pittsburgh, pennsylvania, usa

my most interesting insight? my journey started just when i arrived ... its a strange world, that north american continent, u know? but anyway, i liked it ...

why the hell pittsburgh? well, my brother + his family live there for the next few months :-)

pittsburgh = venice of north america? not really, just toooo much snow water out there ;o)

pittsburgh = an old industrial city? yep, it surely was! is steel city still industrial a lot? hmmmm, i dont really know, but i think it is and it still looks like accordingly :-)

wanna more pictures? steel+ketchup city ~ enjoy ... u have told u wanted :-)

even more pictures? on the road ~ enjoy as well

so what was in canada + usa soooo different to old europe? a lot, e.g.:

• many, many old folks who still have to work … is there no retirement money in usa, canada? 
• a no alcohol world? well, in both ontario + pennsylvania its not so easy 2 get a beer in supermarket, fast food shop, in the street … hell! the guys are not allowed to drink a beer after their hamburger but they can go as soldiers to foreign countries and kill thousands of people? hmmmmmm … 
• there are plenty of ATMs everywhere! so i would suppose they pay a lot of stuff cash, crazy me! the (credit) card is king! ive paid even USD 6 via credit card in order to get the needed allowance stamp to enter the usa (visa waiver program). … and forgot/lost my credit card near the niagara falls … lets hope i only withdrawn the money from the ATM and the machine kept my card. well, i will discover soon, my money withdrawal + the possible hostile transactions will be processed in germany on monday or tuesday i think … and yes, i could already block my card. well, it was a loooong and costly phone call from the lake erie to my german bank office cos i wanted 2 block only my card and not the whole bank account, my wife would kill me otherwise ;) … i think this would be in usa/canada much easier, isnt it? most strange situation? if you want to refill your gas and pay cash, you have to give the cashier some card, passport, key or some other stuff 1st, otherwise he fears u wouldn’t pay at all ... craaazy! it is abt 30 dollars or the like :-(. sometimes i just paid some concrete amt of dollars in front and hoped i havent purchased much too much or much too few gas this time … 
• in general, many thinks seems to work very easy and very fine here, in germany we use to over complicate everything … don’t ask me how difficult it was to figure out in internet + subway station, how much shoudda i pay on top of my regular monthly public transport ticket (~ zone) to get to the munich airport … and ive prolly paid the wrong charge anyway. in toronto it was easy, easy, easy! 3 dollars and you can go by bus + subway as long as you want to without leaving the bus / subway system. no zones + time limits + other complicated crap
• free ice-skating 4 the public in toronto 
• soooo many chinese folks + shops in toronto 
• many (easy) rules of behaviour and controls out there as if the people know what to do otherwise, most rules are concerning security 
• the two strangest things? 
• => a) the house prices in pittsburgh are so damned cheap that i don’t know if i still should concentrate my attention 2 the stock market or simply buy as many houses in some nice neighborhoods in pittsburgh as possible (e.g. $180,000 INCLUDING the ground which would cost in a worse neighborhood in munich nearly a million €uros and u still hadnt any roof above your head 
• => b) yes, i felt the most time like in lodz / poland and i liked it!!! crazy, isnt it? the main reason were the many old red brick houses / factory buildings and huuuge supermarkets beside the ‘exit’ roads in toronto + pittsburgh. hmmmm, maybe look all early industrial cities the same, do they? my familiar places like munich or slovakia look definitely different … last but not least: very, very, friendly + helpful people everywhere😍

good bye, north america, good bye😄