New York Botanical Garden

On Saturday I was in N.Y. Botanical Garden with Kun Yu and So Young to see the last day of fall here.

In summer, as Till and I were there, it was not so beautiful because we saw all the time the color of "green".

But now, even it's already the late fall season, still the landscape is much better than in summer.

The spring rushes, Kun Yu said, she liked hearing the sound of spring, I said it could be much better, if we could sit there and make a tea ceremony and enjoy the peace around us.

This is almost like a cliché, but still it's actually beautiful, may your life as colorful as the fall!

green Vs red

Don't say the fallen leaves don't have the emotion to their tree,

they fell down and dedicated themselves to the next spring for their tree. 

I love the sound when I walked on them, 

that's the sound of autumn for me.

It's the most beautiful tree I photographed,

I like its shape which let me memorize some artistic Chinese stone-sculptures.

Ein prä-Nachtdienst-Spaziergang...

Jerome Ave & Van Cordtland Park

Muss ein paar Fotos noch rausnehmen/editieren, aber jetzt hab ich keine Zeit mehr - Ahh...

Bis morgen :).

Walking across the North Bronx...

This is my Sunday morning run to Home Depot in order to finally get sth fixed at home - 8 KM total. Just to give you a view of the not-so-beautiful neighborhood, not always those photoshopped pictures taken in parks... Really nothing spectacular, but I think this perspective was missing here. I will do other walks across the area with GPS-tagged pictures, this iphone app is cool...

(Click here for large version)

Now my comparison between driver's licenses in the Bronx and Germany:

Germany:

• paperwork: ID, vision check, photo, first aid class certificate
  
• plenty of theory classes, meaningful written test
  
• 12 required driving lessons (>500$), 45min road test, expensive (>200$)
  
• few people fail, if you fail, you have to wait 2wks before trying the next time.
  

Bronx, New York:

• Huge bureaucratic steps in order to be even allowed to take any classes, no 1st aid class
  
• no meaningful teaching required/enforced, ridiculous written test
  
• 10min free road test consisting of parallel-parking, turning and one u-turn
• 50%+ fail. Can be repeated as often as you please, 10$ fee for every two appointments.

Anyone surprised that traffic in the Bronx is dangerous, especially for pedestrians and cyclists?
But of course I appreciate the freedom to drive given to even the most incapable drivers. Many people don't have a license here anyway, being illegal immigrants and therefore without a chance of getting a NY license.
Seriously, it might be a good thing that there is not much federal oversight ... over anything. I just get annoyed occasionally. And yes, my NYS license was dirt cheap compared to my German one (188$ vs ca 1500$) - and had I applied in Arizona, it would have been a lot easier... But I prefer the Bronx :) ...