After we cancelled our ESB visit we went north and visited the magnificent New York Public Library and the Christmas Market in Bryant Park. The beautiful ice skating rink in Bryant Park provided a real perfect christmas atmosphere. We spent there a while people watching and continued to Grand Central Station for taking a couple of nightshots beore continueing to the famous christmas tree in Rockefeller Center where we took some nice pictures and video clips. The weather was getting a bit better and so I decided to check out the new observation deck „Top of the Rock“, which re-opened in 2006. Ewa had no idea where we were going and was pretty amazed when we entered the elevater, which brought us to the 67th floor. The view was, well, okay at this time but NYC at night is still an experience, cloudy or not. We did a few photos and videoshots and hurried a bit fro getting back on the streets, because it was freakin’ cold up there
When we left the building at around 8.45pm directly next to the famous Radio City Music Hall, we spontaneously bought two of the few tickets left for the 9pm show, Christmas Spectacular. It was absolutely awesome, definitely a recommendation. We’ve never heard of the Rockettes so far, but now we’re fans!
The show was ended around 10.30pm and we hurried to get back to the hotel, or, more precisely, our bed, because we were pretty much knackered after the long day.
We started the day very early and took some pictures on Times Square. After that we took the train to South Ferry because we wanted to go to Liberty Island to see the statue of Liberty. But when we arrived, we recognized that the weather is that bad, that you can’t even see the statue from Battery Park. So we decided to cancel the ferry ride to Lady Liberty and check out South Street Market instead. There we went wild in the ultra-packed Abercrombie store and bought a lot of stuff in there.
We brought our stuff back to the hotel and took the train to Canal street to explore China Town and Little Italy, again with a little help of our Lonely Planet Guide and it’s Walking Tour recommendations. We took some pictures of the fresh seafood and meat stalls and had a nice Cappuccino in an italian cafe.
Warmed up, we headed a little north east to wander around the shops and boutiques in SoHo from where we took the 6th Ave north to Christoper Street, another starting point from a Lonely Planet Walking Tour through the village. There Ewa fell in love with a few puppies playing in the shop window of a small pet shop. Really cute
For most of you maybe nothing special but on of my alltime NYC favourites is on Grove and Bedford St. This is the adress where most of television show „Friends“ takes place, so the house where Monica’s and Joey’s appartments are, which yo’ve maybe seen a million times in the show. Actually the show is produced in Los Angeles, but here is where the storyline takes place, very cool! After a quick beer and and a Moroccan tea in the Mustache on Bedford St we headed north-east to Washington Square park, which was kind of a huge building lot at this time, so combined with the cloudy weather far away from picture worthy. We took the 5th Ave north to Flatiron district to take some pictures of the famous building where this area got it’s name from and moved on to the Empire State Building where we made a pitstop at Wendy’s before entering New York’s tallest building at this time. While standing in the queue, which was not so long, we decided to cancel our ESB visit because of bad weather and the upcoming sundown. The idea standing up there in a cold and dark cloud was not very motivating for us. And so we made our way north again to visit a few other sights (more in next post).
Photos of the day Part 1 (click to enlarge):
Ewa and me on Times Square in the bloody morning
Food in Chinatown
Chinatown
The heart of NYC’s Gay scene
Puppy shop in the village
Friends-Mekka
Washington Square Park
Famous Empire State Building from southernmost point of 5th Ave
For our first day I’ve planned two of those Lonely Planet walking tours, one in Brooklyn and another one in Downtown Manhattan. Because we wanted to walk the Brooklyn Bridge from Brooklyn side, we too the train to High St, Brooklyn. There we walked around like our Lonely Planet told us an came trough gorgeous, and very expensive, Brooklyn Heights. It’s a really beautiful and quiet neighbourhood and according to the people we’ve seen on the streets obiously very children friendly. While walking there I asked Ewa a couple of times if she would like it to move into an area like this, but… no reply
Anyway, so far Ewa hasn’t seen so much from New York, which had a coole effect on her when she first saw the impressive Skyline of Lower Manhatten when we arrived at Brooklyn Heights promenade on the East River (with noisy Brooklyn-Queens-Expressway) below. From there wen went to Dumbo (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) where we made some pictures on a plattform below the bridge.
After that we had a Pizza for Lunch in Grimaldi’s, just below the bridge. This place is absolutely awesome! Lonely Planet says it’s one of the best Pizza places in NYC and for me it was one of the best I had in my whole life and I had a few really good while ravelling through italy. What I like besides the food is that Frank Sinatra is everywhere. They’ve got lots of photos on the walls and the Jukebox is playing his songs. When we arrived, there were just a couple of seats left in the restaurant, but when we left, there were people waiting in a line outside. I’ve never seen something like this. Oh, by the way, there I had my first local beer, a Brooklyn Lager. Very good, very cheap and very NYC
We went a couple of more blocks through Brooklyn in the area around Manhattan Bridge before crossing the East River on the famous Brooklyn Bridge. The walkway on the bridge was pretty busy this time, but as always it’s a great experience.
After that we made our way through downtwon, visited the town hall, Woolworth building, Ground Zero, Wall Street, Battery Park and, what I like most in this area, the old colonial buildings on Pearl St, what looks so cool ad charming in between of all those skyscrapers. There I had another, very good beer, but I don’t rember this name nor did I took a picture.
At the end of the day we had a nice dinner at Bubba Gumps on Times Square, on of my favourites, because of the awesome atmosphere and unbelievable friendly staff.
Pics of the day (click to enlarge):
Montague St in Brooklyn Heights
Fulton Landing
Standing in the line for Grimaldi’s awesome pizza
Brooklyn Lager at Grimaldi’s
The famous Pizza (and even more famous travelbert :))
We finally arrived safely in New York City, but not as quick as expected. We had a drunken woman on our plane who made some trouble up there, what caused some time at the airport. After that we had to wait ore than two hours in the immigration queue before we could enter the city. From JFK airport, we took the Airtrain to Howard Beach subway station. If you do it like this, you have to pay $7 for leaving the airtrain station. We jumped on the 8 Ave express train, which got us pretty fast to Port Authority bus terminal, where our hotel, the Milford Plaza is located. I really recomend the express train for such long trips, because they’re not stopping on every station.
If you wanna stay in Midtwon the Milford’s location is unbeatable. It’s directly around the corner of Times Square, on 8th Ave between 45th and 46th, so you’re pretty much in the middle of everything and that at a good price (of course, not around this time). Our room is nice, clean and simple and on the 12th floor and has it’s window on the back, so we can see a bit of Times Square, the Paramount Building and a few theaters on 45th. The room has a very cool entertainment system with a Nintendo Gamcube and lots of brandnew Blockbuster Movies. We’re never using it, but hey, it’s cool.
After our arrival I’ve usually planned to walk a bit around in Midtown but Ewa was so tired that she immediately fall asleep as soon as she was lying on the bed for a minute. So I went alone a bit through the streets, first on Times Square, then to Bryant Park, down to 34th and back. It was a pretty good feeling for me to be back, because I really love this city.
I took no photos so far because I’ve forgot the memory card of my camera. I tried to get one on those tourist trap-stores on Times Square but the prices there are from another dimension. So funny, they tried to take $200 for a 4 GigaByte Compact Flash Card.. Haha So photos are coming with the next post..
Yeeehaaaa, the next trip is around the corner, or better said, we’re already on our way. This trip was a birthday gift to Ewa’s Birthday on 23th December (she’s become 30, but looks like 22 :)) and kind of a last-minute idea for a special birthday/christmas gift, she’ll never forget. First I was thinking of going to Paris, London or beatiful Stockholm for a few romantic days, but then I’ve decided to jump over the atlantic ocean to enjoy the awesome christmas atmosphere, NYC has to offer. To make the trip perfect we’ll gonna stay for New Years Eve, too.
The problem with this trip is, that it’s nothing for tight budgets especially the prices for hotel rooms are exploding around NYE. I’ll put a little cost overview below. There we’re staying at the Miford Plaza hotel, which is directly around the corner of Times Square, 42nd street and, very important, Port Authority Bus Terminal
Anyway, as soon as I’ve booked the flights, I told my buddy Steve, who lives in Ohio, that I’ll be around and we decided to meet in Columbus. So I’ve cancelled one night in hour hotel for a one-night stay at Steve’s house. On hour way back to NYC we’ll make a quick stop in Philadelphia to do some Rocky Balboa tourism (Philly is only 90 minutes away from New York City). I wanna climb up the steps at Philly’s Art Museum, you maybe know from the Rocky movies. But more on that later.
Here are a few price informations on the trip so far (listed in the currency I’ve paid, prices for both of us):
Air Berlin Flight Duesseldorf (DUS) to Berlin Tegel (TXL): 134,00 EUR
Delta Flight Berlin Tegel (TXL) to NYC (JFK): 1105,29 EUR
United Flight NYC (LGA) to Columbus, Ohio (CMH), return to Philadelphia, PA (PHL): $437.60
Train ride Philadelphia to NYC Penn Station: $80.00
TuiFly Flight Berlin-Tegel (TXL) to Colgone (CGN): 175,96 EUR
7 nights at Milford Plaza hotel, NYC Midtown: $2417.44
So, not a cheap trip this time, but Ewa’s smile is worth it :) We have to hurry now, the plane leaves in a couple of minutes.
I’ve recorded a view clips while watching Hong Kong’s famous lightshow, which takes place every night at 8pm. Just click on the picture below:
In case you didn’t notice: the videos are getting a bit bigger A couple of months ago I’ve bought an HD camera and I’m now playing around a bit with different bitrates, sizes, etc. to find the best way to display cool videos on my website. Tell me what you think.
So, a few more words on my first impression: When I arrived at HK airport, I took the airport express train to the city ($HK 100, approx. 10 EUR single ride). After a 20 minutes ride, I’ve arrived at Hong Kong station on HK Island in the Central district. I’ve stayed in the underground where Jens picked me up. He said that he wanted to give me a breathtaking first impression of HK, and so we went to the subway station of the red line without leaving the underground. The subway system in HK packed with people even in the evening hours (it was already around 7.30), exactly as you imagine a busy Asian capital.. Maybe not as busy as Tokyo is, but for me it was already pretty crazy. You’ll see a lot of more high tech gadgets like Blackberrys, Sony PSPs, Nintendo Handhelds and other stuff like you’ll see in Europe. Everybody is doing something, wether it’s playing on their mobile devices, doing phone calls (most of the time using Bluetooth Headsets), or whatever.
The Subway System itself is damn huge. Every station I saw, and even the small ones, are bigger than our mainstation here in Bochum They’ve got at least ten exits or so per station. The trains are all controlled by a computer system without drivers anymore. That makes the arrival times very precise. You usually don’t have to wait longer than 4 minutes or so, pretty cool.
Anyway, Jens and I took the red line to Kowloon, Tsim Sha Tsui station, or TST as the locals say, a statin directly on the river. So the first thing I saw when stick out my head out of the subway, was the breathtaking skyline of Hong Kong island on the opposite side of the river. I was not tired anymore or something else - just thrilled how amazing it looked at night. But that was not enough: We arrived there a few minutes before the big lightshow begins (every night at 8pm) where most of the famous buildings on HK island do some funky light effects while we we’re listening to the corresponding music on our side of the river - all in sync. I’ll put a video of that spectacle online, so that you can get a better idea of how that looks and how crazy that is
Hey, a little late but here are some facts on the trip: For me it was kind of a reward for the hard work I did over the last months and the fact that my girlfriend was in greece during this time made the decision even easier to get away for a few days. But why Hong Kong? Well a couple of months ago, my buddy Jens emigrated to HK (long story) and on his farewell party, I gave him the promise that I’m going to visit him before the end of 2007. And hey, it’s Asia! There’s a lot of to discover for me
And so I took the opportunity to do my first flight with Virgin Atlantic (I’m a huge Richard Branson fan). I was pretty amazed about the brand new Airbus A340-600, really cool. The downside was, that they do not have more legspace than other airlines (e.g. Cathay Pacific). Don’t get me wrong, the legspace is really good compared to some other airlines but I’m a frickin tall guy (2m / 6.5f) so it’s always pretty hard for me to get comfortable in economy class. That’s why I usually try to get a seat on the emergency exits, but at Virgin you have to appear in person at the checkin desks so that they can decide wether you need one of those seats or not. But due to the fact that I arrived in London Heathrow just 2 hours before departing to HK, all the seats were already taken. Anyway, the flight was nice, service was awesome, food was very good and the entertainment program was the best I’ve seen so far (lots of cool new movies). So, here’s my schedule:
Dusseldorf (DUS) 19:55 - 20:25 London Heathrow (LHR)
London (LHR) 22:30 - 17:50 Honk Kong (HKG)
Hong Kong (HKG) 23:25 - 05:25 London (LHR)
London (LHR) 07:25 - 09:45 Dusseldorf (DUS)
Flight costs: 703,99 EUR booked on expedia.de. If had chosen another airline, the price could be 620 EUR or so, but I just wanted to try Virgin!
Anyway, due to the fact that I land in DUS on a monday morning where I had to start working immediately, and I could not get just one minute of sleep in my tiny seat on the flight to HK, I made an upgrade to premium economy return flight for another 5000 HK$ (approx. 450 EUR) which was definitely worth it. I’ve got on the plane, watched a movie while having my dinner and got up the first time during the approach to LHR. It was so comfortable, I slept the whole flight!
Wow, what a year! After my first trip to Asia earlier this year, the awesome island hopping trip in the Mediterranean and a couple of small trips (e.g. Stockholm), I’m ready for the next one. Departure is tonight, details follow soon.
The last morning we decided to make a quick stop in the north on one of Sardinias best beaches: Spiaggia della Pelosa. People in Alghero said, it’s worth the trip and it looks like you’re in Mexico. And they were right. The beach, and especially the water, is one of the best I’ve seen in the Mediterranean so far. The downside is, that it was toally overcrowded. I’m wondering what will going on here in highseason.
Anyway, after 90 minutes on the beach, we drove south again to Alghero, where we picked up a few beers. From there we took the spectacular coast road down to Bosa.. From Bosa we went east to Nuoro where we spent the night and are right now. We choosed Nuoro, which is nothing special, because of it’s location. It’s a good starting point for todays trip: Orgosolo -> Golfo di Orisei -> Nuraghe Su Nuraxi -> Cagliari.
By the way, really good was the Pizza we had last night here in Nuoro. If you ever get here, check out the small Pizzeria at Piazza Vittorio Emanuele’s south end. That was damn good!
Okay, we have to leave now, enjoy the photos.
After we’ve picked up our car - an Opel Corsa - we’ve headed to the west coast, to Alghero. The Las Rosas B&B is located a bit outside of Alghero, near the airport. It’s a very quite and beatiful place, and the hosts, Cristina and Mario are very, very friendly and helpful. So, if you want to go to Alghero or the surrounding areas, check out Las Rosas B&B, we recommend it!
Oh, and if you’re there, sitting in the late evening on the terrace, ask for the homemade Lemoncino cream
Today we’ve been in a Restaurant we just wanted to mention: Osteria Taverna Paradiso in Algheros center. The food was excellent, and the cheese was even better - as far as I can say, the best cheese on this trip so far, and believe me, we had a lot!
Cheese Master Pasquale, who owns this place, has won a lot of awards for his cheese. We highly recommend it!
Alghero is located on Sardinias Northwest-Coast. The city itself, especialy the historical center is very beatiful, but there’s no big difference to it’s Spanish collegues on the opposite side of the Mediterranean. There are a couple of nice beaches in this area, for example the Spiaggia delle Bombarde, which is beatiful but also crowded.
If you’re in Alghero, don’t miss the Grotta di Nettuno, a bit north out of town. You can go there by boat or by coach/car. Going by boat is spectacular but we choosed the car. There you have to walk down the 654 steps down to the Cave (and later up again ;)), but this gives you awesome views of the cliffs. The cave itself is packed with stalagmites and stalactites and really worth the trip. The tour through the cave, takes about 45 minutes bit is with 10 buck per person a bit expensive. But anyway, it’s absolutely worth it.
I don’t know the way.
Right now, I’m thinking about going to the universyity…
Here’s a quick and dirty videoclip from Bonifacio.. I’ll deliver an HD-Version in 1080p and 720p when I’m back home..
At first you have to deal with this one:
