and walked out to get a better look at the ships being worked on.

They really are impressive.  These monsters are capable of bringing a level of death and destruction greater than anything else in history.  They're more than just war machines, they are floating cities made purely for the single purpose of projecting America's might.  Newport News may not have been so impressive, but these machines sure were.  We drove back towards Richmond.  The rains were now hammering down on the car and the roads were surprisingly poorly lit.  We eventually made it back, completely exhausted from the long day.  The streets were still quiet, but we found a small jazz bar near the hotel.  We sat in there listening to the jazz band, eating dinner and drinking beers.  People were dancing and laughing.  It had been strange in the South.  Whenever we had found indoor places like this, they were warm and full of life.  When we had been outside, it had felt almost deserted.

Virginia

I liked Virginia.  I was starting to understand the atmosphere of the "South".  There was a mood to the whole place which was different to anything I had experienced before.  There was this feeling of run-down grandeur, of a place that whilst refined in its actions and behaviours, had definitely seen better times.

Everywhere we drove felt relatively "rural", even if it actually wasn't.  There was a feeling though that nothing was ever too far from the natural world.  We walked through wooded areas, nature reserves, parks and other bucolic areas besides the river.  All the while, we were still within the city of Richmond.

There was never a rush or any crowds either.  Instead, we were able to enjoy the quiet of our surroundings.  The people were polite and always greeted you with a smile, though it was hard to tell whether this was being out of mere courtesy or a genuine desire to be kind.

Later on, we decided to drive through Hollywood Cemetery.  This was an enormous sprawling area on the edge of Richmond that was the last resting place for many of the most famous figures of the Confederacy.  There were various monuments to the Confederate dead and some of the graves of the Confederate leaders were incredibly ornate.  The very last spot we visited was the grave of Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy.  We weren't alone when we got there.  Several other groups were standing there, looking on with a quiet reverence.  At different points, men approached solemnly and placed small stones on his grave, as though to make some sort of offering.  They stood in front of the grave, hands together and heads bowed in respect to this man and his cause.  I found it to be deeply disturbing.  The fallacy of the "Lost Cause" was still clearly pervasive in this country and seeing this bizarre procession of mourners seemed to reinforce the idea that many still didn't appreciate what had actually happened.  Maybe the fact that Reh and I aren't from America gives us a better view.  Sometimes, being removed from something provides an objectivity that is otherwise impossible to obtain.  Irrespective, we were both dumbfounded by what seemed to be a completely inability to be introspective in these matters.

It was hard to understand the true reason for the continued refusal to acknowledge the sins of the past.  However, being in the South made me understand the nostalgia that there may be.  The atmosphere of the place lends itself so strongly towards this idea that things were better before.  Maybe it is that simple, a powerful nostalgia for something never experienced which has blinded some to a less savoury reality of what happened.