DAY 67 - 75: New York

New York, New York! The Big Apple!

So, what was I expecting?
A huge city, over-crowded and busy, loud, dirty, smelly, lots of dodgy people, grumpy people, a dangerous Metro system....

What did I find? A huge city, yes.
Some areas are very busy, yes. Like Times Square. And of course those areas are loud. But there are also large areas that are not busy or loud at all, like all the many great parks.
Smelly... no, not really.
Dodgy people.... here and there of course, like everywhere, but not so that it is a problem. Overall people are actually very friendly and very helpful.
A great Metro system that takes you everywhere, comes every few minutes, is reliable and quick.

Manhattan Skyline

Couldn't wait. Within an hour of arriving at my accommodation I was walking in Central Park.

Even took a quick power nap!

The Nu Yokas are nice... but we tourists do irk them somewhat it seems! :)

The free Staten Island Ferry - great photo opportunity!

Janina, the Lithuanian Australian

On Sunday I went on a walking tour from the Upper West Side (103rd street) where the HI Hostel is located to Harlem (125 street).

Evan, the tour guide. He also went with us on the Greenwich walk. The building the hostel is in, has an interesting history.

Harlem is no longer the Harlem from 20/30 years ago... it has been gentrified. The boarded up shells of buildings have been gutted and turned into apartments. Of course prices have gone up, the poor have moved out and the Whole Foods shops are moving in.

The Cathedral near the Hostel

You sure do see some random stuff!

Family homes in the new Harlem

Yet, when you really look, you still se proof of drug-use. A little meth-baggy.

A used needle

The Baptist Church where we went to listen to the choir

First time at Times Square

As I said, some weird stuff

Times Square is crazy busy.... always!

Yeah... got my new Ozzy friend to take a photo of me and now I have a huge time stamp on all my photos of the next two days. Did not realise she had pushed some random buttons...

The John Lennon Memorial in Central Park

And then he dropped down on one knee... the second proposal I witnessed on this trip. :)

With Janina on the mosaic. "And did you manage to get up again?" I hear you ask...

The answer is: "Yes I did!" :)

I went to the 9/11 Memorial. Such a sad place. sadly it was also a loud place. Lots of tourists, large groups of children shouting and fooling around and their minders yelling at them... Not what I was expecting. Did find a quiet corner where I could sit for a while.

This large knot of what looks like apples to me is a memorial for those who survived 9/11. Represents the 5 boroughs of New York.

The Westfield Mall, designed to look like a dove. It is huge and has a transportation hub underneath.

Two large holes that form waterfalls are on the exact spots where the two buildings stood. Symbolic but definitely not pretty. Then again, neither was the event.

And then I went to Staten Island again. It is just such a nice view. This time a thunderstorm was on it's way.

And the storm hit on our way back!

When in New York, you have to go see at least one show! I showed up at 9am to join a queue of hopefuls for half-price tickets. The ticket booth opened at 10am... I had my ticket to Kinky Boots at 10:20am - USD $92. Because I wanted only 1 ticket, I was lucky: 4th row from the front, in the middle.

Visited the Rockefeller Centre while waiting for the show to start at 2pm

The Lego Store at the Rockefeller Centre

Mural in the foyer of the Rockefeller Centre

Saint Patrick's Cathedral on 5th Avenue. Those of you who read the Michael Bennet Series (James Patterson) will remember it from the first book, where the rich and famous are held hostage.

And then I went for cheesecake at Junior's

yum yum yum yum yum (and oh yeah, my watch strap broke!)

Inside the Al Hirschfeld Theatre - no photos during the show...

Went on a walking tour to Greenwich, with Evan again. So this grey-haired lady on the left is Italian and really battles with the lingo. For 2 full days I thought she had a friend called Cara, with whom she was seeing Queens and the Bronx etc. Then I realised she had rented a car (cara… imagine Italian accent) to see all these places! hehehe...

Yup, Greenwich sure is quaint and interesting.

And alternative... I believe it is the first place where they fought back when the police showed up at a gay bar.

The architecture in NY is just astounding.

The building used in Friends, where Monica, Rachel, Joey and Chandler lived. The little café at the bottom is not Central Perk and is not a coffee shop. It is called the Little Owl and serves Mediterranean food,

A bicycle made from bamboo

The building that was used for Sex in the City

I abandoned the walking tour halfway through as my feet were just too sore by then. But only after grabbing lunch with the group... a slice of meatball pizza. Then I went to Washington Square Park for a rest. Lots of uni students and this guy, feeding the sparrows.

The Empire State Building in the background

In a shop window on the way to going up the Empire State Building....Stylish!

The views are very, very nice. That is after a 40 minute wait in line to buy the ticket and then take the elevator up to the 80th floor. There, after taking photos through windows, I had to queue again to go up to the open observation deck on the 86th floor. Says the elevator attendant that we could walk up if we don't want to wait the 15 minutes for the elevator. Most people decided to walk... hehehe... 2 minutes later I was at the front of the queue and on my way up!