New York City

Hey gals and guys. I still owe you the posing about my one-day trip to New York last Sunday. I appointed with a friend from Darmstadt and some of her friends to meet there and have a relaxed day. The plan was more like hanging out in nice places, chat and have some coffee and beer. :-) I guess there will be another time to go to NY for a proper sight seeing trip.

The trip there by bus was quite smooth and for $25 return you can't complain. The day started of quite grey and foggy (not as sunny and warm as in the forecast...). So after finally having found each other in Manhattan we got a coffee. It was really great to talk to friends and peers again. I mean my colleagues in the lab a very nice, but the are all much older than me and are married and have kids and so... In that way it was quite refreshing. :-)

We continued with a walk across the Brooklyn bridge, where you usually have a great view of Manhattan. Well not quite when its foggy... Anyway it was cool. After that we got a bit lost in the subway... erhmm... but we finally found the restaurant where another guy was already waiting for a long time... The place was called "Fette Sau" ("fat pig") :-) and they were supposed to sell German-style food. Not sure if it was very German, but the had big chunks of delicious meat. Yummy.

Finally the sun came out and we enjoyed the afternoon in a park and watch some guys playing soft ball. We ended the day in a great roof top bar close to the Empire State Building with an amazing view! Now it was really warm and sunny - awesome! Funny thing: They fired their electric heating device on full throttle. "Can you switch it off?" - "No its not possible." I guess electricity is still too cheap here...

Before I took my bus back to Philly I walked across Times Square (I guess you have to do that some time...). But I donno, all these people, touts, cars and flickering light were making me quite sick. I was glad when I left it behind me - heading for some smaller hidden squares in the neighbourhood. The ride back was fine and sharply on time - perfect!

Conclusion? I haven't seen much of NY, but it was a great day anyways! The highlight was definitely the view and atmosphere in the roof top bar. I'll come back to see Central Park, Ground Zero and other places!