New York City Trip

My next destination was North America - first stop NYC! I did not want to pass up the opportunity of seeing this cosmpolitan city, well-known for its incredible skyscrapers and its glamour - not to mention Times Square, also known as New York busiest spot. So I planned on staying 3 full days in New York City. I liked the idea of a trip-diary. Nevertheless, I hardly took any notes since i was mostly too busy and too exhausted by the time i got back to the hostel in the evening. So i´ll just draw up the main things - highlights and hilarious moments :) scroll down a bit and check it out!

on top of Rockefeller Center - Empire
State rises aloft in the back

30th June: I arrived well at international airport in Toronto and wanted to continue my journey to New York. But the flight got put off due to heavy thunderstorm. So, after an delay of 3 hours, I finally reached NYC, at 3 am in the morning i stepped into the hostel. I stayed in a 4 Bed Dorm, sharing the room with two other dudes at that time. Anyways around 11 am I set off to explore Manhattan. The hostel was located centrally in Manhattan and virtually an ideal starting-point. My guided sightseeing tour booked in advance started just at 5pm. Till then I wandered around midtown Manhattan checking out places such as Empire State Building (did not go up though, line-up is too crazy), Times Square and Rockefeller Center. I ended up having lunch with plenty of businessmen around, who were enjoying their lunchbreak. The tour I booked is called NY See it All. Main stops are Times Square, World Trade Center Site, New York Exchange, Wall Street, World Financial Center, South Street Seaport, Central Park - Strawberry Fields Memorial and even more. One highlight was without a doubt the ferry ride to Brooklyn from Manhattan. It is absolutely free of charge and you get a marvellous view over Downtown. Weather turned kind of bad but the tour was enjoyable though. I can highly recommend to take such a tour on your first visit to New York. You get a good overview of the city and makes it way easier to decide what else you´d like to do on the days ahead.

busted by NYC cop ha ha

Times Square covered by yellow cabs and shiny
screens

at South Seaport - Brooklyn on the other side
Husdon River

on the ferry to Brooklyn

Statue of Liberty

New York Stock Exchange/Wall Street

Ground Zero

1th July: What a sunny day! I got waken up by sunbeams through the windows and of course the massive traffic - I can tell you NYC is never completely silent, whether people yelling on the streets or cars driving like crazy, something is always going on. I left the hostel around 10:30 am after an american breakfast on the hostel´s roof, consisting of bagels, muffin and some fruit juice - bearlike breakfast, just kidding :-). I caught the Subway to head towards Downtown and the harbourfront. I most enjoyed the harbourfront the day before, thats why I decided to come again. While I took a breather at south seaport watching some acrobats perfoming extraordinary moves, i discovered a woman who draws hilarious caricatures of people. So I had one drawn of me as well. Walking underneath Brooklyn Bridge after this, i was kind of curious about China Town - so next stop Chinatown. However it was not that overwhelming as i thought in the first place, just lots of cheap stores and did also come across some awesome restaurants. Then I got on the subway towards Ground Central Station, the major railwaystatdion located centrally in Manhattan. Last but not least I went up to the Observation Deck of the Rockefeller Center, plus ended the day with a walk through Central Park. Briefly, an amazing day!

Harbourfront

caricature

Grand Central Stadion

Rockefeller Center

on top of Rockefeller

Central Park from Rockefeller´s observation
deck

2th July: wow, time goes by way too fast. Last day in NYC, so what am i going to do? I decided to take it slowly since i did tons of sightseeing the past 2 days. I did some shopping and explored the Wallstreet district - there is always actions - lots of street stalls of people who are desperately trying to sell their stuff. I walked along Broadway as well. you find a wide range of stores there - definetly anything for anyone for sale :) Then I had a good long rest on the open space of central park. There are so many things to do, may it be sport acitivies or anything else. New Yorker see it as kind of a retreat, taking refuge from the massive metropolitan noises. At 7pm i took part in the guided sightseeing tour called "NY see the Light". Highlight was the final stop at an outlook-plattform in Brooklyn from where we got to enjoy the sight of all the skyscrapers/downtown.

big lake in Central Park

Central Park open space

Traffic in Manhattan

one of my fave pics with Manhattan´s skyline

Conclusion: The city is definetly worth a visit. It is very crowded, noisy and pretty dirty also. Personally I could not image myself living there right now, maye sometime later :)