km 15622

Well, well – I think this one will be the second last entry in my blog about my travels through North America.

Being in Washington on the 2nd day I went to the National Air and Space museum which was really interesting and just hang out in the evening watching the basketball games and listening to the funny comments of the hostel manager, e.g. two Chinese guys arriving and each one asking him for a city map, when he replies: isn’t 1 enough? I thought China also has the 1-child-policy, so why isn’t 1 map enough? – maybe that was just funny in the very moment The last day in Washington I again went downtown to the Smithsonian Museums and visited the National Museum about Native Americans.

On Thursday I left at 6.45 in the morning (to escape rushhour) and headed for New York City where I arrived around 12.30 p.m. I checked in at the HI hostel and just as I started asking myself how I would get into contact with Jamie (my host from St. Louis who wanted to buy my car), she stands right in front of me and asks me how I’m doing. I then with a heavy heart sold her my good old Honda for 280 $ … 19 years old, 398972 kms … it had done an awesome job – thx Sofie

In the evening I wanted to meet up in Soho with Dan, who I had met in Philly and who works in New York, but first I celebrated my arrival in NY by going to a good Italian restaurant where I had dinner for 60$. Then I went to the place Dan had told me to meet at, but as I he had written another mail with another location I was waiting at the wrong one and we didn’t meet – well, my fault.

On Friday I took the “train” (subway) down to Lower Manhatten and took a ferry to Liberty Island and Ellis Island. It’s really impressive to see the Statue of Liberty in reality actually … Ellis island is very interesting too, with all the history of immigration to the US. Afterwards I went to explore lower Manhatten with Wall Street and the World Trade center site where heavy construction is going on. I then went on to Midtown Manhatten to have a look at Grand Central Station, Madison Square Garden & Times Square. In the evening I took a ride up to the top of the Empire State Building to take some nice pictures of the big apple.

On Saturday I left the hostel around noon, took a walk through Central Park and walked along 5th Avenue along the museum mile to have a look at the Guggenheim museum and the Metropolitan Art Museum. Walking along 5th I discovered the “Neue Galerie” New York, which exhibits German & Austrian art, amongst others also Adele Bloch Bauer I by Gustav Klimt. I then walked on to the Apple Store, which is probably the coolest you can find anywhere and to Rockefeller Plaza. In the evening I also bought a ticket for Wednesday’s NBA game New York Knicks vs. New Jersey Nets and I’m really looking forward to that one.

Yesterday, Sunday, I took the train to Queens to Flushing Meadows Park, where I watched lots of Hispanics playing soccer and talked to a nice Mexican guy who thought that I was a talent scout DDD Flushing Meadows Park is the site of 2 past World Fairs and a really nice place where lots of cultures meet. I also went to the Queens Museum of Art there, where a huge model of New York City can be seen. After some more walking around I took the train to North Brooklyn where some couchsurfers had invited me for dinner. Markus, from Vienna, was the chef for the evening and prepared some really good Tiroler Knödelsuppe and I helped his 2 hosts Marc & Guillaume setting up some of their IKEA furniture as they had just moved in. After some beers and a nice evening I took the train back to the hostel where I ended up watching Spiderman 3 on a big screen and finally went to bed at 4 a.m.

And today? … well, I got up at 9.15 had some breakfast and now I think I take a train up North to the Bronx to have a look at their neighbourhoods.

It’s my 5th last day now and I really look forward to coming home in a few days. God has blessed me so far on my journey and he may bless you all!

greez,
Gerhard