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Published: September 19th 2007
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New York
I dunno what this thing is I've got to be a part of it. Atleast for a few weeks. At the beginning of my New York experience I was staying in the very north of Manhattan in the Dominican ghetto. It was a very interesting experience and I think good to see the not so glamorous part of Manhattan.
My first night in New York I went with my new friends to Times Square. There by chance we stumbled upon Ozzy Osbourne playing a free concert to the people in the street on top of the Hard Rock Cafe. Party. Bonus.
My first week was pretty full on doing all the must do tourist things. I went to the Metropolitan Museum and saw some great art. I got the inside tip that the $20 entry is only a recommended price and you can pay whatever you like. So while all these shmucks were paying $20 I got in for a quarter.
I wandered around central park, which I did several times during my stay because it's so huge.
I went to the Gershwin Theatre to try and see a matinee of 'Wicked', based on the book I had just read about the Wicked Witch of the
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Ozzy Osbourne West. But on arrival I was informed it was sold out for the next 3 weeks. So I bought a ticket for the one day I will be back in New York after my short Euro trip part 2.
Determined not to waste the day I caught the subway down to the southern tip of Manhattan to see the Statue of Liberty. I met a Swedish couple on the train and they had the same intention so we ended up spending the day together. We caught the Staten Island ferry which is free and gives the best view of the statue. After our return to Manhattan we cruised along Wall Street and to the World Trade Centre spot. It was hard to imagine two huge buildings where there is now nothing, and easy to imagine the chaos and the horror.
Construction workers are now starting the foundation of it's replacement.
That weekend I had a pretty big night out in Brooklyn. My host was feeling sick so I went out solo. I started chatting to a guy at a bar near where I was staying and we cruised over to Brooklyn for the rest of the night. I ended
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Ozzy Osbourne up getting kicked out of an Australian bar - which is a pretty good effort I thought - and met some of the local law authority as I stumbled along the streets modeling the 'long neck in a brown paper bag' look. After catching the subway in the wrong direction for a while I got home about 8am.
Sunday afternoon I again visited Brooklyn for a pool party. A giant public pool that has been drained and now used as a venue for free concerts. They had local Brooklyn beer being served, a dodgeball tournament and a slip 'n' slide. When that was over I went with a couple of locals to a bar where you get a free full size pizza with any drink, then to another bar for another free gig. A one man band with a laptop rocking out amongst the crowd.
I took it a bit easier during my second week in New York. I had done a lot of tourist activities and decided to relax and just soak in the city. I visited the Museum Of Modern Art, where such paintings as Van Gogh's 'The Starry Night' hang. I stood in front of it
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Central Park for a good 15 minutes making the most of it.
I changed couch surfing locations for the last week and a half of my stay to somewhere much more central. My new host and I went to a cool german pub on the friday night for a few beers.
Saturday night I was again in Brooklyn for a house party. There was a big turn out and we were all packed into the rooftop terrace. Another top night.
It was my last week in New York and I still had things to check off my to do list. I took the elevator up to the 86th floor of the Empire State Building. A great view to say the least.
I also managed to go to a baseball game which I had been meaning to do the whole time I was in the States. My local friend Kasey and I scalped some tickets on the street and watched the Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox. Unfortunately they didn't sell beer in our section, but I did an American hot dog at the game.
My last friday night in New York ended up being a big one. After a
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Central Park bit of bar hopping Kasey and I tried our luck at getting into an old-fashioned speakeasy. We walked into a hot dog shop, entered a telephone booth inside, rang the buzzer on the phone and the side of the booth opened up into a swank little watering hole. After a few drinks there we moved on to a bar where Kasey knew the staff. They gave us all of our drinks for free and let us stay and keep drinking after they closed up. I didn't get to sleep untill 10am.
Three weeks seemed to go way too fast. New York is an amazing city. Like Paris, it lives up to the hype. When I got caught between the moon and New York City, the best that I could do was fall in love......with New York !
I was sad to leave, although I knew good times lay ahead of me on my return to Europe.
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ames
non-member comment
too surreal
WOW!! i'm excited for you!! lol it all sounds way too amazing and surreal...now i wanna visit new york too!!! Hope your having a ball in germany or wherever it is you are now!! lol woodstock this weekend!! woo hoo!!!take care champ, safe travels love ames xo