New Years City

Back once more in New York City and this time over New Years. Arriving the evening of 26th the first night was pretty much just eat and then chill out and sleep. Got a great burger and shake at the resturant Harlem Shake.

After some great sleep I made my way to High Line, a long park created on an old industrial trainline. A truly beautiful place to walk through and provides a nice view of the streets below. It's also nice getting a break from red lights and cars. I belive it to be even better in spring and summer time.

The High line from below

On the High Line 

On the High Line

On the High Line

Looking down at a street

A cool sculpture

Another view of a street

Looking out towards New Jersey

A cool bridge between two buildings

A large building over the High Line

Traces of the old tracks

At the end of the High Line I went to have some lunch at the resturant Bubby's a nice American style resturant. Had a nice burger before continuing my adventrues.

Brooklyn Bridge

Took a quick trip by the Brooklyn Bridge, didn't walk on it but walked right past it which was really cool. It was hughmungus

Special lamp in China Town

China Town

From the Brooklyn Bridge I made my way to China Town. A very unique place with lots of asian looking things. For example the lamp posts, but also all signs beeing in both english and what I think is Chinese.

Statue of Liberty

NYC from the Staten Island Ferry

Trying to get to the Statue of Liberty seemed like a nightmare with all the tourists around so I went for the 2nd best option to see her. The Staten Island ferry. Going from NYC and then running around to board it again once you get to Staten Island you get a decent but still kinda crowded view of the statue. Definently quicker and easier to get on the boat and if you just have a phone up and walk towards the window most people will let you by to snap that picture of the statue.

Soul Food

Missing the south a little bit I made sure to get some Soul Food. Maybe not very healthy but oooooo DELICOUS! That mac'n'cheese is to kill for. Getting a box and paying by the pound at Jacob Soul food and salad bar. A great place where you can pick what you want and if you fill the box up you get you get a little more than full. Definently something to get if you happen to get up around Harlem.

Times Square at New Years

And now why is this post called New Years City... Well it was cold, it was freezing, it was kinda terrible but I was able to see the New Years ball drop at Times Square. I learnt an important thing about it. I will never do it again. It was a cool experience standing in the cold with like 1 million other people to see a small ball drop. You learnt a lot about how much cold you can suffer through, and how long you can hold from going to the bathroom. Getting in at around 16.00 (4 pm) it was a long and slow wait. Unfortanetly you can't leave to go to the bathroom and you get very cold from just standing still so moving your feet at all times is very important. But the people around you are very nice and you start playing games to make the time go.

Proud to have defeated the cold weather

If I'm ever gonna see the ball drop again I will watch it on TV or the internet. However no regrets about freezing my toes off. (They were not hurt just really, really cold)



After a night in the cold I made sure to sleep in and then went to the Museum of Natrual history. All I can say is lots and lots and lots of things... and people. Luckily I found a side entrance to the space part which made it a lot easier to get in as the line was shorter. Hard to describe everything they got so I just gotta say go there if you enjoy to see stuff about animals, people, space and like everything in between.
Aaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnndddd pictures!

Native American masks

More Native American stuff

Even more Native American stuff 

Dinosaur at main entrance

Elphants

Teddy Roosevelt at the main entrance

Main Entrance

Freeze dried Ice cream sandwich 

Freeze dried ice cream sandwich 

Freeze dried ice cream sandwich 

Freeze dried ice cream sandwich

I also got myself a freeze dried ice cream sandwich from the museum store. As you can see from the picture it's one that they have in space. It tasted like "meringue" (maräng på svenska) and was pretty nice to eat. Still had a little bit of an ice cream taste to it, allthough it wasn't cold.

New York

Friday

Early Friday morning (17th March) I got on the train to New York City. Arriving there at lunch I got something to eat before making my way out to Tarrytown where I dropped off my stuff. I then went back into the city and just relaxed for the rest of the day. Didn't feel like doing anything big this evening as I had gotten a cold and my head got pretty messed up. Spent the evening chilling out with the person that helped me get a place to stay for the night before going to bed quite early.

Saturday

Started the day with breakfast in Tarrytown and then got on the train into NYC. A ride for about slightly less than 1 hour. From Grand Central Terminal I made my way to Central Park by foot.

A tall building on my way to Central Park

A street on my way to Central Park

Trump Tower

On my way to Central Park I really got my first experince (in daylight) of the tall and square buildings of NYC. Both for good and bad. Starting with the bad part, according to me it makes the city grey and kind of dull. Making NYC look like it has little personality compared to Boston or an European city of your choice. However it is very easy to navigate, you just need to know the right street and avenue and you will easily get to your destination. It also gives some amazing views. On my way to Central Park I happend to pass Trump Tower. No matter what you think about him I think the place looks pretty dull beeing just gold. It is also guarded by armed police officers as many other places in the city.

A statue right before walking into Central Park

A small vantage point in Central Park

Some kind of theater in the park

One of NYCs very tall buildings

Bethesda Fountain

Moving around Central Park was very pleasant. The park looked nice even though it was very snowy. I can only imagine how amazing it looks in the summer.

A super yummy burger

From Central Park I started making my way down through the city. It got closer to lunch so I made my way to the Brooklyn Diner where I had an amazing burger.

On my way through the city I saw some classic and amazing sites. First I made my way to Times Square.

An amazing place with huge screens making it seem like the sun was out even though it was a cloudy day. It's even more impressing during the evening or night where it lights up the place just as it was day. I did pass by Times Square during the Friday night but unfortanetly didn't snap any pictures then.

Flatiron Building

Empire State Building

An amazing looking roof

Starting to get cloudy

Washington Square Arch

A cool looking building

From Times Square I made my way towards Ground Zero and the 9/11 Memorial Museum. On my way I caught some famous and cool looking buildings seen in the pictures above. On my way there it got more cloudy and after a while it started snowing. At Ground Zero I met up with my Cezch Au Pair friend living near New York, whom I met at the training school. We went to the 9/11 memorial museum togheter.

The smoke from the 9/11 attacks from across the river

The 9/11 Memorial was captivating and very interesting. It had a lot of personal stories and captivating facts about before, during and after the event. On a scale from 1 to Concentration Camp I would put it one step below Concentration Camp. Just like a Camp it is very captivating and an awful act. The Camps do however feel more real and just feel like a bigger thing. Probably cause they are part of a bigger event that happend over a longer time. I still think it's a worthwhile experience. After that I had dinner and then my cold and headache beat me and I had to go back to rest.

Sunday

Got up and went to the city to meet up with my German Au pair friend wich I also met at the training school and also lives near New York. We went to the Barcade. A bar filled with old arcade machines. After that we went for some pizza.

NOM NOM NOM Pizza

From there we got some supplies for the train and then went to Penn Station where I got on my train back to Boston, a ride for about 3 and a half hour. Now for some pictures somewhere between New York and Boston:

Somewhere between NYC and
Boston

Somewhere between NYC and
Boston

Somewhere between NYC and
Boston

Somewhere between NYC and
Boston

Somewhere between NYC and
Boston

After the train I finally had got home to Boston and got some dinner and then went to bed.

After the weekend I think it was an amazing trip wich I really enjoyed and definently could return to, altough I think I prefer walking around Boston. Also sorry for some weird formating of the pictures the editor drives me crazy sometimes. Will look into writing some html-code and hopefully it will look better soon.

Ludwig