Lucresiare

I am fine and you ?
Glad you have a long weekend

PhoenixRising

I'm good. Enjoying the warm weather.

Yeah, I decided that I really needed a vacation, so I took a four day weekend. Memorial Day is Monday, which here in the USA is the "unofficial" start of the summer season(summer actually begins with the solstice in June). Memorial Day weekend is the first big vacation holiday of the spring/summer months where people do the usual summer activities like backyard barbecues and trips to the beach. The others are Father's Day, Independence Day, and finally Labor Day.

Lucresiare

I hope you will have opportunity to do that too. But Philly isn't near a beach is it ? (I am dumb regarding the geography of United States )

PhoenixRising

Well, Philadelphia is right next to the Delaware river, and Penn's Landing is a big tourist spot. We have lots of marinas with boats, and people like to go boating on the Delaware during the summer. People do swim in the Delaware coves as well, but I don't usually like swimming in river water. However, most people who live in Philadelphia usually go to the New Jersey beaches on vacations. It's not that long a drive across the state of New Jersey, just a couple of hours.

Lucresiare

You should go to these beach this week-end then if you can Why don't you like swimming in the river ? Is it dirty ?

PhoenixRising

Well, the Delaware can get dirty depending on what part of the river you're at. The further up river the better it usually is. A lot of marinas are up river. And I don't think I can afford a trip to the beach this weekend. I don't have a car anyway, and public transportation for that long a trip is too complicated.

Lucresiare

Do you have plans for this weekend then ?
It looks like you can't do anything without a car in the US ! Not like in France and UK where we have many trains and coach inter cities.

PhoenixRising

No, I'm just gonna relax this weekend. I have more vacation time coming up, though.

Yeah, well the USA is a lot bigger and it's more difficult to get around. To get from Philadelphia to the beach you have to drive across the entire state of New Jersey. They do have trains and buses you can take, but it takes a long time and it's expensive. It's easier when you have a car.

Lucresiare

Yes I know. It's what I am saying.
Some people told me there are cities where you can't even jog or walk on the side because there are no boards for pedestrians !

PhoenixRising

Actually, most cities in the USA have plenty of sidewalks and parks to jog and walk in. There might be some small towns and cities that are more difficult to get around in.

Lucresiare

Yes the people who told me that live in small cities. They didn't say there are no parks, but there are no sides, which make difficult to walk in the street.

In US shows, we always see pupils and students who arrive to school by cars instead of walking/cycling ! How come ? Is it like that only in movies or also in reality ?

PhoenixRising

Well, that depends on how far away the school is. When I was in elementary school(what you call primary school) I walked to school every day because it was only a few blocks away. But for middle school and high school I had to take the school bus because it was too far away to walk. And there are some neighborhoods that don't have sidewalks, but those are the older ones. When a lot of those old towns and neighborhoods were built there weren't a lot of pedestrians at the time.

Lucresiare

Yes it is why I said that it is easier to walk/cycle in Europe (at least in the UK and France). In many places, there are lanes just for bicycles, where cars can't go, which is very pleasant !There are also many spots where you can rent a bicycle for the day or a couple of hours. It is quite popular.
Also, you don't see a lot of school buses over here, because if kids live far from the school, they take buses (I mean normal buses not school buses). The only place where I saw a school bus was in a small rural village in the middle of nowhere.

PhoenixRising

Oh, yeah. We don't have separate lanes for bicycles. I wish we did. Bikers usually ride on the street, or on the sidewalk, which is safer. I think some cities are better for cycling than others. And you don't have school buses? Well, we have so many public schools, and people don't always live close to them, that we've got a lot of public school buses.

Lucresiare

Separate lanes for bicycles are great ! Maybe you should start a campaign for it.

As I said we don't have many school buses, except in very rural areas where there is no public transport. Otherwise, even a small city has enough public transports to prevent the need of a school bus.
Also, many of our cities tend to be smaller than yours, which make walking easier. I remember when I lived in Toulouse in South France, I generally walked everywhere within 30mn.