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New York City (cont.) Filed under:
New York and DC on
30
Jul
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The next week I traveled the streets of New York mostly by myself. On Monday I took a train and a bus down to Fulton street to see the Bodies exhibit. It was definitely interesting, but ultimately was a little short. It’s a good thing that I didn’t eat before though. While
down there I took a look at the South Street Seaport. It was a quaint little getaway with shops and restaurants and a nice cobblestone road. The harbor had rickety old ships docked, which were mostly for looking at. Later that night I met up with my brother for a leisurely stroll across the Brooklyn bridge. With my ice cream in hand I made it across, only to realize I had to walk all the way back.
The next few days I checked out almost every museum in New York City. Fridays at the Museum of Modern Art (the MoMA) are free from 5 to 8. However, modern art is one of the most bizarre forms of art ever created. I find it a little sad that we pay some artist 10 grand to throw some broken blinds on the ground and call it “art.” Although, the one exhibit of Andy Warhol was interesting. Everything else was just a little strange, to say the least. 
The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Natural History Museum were way more interesting to me than the MoMA. If you don’t like photographs of naked Russian villagers or random neon lights, then these museum are right for you! The MET has everything from ancient Egyptian artifacts to Incan gold masks. It took me all day to walk through the whole thing, and I was still rushing. The Natural History Museum is just as large, but with a vast array of Dinosaur bones, which was really the biggest reason I wanted to see it. The best thing about the museums is they are free (with suggested donations)! Also during those days I visited Battery park, watched a movie on a pier, and saw Catch Me If You Can on Broadway. The tickets are much cheaper if you buy them the day of the show.
During Fourth of July weekend 
I visited our Nations capitol, Washington D.C., but that is a story for another time. On Independence day we arrived back to the Big Apple and took a ferry to the Statue of Liberty. Sadly we could not order tickets to go to the top because they were booked until September. That night I watched the Macy’s fireworks from the top of my brother’s office building. The Ninth floor turned out to be the perfect height to view the spectacle. The lights reflected off the towering buildings and glistened along the Hudson. It was truly a memorable experience.
My last week in New York were nothing short of amazing. I continued gallivanting around the city seeing things like FAO Schwartz (it had the giant piano in the movie Big), The Guggenheim, The Empire State Building, Rockefeller center, Washington Square Park, and The U.N. Headquarters. New York from the top of the Empire State building is amazing as you get to see the sprawling metropolis with a 360 degree view. The top of the Rockefeller Center actually has the best view, especially at night with The Empire State and Bank of America buildings lit up. 
New York is a truly spectacular city with it’s ethnic diversity and abundance of things to do. There is always something happening around every corner, but it does cater more to the older crowd. Regardless, I still had a blast here and there is still much more to see. Perhaps another time…
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New York City Filed under:
New York and DC on
10
Jul
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My fun times in the Big Apple are drawing to a close, but they do not end here. I suppose
I should start form the beginning of my trip, right from the moment I arrived at JFK Airport. It was around one in the morning and of course with my luck, they could not open the luggage door on the airplane so I waited an extra hour for all my stuff to come. At this point it was 2 A.M. and I was about to have my first experience in the New York City subway. It is not the cleanest place to be, and within 30 seconds of waiting for the train I saw my first rat! The subways are also hot enough to be a sauna and in combination with ridiculously high humidity and urine from homeless people, the scent is far from flattering. Despite all my complaining, the subways are convenient and efficient ways of traversing the city. Finally I arrived at West 23rd street, just two blocks north of my brother’s apartment. To my surprise, there was a vendor still selling fruit at 3 in the morning. This truly is a city that never sleeps.
The next day I visited Madison Square park with a stunning view of the Flatiron building and ate at Shake Shack. Its amazing how nice some of the parks look and they are all nice escapes form the concrete jungle of New York. Central Park is even more incredible. It could easily take an entire day of walking to get from one 
end to the other and there are so many people riding bikes, rollerblading, and just simply jogging. Also near central park is Times Square, the hub for pretty much every tourist in the city. Every store you go in the workers ask, “where are you from?” Do not expect to go anywhere in Times Square quickly, as you will have to maneuver you way through people who either cant walk quickly, or stand in the middle of the sidewalk gawking at the buildings. Next on my list of things to do was shopping on fifth avenue. Actually, it started on fifth avenue and then we slowly made our way to many other stores. We went into 3 different H&M’s on the same day. After a long day of spending hard-earned money, I went back to my brother’s apartment only to realize, we left a shopping bag containing a suit jacket in one of the stores. Easy come, easy go.
The following day came and we decided to check out the High Line Elevated Park. It is actually abandoned railroad tracks that have been redone into an elongated garden that people can walk along. 
The view of the city was amazing and it was breathtaking to see these beautiful plants among the concrete. Later we checked out Chelsea Market which has an eclectic array of foods and a cool atmosphere. Afterwards we walked down by the Hudson and went to play some mini golf on a pier. It was a fun day, but I lost mini golf by one point.
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