So today was my fourth day here in New York and I enjoy every second of my stay! On Wednesday, December 19th, I flew from SEA-TAC to New York JFK with Alaska Airlines at around 10pm. This way, I would not waste any time, because I will sleep during the night flight and would be ready to start exploring the city as soon as I have checked in in the hostel…at least this is what I was thinking. But the truth is: It was freezing cold in the airplane, I did not really sleep good, we landed at 6am, I got myself a bagel for breakfast and spoiled myself taking a taxi from JFK to the New York Moore Hostel in Brooklyn, where I am staying for a week. I have to admit, that journey was more exhausting than I thought in the first place. When I arrived at the hostel, I just wanted to go to bed but I was afraid that 8am would be too early to check in. Surprisingly, it was not!! So I got into my room and without unpacking, I fell into the bed. Believe it or not- I spent the whole day there! So much to “not wasting any time”. Looking back, it was a bad decision. That only increased my urge to see the city. Here is, what I did the last two days:
Friday (December 21st): This day turned out really great, although it did not start good. I planned on going to the Botanic Garden in Brooklyn, since the entry was free on that day. Halfway there, it started to rain cats and dogs!! My jeans, my shoes and my socks were completely wet. Therefore, I thought, maybe I should change my plans: Go to Macy’s, which was on my list anyway and get a little bit dry. I took the subway and got off the station closest to Macy’s, but oh well- on the way to the shopping house, I crossed the famous Times Square.
And I simply HAD to walk a bit around there. The feeling I get everytime I am standing there is indescribably- I had the feeling as well in 2014, my first visit to NYC with my family. If one is as much into musicals as I am, one will understand. After that, it stopped raining, so I changed my plans again: I went to the Radio City Music Hall
(grabbing lunch at “Chick-fil-a”) in order to find out if I would be lucky enough to get a cheap ticket for the famous Christmas Show from the Radio City Rockettes- the Christmas Spectacular. It turned out to be my lucky day! I got the last ticket for $69. The show and the dancers were amazing, not to mention the great costumes- it totally is a once-in-a-lifetime-experience! But to be honest, I would not pay $150 or even more to see it and sadly, most of the tickets are in that price category. Moving on, guess what is really close to the Radio City Music Hall? Exactly, the Rockefeller Center! On my way to see and get a selfie with the great Christmas Tree, I also visited the St. Patrick’s Cathedral, located across the street. As always, there were plenty of people trying to get pictures of themselves, the tree and the Center, so did I. One of my dreams until this day was to skate on the ice rink there, but when I found out that I would have to pay around $45 for the entrance and skates, to have 90 minutes on a really small area, I immediately dropped that dream.
After I soaked all that Christmas Spirit in, I walked down the 5th Avenue (with the song “All alone on Christmas” stuck in my head), to my last stop this day: Bryant Park. Located behind the Public Library, Bryant Park also offered an ice rink, a Christmas tree and a Christmas Market. It was really nice to see it, but I do miss the Christmas Markets from Austria. They are totally different from the ones here in the US. Anyway, I bought a Churro Pretzel with Nutella (yummy), headed to Macy’s, just to see that there were to many people for my taste, and finally took the Subway back to my hostel. I was back early, which is why I watched the Movie “Home alone 2” after I took a shower. That was a great ending of an even greater day!
Saturday (December 22nd): I decided, it would be really helpful to send another package with some stuff of mine back home, so the first thing on the schedule was the Post Office. The process was the same as in Seattle, except that I had to pay for the tape here. It was somehow because of the Post Office that I planned my day doing the following: The World Trace Center Memorial was really close, so I decided to see how much it would cost to see it. If it would have been too much, I would not go there, since I saw it in 2014 already.
But to my surprise: It was free! Everybody is able to see the place where the two towers once stood. You can walk around, visit the museum or take a walk to the Battery Park as I did. There, the next surprise awaited me: a piece of the Berlin Wall stood there. I still have to find out the reason for that! 
If you follow the path next to the river, you will pass by a lot of things and finally get to a place where the water taxis leave and where some other memorials are to be found. In that park, my lunch was a Hot Dog- typical New York, huh? I kept on going straight until I reached the Whitehall, the building from where the ferries to Staten Island take off. The ferries are also free and the ride takes about 25minutes. 
You can get great pictures of the skyline of New York and since the ship is passing the Statue of Liberty, also of that characteristic
. It was a beautiful day, including some clouds but also some sunrays. That’s why I decided: Today would be the day, where I would cross the Brooklyn Bridge. But before that, I went to see the Charging Bull in the Bowling Green Park, where people stood in a long line to take a picture with that representative of the Wall Street. 
Speaking of, that was my next stop: the Wall Street. It is basically just a street with huge, old buildings but it has an unique flair. Walking down the street, I came to the other waterside, the side with the East River, where I took pictures of the skyline of Brooklyn. Then I walked towards the Brooklyn Bridge in order to find the entrance for the pedestrians to the street. It was confusing at first, but once you are at the City Hall, just follow the crowds, they know the way. I had to hurry up a bit, because it was already about to get dark, but I managed to take some pretty pictures on that famous bridge. See for yourself:
My feet already hurt (again), so my last stop before taking the subway to the hostel, was the “Shake Shack”, where I got a delicious burger, fries and a chocolate-peppermint-shake for dinner. I heard a lot about that restaurant, so I had to try it out. Yes, it is good but I would not say that they serve the best burgers. The Hard Rock Cafes are a huge competitor!
I made myself some tea and will watch another movies and get some rest from that eventful, yet exhausting, day.
Stay tuned for the next blog!
Let the memories begin 