New York State of Mind

What do you think? How many song titles can I find that relate to New York? ;)

These past two weeks have been all about exploring. From the Upper East Side all the way down to Battery Park, and even to Coney Island. I took about 400 pictures, but don’t worry I won’t bore you with them. And I’ll only talk about some of the highlights of the past two weeks.

Blurry view of Lady Liberty

So let’s start Downtown. My new Dutch friend Charlie and I, never thought I would make friends with someone from Holland (and yes, she actually is from the province of Holland, and yes, obviously I’m joking), decided to walk through the Financial District and Battery Park. But more importantly we spontaneously took the Staten Island Ferry, which is completely free by the way. While on the ferry I was able to check off another thing on my list of touristy things to see in the city: the Statue of Liberty. Fun Fact: Today, June 17 is the 130th Anniversary of it’s arrival in the port of New York City. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a close-up of her, but look at this beautiful panoramic view.

Taken onboard the Staten Island Ferry

Freedon Tower

While Downtown we also visited the 9/11 Memorial. I have yet to go into the actual Freedom Tower but the memorial itself is very moving. It is quite overwhelming to think of how many names are engraved into it and that each of these names represents a life lost.

9/11 Memorial

Moving on from this rather heavy subject matter, I also got to experience some culture in New York. The Museum Mile is a one day (or rather evening) cultural festival when a handful of museums are open between 6 and 9pm for free. So we decided to check out the Guggenheim, an otherwise pricey place to visit. It has a mix of more classic artwork and very modern almost experimental pieces, that incorporate sound and light and most of the time have some sort of political or social commentary. He really enjoyed it. Yes, it was absolutely packed and the line went around the entire block, but it was worth it in my opinion. This was one of my favorite pieces there:

You can't really see it, but those are thousands of nails.....

The Upper East Side can be very intimidating. As you walk along Park Avenue or 5th Avenue you’ll find stores like Chanel, Prada, Mui Mui, Versace and Gucci all right next to each other. The Townhouses are beautiful and just walking past them you know how expensive they must be. I’ve learned quickly that real estate is the true sign of “making it” in this city. And in order to get a taste of that lifestyle it’s all about connections. One of the other interns I work with has family who is lucky enough to have an apartment in one of the skyscrapers in Manhattan. So when offered the chance to watch the sunset from their rooftop, I obviously couldn’t refuse.

As you can see from the pictures, we weren’t just able to see the sun setting over the Hudson river, their rooftop was also overlooking Central Park. With a little squinting you could see The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the MOMA. The view towards Midtown was also spectacular. That evening was probably one of my favorites yet.

Incredible panorama view from the 57th floor

More rooftop views

Last but not least, let’s talk about Coney Island, or more specifically Brighton Beach. New York has been hit by a crazy heat wave with 35 degrees (Celsius, I still have not mastered Fahrenheit) which easily felt like 45 degrees. It was unbearable! So for the weekend we decided to leave the city behind and explore the beach. Brighton Beach, technically located in Brooklyn, is definitely not the nicest beach I’ve ever been to. It certainly wasn’t like the turquoise ocean not far from my families place in Vietnam or even the waters on the coast of Italy. But there was sand, sun, and ice cream which is good enough for me! I also learned that Saturday that the further you go into Brooklyn, the stronger the accents are, which was slightly problematic for Charlie whose own accent lead to a lot of miscommunications and amusement for me! ;)

Brighton Beach

Once again, this is only a glimpse into all the stuff you can do and see in NYC. Next weekend alone I’ll be exploring Harlem and Columbia University. I’ll also head back to Coney Island for the Mermaid Parade, yes you read that correctly, Mermaid Parade! So the next blog entry should be interesting…...