Interesting, Crazy, Weird, Fun Facts About New York City for Travellers

Hey there, everyone! Some of you might have noticed that I kind of found a new shtick  nowadays — fun, interesting, weird, crazy facts about popular tourist destinations around the world. Well, the name speaks for itself, it is fun really, and interesting, and surely sometimes you come across with even crazy or weird facts. I thought it would be nice to read or skim over something like this before you visit a place.

Anyways, today we are in New York, and I will try to make a fun compilation of fun facts about New York. Here is one about NYC — its population is bigger than 39 out of 50 states of the USA. And its population is around one third of the entire New York State’s population. No wonder, because there is a birth in New York City every 4.4 minutes. And there is a death every 9.1 minutes.

Oh, also, did you know that New York City was originally called New Amsterdam? Yeap, it was. You might wanna look it up, it has an interesting story, too, that I can’t tell here for obvious reasons.

The name Manhattan — that doesn’t sound very European, doesn’t it? Well, it is because the name comes from a Native American tribe that used to live on the island, and its name was Mannahatta. And it supposedly means “island of many hills”. Oh, here is another one: New York City was actually the nation’s capital from 1789 all the way up to 1790. Well, not to be a dick, but it was a short lived one, yea. And it was actually the first capital of the USA.

Statue of Liberty was a gift from France, and was opened in 1886. Well, maybe a lot of you guys knew about this, but this one here is probably new to more than most of you: it was meant to be a statue of Ancient Egyptian woman (something like a Cleopatra figure or along those lines), and it was ordered by Egypt. But then, since they couldn’t afford it because of a various political reasons causing economical problems, the project pretty much left to rot when it was half way through. They then finished it with a new upper part (the head and all that) and gave it to the USA as a present. Yeah, not exactly out of their own good hearts per se. But whatever; pick a side if you have to, and make your own mind. Or don’t, who cares.

Here is a good one: although nobody seems to care about it, honking your car except for emergencies is illegal in New York City. And did you know how much they bought the whole city for from the native people in 1626? One thousand dollars, yes, today’s equivalent of $1000 only. Here is crazy one: more people suicide in New York city than get killed/murdered.

It certainly is a cosmopolitan city — more than half of the population speaks some language other than English at home in New York City. But if you are a fan of Wal-Mart, there’s a bad news for you; NYC doesn’t have any. Though, if like good music, you might as well visit a New York City subway station. No kidding! Their musicians go through a though process of selection. And nope, those guys are not your average musicians. Some have even played in places like Carnegie Hall and the like.

I love coffee, too. But in New York City, they drink 7 times more coffee than the rest of the nation. Annnnd, I think these fun facts are enough for today. I hope you all enjoyed it. And if you have anything else in mind, please leave your comment below.