Jump to content

Trip to Charlotte.


Xss

Recommended Posts

OK, thanks a lot!

A...The geese, those birds, yeah, we saw them (well, I think it was geese, because of the "side", lol) from the car yesterday evening, when we were looking for a place to eat. I remember I thought "Wow, looks like one of those birds who bit neo in downtown, hmm...".

Link to comment
Share on other sites


  • Replies 38
  • Created
  • Last Reply

xss a good website that will tell you about downtown charlotte, where all the restarants are, etc. is

http://www.charlottecentercity.org/

If you go downtown tonight, there is a big draft party for our new NBA team the Charlotte Bobcats. That party is at Founders Hall and is open to the public starting at 7pm. It is free too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks, but we went to downtown this morning instead of this evening. Oh, my God, I found it more impresive than five years ago.. :blink:

The bad news come from the hotel, finaly if we want to stay for three weeks, we'll have to pay more or less 100$ per night..So we had to find another hotel, and we leave this one today, that means no more free high speed connection to internet. I was thinking to put some the pics we took on a website, it won't be possible. So I think I can say you "bye" untill some weeks!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

And that's it...Back home...It was a nice trip, but well, I'll talk about it another day..

And I'll have to put the pics I take with my father somewhere, and put a link here!

For the moment I'm going te rest a little bit, the fly back to france was long...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The details of my trip?

Well, how to say it...I was a little bit disappointed about the downtown. I think it's because I didn't fell in Charlotte what I felt looking at photos on the internet, and what I was expecting to fell for five years...

I though I would really be impressed, because I don't see a lot of skyscrapers usually, well, it wasn't the case.

Sorry to say that, but...Those parking lots XP... In a way I love uptown Charlotte, I think it's a very cute skyline (yeah, it sound a little bit strange XP), but it almost doesn't deserve to be here, like "this". The fact is when you're there...Well, I don't know how are the others cities' downtons in the USA, but in fact, I had the felling there was Tryon Street and only Tryon Street, nothing more (unless some things here and there...). Not a lot of retails shop in College street (but it's going to change I think, aren't they goingo to build something on that ugly white thing in front of the NationsBank Plaza?), and except the skyscrapers, this street isn't very great, only if you go near the Hearst Tower. Chuch street is better, for the moment you are in the area with the condos tower (the apartements, I'm not sure, you call them condos tower I think, do you?), with fourth ward near it.

Well, what I'm saying is that the downtown seems sooooo small because of those damned parking lots XP...And I'm not talking about building only other skyscrapers there, I would almost say "just built something, i don't care", because for the moment, if you go a little bit to far of Tryon Street, it's almost if there was "nothing". Oh, OK, there are some residentials, but just "some" here and there...The "worst", in a way, it's when you are in gateway village : there's one great building (I don't know how to discribe it) from where you can see condos tower and the downtown, a little bit far away. And at this moment your really have the impression you are in a big downtown, with a lot of buildings all the way to the downtown (Tryon Street I mean), you have the impression that there's something "huge".

I felt exactly the same thing in the cemetary near Gateway Village (My God O_O it's amazing, what's the name of this cemetary, I didn't see it anyway? And I didn't know there was a such place : I never saw pictures of it...The skyline must be gorgeous at night from here...), almost a sort of "small central park" in the city.

Fourth Ward is really great (I find that so cute : old houses just near the sckyscrapers :-3), it's a good place to walk, and if you go close to trade street, you start seeing condos tower, and after, if you're still walking...Horrible Parkings...Again.

There's this another part of downtown which is nice too, in the East, with all the government buildings, where you have a good view of the skyline...To bad again this part is "separated" with all those parkings lots.

Fortunately there going to built those two towers of 20 floors, more or less...In fact the problem for people like me is that I see the downtown of Charlotte and I think "we need to build something on those parkings lots", but of course something get built only it if needs to be built...I'm wondering how it will look like within ten years, but when I see how downtown Charlotte has been evolving, I think we'll have to wait a little bit more to have REALLY something...For the moment, it's like if all the downtown is still in sort of evolution, like if it has just awake, and we need to wait a little bit (well, in my case I need to wait...).

Still, it's a city where I would like to live I think (well, in downtown in fact), and I think it's another thing wich I didn't like when I was there : the feeling of being a stranger, just a visitor. Yeah, you "know" the city, but once you're there you realize even if you hate the place where you live for the moment (Tours, France XP), it's "your life", it's full of memories...Not the kind of think you can have with just "a little trip every five years".

Well, and for the rest of the city..Roads, roads, big houses (really big houses XP), ant that's all, nothing very original, lol. It's funny, I get used quickly to the size of the city, I almos found normal to take almosts 30 minutes, in a speedway, to go from the hotel to one of my uncles for example...

What else? The malls are very great, of course, very clean (you can imagine more or less my face when I arrived at the airport Charles de Gaulle Yesterday...)...Lot of trees in Charlotte, great parks (I don't remember its name...A big park in the East of the city), I would really want to come once in Christmas, to see how it looks like : dead leaves, snow, clouds, and cold for a change (it was really hot sometimes).

Oh, yeah, one thing : the fourth July...We went to downtown around 11 a.m...Almost nobody, lol, and we were thinking there would be so much people it would be impossible to park te car somewhere :P . And, nobody in college street (unless a beggar wich was following us XP). The night it was better, and great fireworks!

And, about the people (well, how to say it...I'm just talking of the "first contact", I cannot speak a lot and have big conversations with peaple...I'm just talking about what I see in shops, in restaurant, the way people is, nothing more), of course most of the people is very nice, very friendly, very cool, more or less everywhere...My God, and now I'm in France again, where a lot of people is so cold and "stuck" (yeah, in french we say "stuch", "coinc

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It sounds as if your trip went well. Every city has good and bad. In America we are so dependent on cars that it does ruin our urban fabric at times. People are slowly changing and hopefully we will see all of those huge parking lots start to go away. The French are lucky to have citizens that value urbanity as much as they do.

I like that you gave both the good and bad impressions of your trip. If people only said good things then nothing would change. You are right Charlotte is evolving quite quickly. If you come again in another 5 or 10 years it will be completely different. That is one reason why people here love the city so much. Charlotte has so much potential because it is so young.

If you came in Christmas you would not see snow. I don't think Charlotte has had snow on Christmas in over 100 years. We have had snow for the past two winters but some winters it doesn't snow at all in Charlotte.

There is a large Latin movement into the whole United States. Latin Americans will soon be the nations 2nd largest minority group. So, of course, Spanish is quickly becoming a common second language in America. There are a lot of Eastern Europeans coming as well so I am starting to here more Russian spoken here and there.

I spent Bastille Day in Paris once. That was truly amazing. I would love to go back to Paris again to really take in the architecture. I was only there for a few days. I also spent time in Nice, which I thought was a beautiful city.

I hope you come back to see all of the changes. It was enjoyable and insightful to read about your experience. I hope you continue to post here, your english is mostly clear in writing so I'm suprised you didn't try to speak to anyone. I spoke to people in France. My french is terrible, most people just looked at me and smiled. Good luck Xss!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You are right Charlotte is evolving quite quickly. If you come again in another 5 or 10 years it will be completely different.

>>Hum...I don't know...I was there five years ago, and it didn't change a lot I found...Well, last time we only visited Tryon Street, we didn't see Gateway Village and all the other things. When was it built, with all the residential condos around it? Of course, if all that was built during those five years when I was in France, I think it's great, it's evolving quite fast.

And...Just thinking...Are there any chances to see the Fourth First Union Center getting built "one day"? Of was it just an "idea" wich is now totally forgotten?

If you came in Christmas you would not see snow. I don't think Charlotte has had snow on Christmas in over 100 years. We have had snow for the past two winters but some winters it doesn't snow at all in Charlotte.

>> Oh, zut alors! XP. Well, but I saw the photos of the last time it snowed in Charlotte, and well...It's funny, I think it's the climate, it's not like here in France. When I was in Charlotte, when it was shinning, it was REALLY hot. When it started rainning, it was more or less like what I saw when I was in Vietnam : a lot of rain. And when I saw the photos of the snow in Charlotte, I though "another extreme : lot of snow when it's snowing XP". Lol!

I hope you continue to post here, your english is mostly clear in writing so I'm suprised you didn't try to speak to anyone.

>> Oh, thanks! My professor of English I had last year, at University, said all the contrary during more or less the whole year...

You're surprised I didn't try to speak to anyone ? Well, not to anyone, but...Hum, well...How to say it...I didn't see a lot of "real americans" in fact, most of time I was visiting mi family, and...I don't like to talk a lot about that...But anyway, I don't want to hurt anyone, but it was the family of my father : they're Vietnamise. First of all, with my father, they were always speaking in vietnamise,all the time, all together (My mother and myself were more o less strangers for them, people outside of the family). Now you'll probably told me "why didn't you talk with them in english?". Well, now it's really the moment when I don't want to hurt anybody, but : how are the asiatic people in the United States? I'm asking that because I saw that there, it was like everyone stay inside its community (it's different in France, there's more "mixing"), and concerning asiatic people, we saw that they were still asiatic in their behaviour, diferent from americans, or european people. I don't want to criticize, but it's a little sad they didn't really integrated themselves in the american society. We spoke with them a little bit, me and my mother, but all the time they were all together. And, sincerelly, their English was sometimes horrible, and it was a little bit strange for me...Some of my uncles have been living in United States for 30 years, and they're still having a very big accent. So, for me, who wanted to "work" my English, it wasn't very good. And about my cousins? Well, horrible, the worst! Moost of them we're like freaky zombies almost without feelings XP. And I'm not kidding, I hope it's just a problem with my family (something in our blood perhaps, lol, or I don't know what)! Sorry if there's people with vietnamise or asiatic origins in this forum, I don't want to hurt them. It's just sometime I'm really not proud of mi family...And, about my cousins, well, there was the little children of one of my uncle, there were nice boys, but too young to have a "real" conversation with them. There was just my cousin and her husband, from Minneapolis, who were really nice. Who were "different" from the others (yeah, it can sound racist, sorry, but it's the true). And for the rest, I only saw american people while walking on the street, in the malls, that's all.

I spoke to people in France. My french is terrible, most people just looked at me and smiled.

>>Terrible? At leat you speak French with an English accent (I love this accent, lol), and not the contrary...Talking English with a French accent is one of the worst sound in the world, in my own opinion...

Good luck Xss!

>>Well, thank you!

So, for the photos...I'm not going to post them in this forum (I tried, I don't know how to do it, I read some posts wich explained how, and well...I'm very lazy, sorry, so...). I started putting them in another web-site, so here's a link for those who want :

http://xss-.deviantart.com/scraps/

Even if the photos are in total disorder, "locically" the good order isn't from the top left, but from the bottom right, with this pic http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/8854036/

I know it's a little wierd, but things are like that.

And there are more photos to come, I must put them during these days : so there will be an update more or less each day.

And, one last thing, the photos are big (Yeah, they look small, but just cliq on them, you'll see), sorry, so for the little modems (56 and others...) it's goingo to be hard. I'm really too lazy to change the side of all photos with photoshop, and I have a lot of others things to do, so...

Anyway, just enjoy the photos! :P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Vietnamese are Charlotte's largest Asian group. There are more coming all of the time. 1st generation Asians do separate themselves a little more but Vietnamese born in American are usually more "American" but they keep a lot of their culture. I think it is good for them to keep their culture and to add to American culture with Vietnamese culture. Some Asian culture is part of American culture. The Hawaiian culture is very South Pacific with its traditions, but because Hawaii is a US state that makes it's culture part of "American Culture".

A lot of Vietnamese people live and own businesses along Central Avenue in Charlotte. I would like for that area to start to redevelop itself into a walk-able

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think they should use Asian architecture and design to make the neighborhood more interesting. They could also provide services in the area to Asian immigrants that help them to learn about how to start businesses, speak English, and use US banks, etc.

>> Yes, that could be a good idea I think, it could create another "part" in Charlotte. I saw a lot of vietnamise restaurants in the city, I'm wondering if it was around Central Avenue, but now that you said it...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.