New York - Day 5

The 5th day was dedicated to the Madison Square Garden and NBA basketball. So in the morning we went to the MSG, which is just a few blocks from the apartment. Weather was perfect, again. We took 8th Avenue down.
Then there it was, the Madison Square Garden...famous for various sports and music events. Well, the building is not so exciting from the outside :-)

The area was busy as all other areas in NYC, of course there were many shops and stores like Macy's and Borders...

Unfortunately we learned that there is no guided tour for the time being, due to reconstruction works. So we had to wait until the evening for getting inside.


The evening started with dinner at Shake Shack. Fresh made burgers and dogs attracted many guests so we had to wait patiently in line. They even have a merchandise store inside.
However, the meal was very good and the quality certainly way above the average of similar fast food chains.

Then ahead to the MSG and the game between the NY Nicks and the Golden State Warriors from San Francisco.
Well, the inside was as expected...nothing special to report. We had cheap seats but nevertheless a good view and the beer was nicely chilled.
The game itself wasn't able to start the crowd going crazy. I guess Basketball is not the sort of sports with too much emotions, anyway.
A funny moment late in the game: in one of the breaks someone proposed marriage to his girlfriend using the huge video screen cube in the middle of the hall. That caused some cheering...don't know if she said yes, though.

New York - Day 4

Tuesday morning surprised us with sun and a cloudless blue sky. So we went out early, a perfect day to climb the top of New York. First task was to get an explorer pass which is a ticket for several attractions at a discounted price. We decided to take the one valid for seven attractions based on a list we made during breakfast. We still are free to change...so let's see where it will take us eventually. However, the first use of this card was already determined: Top of the Rock, the observation deck on top of Rockefeller Center. The building itself is pretty nice with it's Art Deco architecture. Even the elevator ride up to the 67th floor was an event: the ceiling of it went transparent during the ride and created the impression of looking through the windshield of a racing car. However, this was nothing compared to the breathtaking view from the top, overlooking one of the most impressing city skylines of this earth. After circling the observation deck several times, taking hundreds of pictures and enjoying the sun for a while we went back down. Next part of today's plan was to dciscover the city from street level, as well, by just following 5th Avenue and later the Broadway all the way down to the south of Manhattan. Here are some impressions how it looked. After passing the Triangle building we the look of the city changed. No more skyscrapers after we left midtown..although the houses still have many floors there. It's more a residential neighborhood compared to the tourist zone around Times Square. On the way we got a glimpse of Chinatown but didn't turn this way. Then we unexpectedly went into a huge shopping district around Broadway and Houston Street, entering SoHo. But today we tried to look into the shops rather briefly to get as much of the sun as possible. Getting down further the building got higher again, the financial district made it much harder to see the sun. We passed the 9/11 site which is a huge construction yard nowadays, nothing to see of the disaster anymore, although it still is a scary place somehow.Then we went on to the Hudson, passing the World Financial Center, and enjoyed the skyline of New Jersey where many new office buildings were built as a replacement for the WTC. As a highlight of today's post here's a short video clip of 5th Avenue at early afternoon. Unfortunately Blogger reduces the quality too much, I have to find a better way to publish videos next time.

New York - Day 3

The day started with rain so we decided to go for some indoor activities. There are two huge building complexes in the neighborhood: Time Warner Center and Rockefeller Center. Fortunately the rain was gone when we left the apartment. So I took some pictures along the way following Broadway up north.




Time Warner Center is located on Columbus Circle, a large crossing at the southwest corner of Central Park. Several designer boutiques and a very huge and fine food supermarket in the basement are highlights, although we spent most of the time in a shop for sportswear.
Then there was a huge Samsung area, sort of toys'r'us for men including latest computer games and home cinema technology and some 3D-showcases like the one in the picture, naturally it took us a while to test everything :-)
Then we followed Central Park South onto 5th Avenue, the probably most famous shopping street on earth.

And it was as expected, designer next to designer. But there were also shops as the NBA Store or Apple, so we looked into several of them and all of us were carrying bags some time later :-)


Then into Rockefeller Center, which isn't actually a center but rather an area with a couple of skyscrapers and the famous skate rink in the middle of it.
The inside was not so exciting, besides this typical architecture of marble and brass. The various shops didn't make it to attract us so we just had a coffee in the NBC studio store...welcome back American paper cup coffee, it tasted as it looked :-(
The way home led us back to Times Square and the Theater District which is such a exciting sight at night.

New York - Day 2

Even if the jetlag made me be awake at 4:30 in the morning it was a wonderful day. Sunny, though quite chilly since the sun reached the pavement rather seldom because of the tall buildings. I certainly need to buy some new outerwear. ;-)
Today we took a stroll through the neighborhood, which is Times Square. Well, it was more a shop-hopping, including a tall coffee at Starbucks.This area is more or less a giant advertisement garden. Most of them are nice to look at, though. People are looking up all the time, like in a art gallery.Here's the first try to use the panoramic feature of my camera.The wind blew through the streets between the skyscrapers, the sun was barely able to provide warmth. Think about buying a cap and gloves for the upcoming visit at the football stadium...


And it was the day of the New York Marathon. We tried to get a glimpse but the course didn't reach Midtown Manhattan. The closest part of it was Central Park South so we went there.
We spent there to cheer for a friend but surrendered to the chilly wind after an hour.
Times Square at night is even more impressing than in daylight. I guess they have a dedicated nuclear power plant just for the lights and these large ad screens in the area..
And a picture of Broadway, where there is no difference in the crowd and traffic between night and day...at least in the theater district where we stay.

New York - Day 1

Finally!! New pictures!!
Taking the trip to New York City as a new starting point here I'll do my best to resurrect this blog site. Yes, New York: I'm there!
After just 9 hours flight we arrived at THE city. The flight was pretty easy. Only remarkable things were the probably oldest cabin crew I've ever seeen (not sure if anyone of them was younger than sixty), the experience of watching 4 full size movies in a row and the second meal: never had pizza and icecream as inflight meal before.
However, everything went smoothly and even the taxi ride to Manhattan was fun, thanks to the entertaining driver and some really nice vistas of Manhattan on the way. We went right into the middle of it, to Times Square. It was pretty exciting in daylight...
..and even more breathtaking at night.
The apartment is luxurious as expected and the owner's wife greeted us with a round of cold beers, don't know if everything could have been better..probably not! :-) And this is the view from the small balcony...22th floor.