"Manhattan - Please don't use this map as... " a New York City Travel Page by VZ-Pam

A rough Idea of how Manhattan the BIG APPLE looks like.
NYC never looks like an apple but the city is as juicy & delicious as an apple pie I guess - That is my own theory & everyone want a slice of the pie. I don't think its too cool to be called the BIG APPLE PIE town as NYC is one of the hippest place on earth !

With my Chinese background, I think New York Manhattan Island has one of the best Feng Shui geological locations in the world. Yeah, there are good & bad times but the city has been flourishings for many many years & still one of the most densely populated city in the USA, there must be a lot of good things here to keep people staying & draw many more to come. WHy good Feng SHui ? NYC has a deep protected harbour harvesting waterflow from a few great rivers, bringing in many natural resources. It also make NYC easy for the early settlers to access from inland by river routes to import and export goodies in & out of the harbour. I was told by History Channel on TV that the Hudson river was full of oysters in the 18th century ( See, you can learn from TV sometimes) and the oyster beds were so rich & bountiful in the old days that one of the street on the shore line was named "Pearl Street" as people shucked barrels of oysters & discharge tons of oyster shells chips to build the roads there. Of course we don't have that many oysters there today just like many urban cities, Manhattan had so much garbage dumped along the shore line in the past that people should not even eat any fish from those rivers due to pollution :D

From The Encyclopedia of New York City, it says the name of Manhattan probably derive from the Native Indian word "manahachtanienk ".

There was a myth I read from CNN article, telling us a story about how the name "manahachtanienk " came from. It was said in 1609, the Dutch sent Henry Hudson for a 3rd attempt to find a Northeast passage way & he encoutered the Delaware Indian Tribe at around the Wall St area. Mr Hudson tried to foster good relationships with the tribes by sharing his brandy with the tribes & they all passed out having a good time with it. It was claimed from then, the Indians referred the island as Manahachtanienk - literally "The High Island" where they all got "high".

Hummm, I wonder if it was true & sure Manhattan has stay that way since then & we all got intoxicated by the island in many ways....good or bad but I am happy to live & work in an exciting city such as Manhattan.

I reside in Queens - part of the LONG ISLAND but I am always in Manhattan like most of the New Yorkers. I move to Queens is because its like what Eddie Murphy 's comedy "Coming to America" mentioned, Queens is where a Queen lives !!! Hopefully I am queen quality, just a wishful thinking :)

To me, the best scenery of Manhattan is the skyline at night because the evenings are specially to New Yorkers .... we come more alive at night & this is the city that never sleeps.

The next one is 2 special days for us New Yorkers, where the sun sets in exact alignment with the Grid system of the Manhattan Streets on May 28th & July 13th . You can see the sun beam thru the cross streets....heavenly kind of scenery to me.

Is that a cult thing of solar worshippers or is it just a coincidence of design ? May be we can write a book on it to tell a secret that was bury by the founding fathers of New York ??? I don't know how to make a story up with that, but I will enjoy the view every year & give thanks to its designer.

After all, this city is a designer art work and a stylish fashion town !!! I have to strike a pose in this city to make it look good :P