New York, New York

Well, what can I say… So many impressions, so many experiences, so many people – just wow

I got to New York last Tuesday and stayed the first two nights at Charles’ and Sarah’s. They are both friends of Andrea, my former flatmate who lives in LA. I am so grateful I could stay with Charles and Sarah. They are both wonderful and so very welcoming hosts! They live in a lovely apartment on the upper east side close to Central Park.

On my first day in NYC the weather was perfect for sightseeing and I was busy doing that all day. I walked the high line, took the Staten Island ferry to see the Statue of Liberty, walked through the Financial District, went over to Brooklyn and walked through Brooklyn Hights where the old and beautiful brownstones are, walked over the Brooklyn Bridge while the sun was about to set…

The next day I met my aunt Kristina from Hamburg. She and my uncle Harald were in town for a trade fair. While Harald was busy at the trade fair Kristina and I went to see the MET (the Metropolitan Museum). You have an astonishing view from the roof top of the MET since it’s located in Central Park without any tall buildings around.

In the evening (after dinner with Kristina and Harald) I met Tai, my host for the other two nights in NYC. He also lives in Manhattan, in East Village which is a neighbourhood with lots of bars and restaurants. We went to a jazz bar which made me feel like being in the 50ies, the singer even had a mustache 😀 And don’t you think the drummer looks just like Jason Statham?

The day before I went back to DC I did a walking tour together with Harald and Kristina called “Brooklyn Unplugged”. That was pretty cool, we got to see a lot of street art, local businesses and the guy gave us lots of background information on Brooklyn.

After that I went to see Grand Central Terminal, which is definitely my favourite building in NYC. You have this beautiful hall with the blue ceiling and lots of decorations but if you enter the area where the actual tracks are you feel like in a completely different building! It has more of a behind-the-scenes character or the character of a basement – and there is no one there!

And one more thing: I definitely found my favourite museum as well. I went to the MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) on Friday evening because they have free entrance on Fridays after 4pm. Sure, I wasn’t the only one who had that idea but still. This museum is absolutely amazing. I will definitely got back there, pay the 25$ admission fee and take my time to soak it all in.

Maybe I’ll even do that when I’m back in NYC with my Embassy colleagues next weekend 🙂

My first lobster in Newport, Rhode Island

I already posted this on Facebook because I was so exited about it, being in a seaside town and eating my first lobster 🙂

This wasn’t the only amazing experience in Newport. I spent most of my time in Newport exploring with Jack. We did the cliff walk, went to the beach, watched the sunset…

#daffodils

#fourtysteps

And now the sunset 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another highlight was  when Jack’s friend who is a US coast guard showed us where he worked. He even let us see the inside of their boats and he took us to see a lighthouse. We drove there in a vehicle that looks like a golf cart but with much more power! And I got to sit in the front!!

#UScoastguards

No pictures of Fall River

Sunday morning I went to the bus station in Hyannis to ask for the next bus to Newport, Rhode Island. They sold me a ticket for a connection 12:30pm Hyannis to Fall River and 3:30pm Fall River to Newport. I had to wait for 1.5 hours at Fall River for the connecting bus which I thought was ok.

Fall River is a rather shady place you don’t want to visit. There is really nothing there. The bus station was closed and I couldn’t even find a bench to sit on. But it was a sunny day so I read my book and waited, till 3:30, till 3:40… At some point I got a little nervous and called the bus company. Turns out there was no bus going to Newport, Rhode Island in the afternoon. They sold me a ticket for a bus that didn’t exist! 😀 I would have to wait till 8pm for the next bus. A lady next to me waiting for a bus to Boston overheard the conversation so she kept telling me, I couldn’t stay in this place because it wasn’t safe. I’m not easily scared but she was probably right. I told the bus company they had to come up with a solution. In the end I took a bus back to Boston and got on another bus to Newport there.

Jack, the guy I stayed with in Newport, he felt really sorry for me because I missed out on a great seafood dinner. They had lobsters, clams and fish, all fished by his fishermen friends! At least I had a really nice conversation with the bus driver and I took this picture on the bus:

Chasing the moon at Cape Cod

Saturday afternoon I took a bus to Hyannis, Cape Cod. My Couchsurfing host Alex picked me up at the bus station. I left my stuff at his house (he lives in a small beach house in Hyannis) and went exploring. Alex showed me all his favourite spots and we drove around for almost 5 hours.

Alex and me

One of the Kennedy’s beachhouses

He showed me this amazing spot, a small river where the Herring jump up “stairs”. He told me that it was still a little early. A week later there would be thousands of fish jumping and seagulls trying to catch them. I tried to film the jumping process but I’m not sure if I can upload the film for you to see it…

Alex took me all the way to Provincetown which is located at the very outer corner of Cape Cod. It’s a town known for its gay community and diversity. It’s a beautiful place, small restaurants and art galleries…

After the sun had set Alex told me how beautiful it would be when the moon rises from the ocean. It had been a full moon just the day before and that day the moon was supposed to rise around 9pm. So we drove all the way to Alex’s favourite spot to see the moon rise we saw the stars sparkle all over the sky but then we realised that it was cloudy just at the horizon where the moon was supposed to rise and we couldn’t see the actual moonrise…

Besides the ocean Cape Cod has a lot of lakes and ponds. We walked around one of them the next morning. I love this picture…

Starting my trip in Boston

Thursday morning I got on a Greyhound bus to Boston. I took me all day to get there but it was worth it. In Boston I stayed with Jess. She welcomed me warmly into her home, I felt at home right away 🙂

The next day I took my time and walked the freedom trail. The freedom trail is a walking trail (it’s actually marked on the ground as a red line) which brings you to all the historic landmarks in Boston, most of them related to the revolution in the 1770ies. I really enjoyed it because I didn’t have to think about reading maps, I just followed the red line and concentrated on what I saw and read about the sights in a leaflet they gave me.

My personal highlight was definitely where they printed the Boston version of the declaration of independence. (THE declaration was printed in Philadelphia which is why the Boston version is not as well known although it has exactly the same content.) There was a guy that explained the whole history behind the declaration and showed us the original printing press and the printing process. For 17$ you could buy a print printed on the original paper and with the original inc but since I did’t want to buy one, I sneaked out before he came to the promotion part 😉

My favourite building was the public library. So beautiful, not only from the outside…

#BostonPublicLibrary

At the end of the trail I took the public ferry back to central Boston as recommended by a friend of mine. Not many people knew about the ferry and I am really grateful for the tip. I costs only about 3$ and you can enjoy the Boston skyline from the water which is pretty cool.

It’s only a short ride. Just enough time to take some pictures of the skyline 🙂

The Supreme Court – 20 April

To visit the Supreme Court for a hearing you have to get up REALLY early. One of my colleagues at the Embassy told me he was there at 6:20 am and already one of the last persons to get in. Since I’m not a morning person I thanked my jet-lag for once, tried really hard and got there by 6:40 am. And then I waited for almost 5 hours (which is the longest I have ever queued for anything) until I finally got in for the second hearing of the day. It wasn’t too bad though, I met nice people and had some interesting conversations 🙂

And I got to see the sun rising over DC…

#SupremeCourt #sunrise

#tiredbuthappy

*I like to be in America

Hi guys,

so this is my first attempt to write a blog. Mainly because I want to share some of the amazing experiences I made travelling in the US.For all of you who don’t know this already (and I’m pretty sure most of you do) I went to the US to work at the German Embassy in Washington DC as a legal trainee for 3 months. I will start this job tomorrow so I had about 2 weeks to travel the east coast.

I came to DC on 18 April and stayed in a hostel for 3 nights. I had to organize a few things during these first days and I also started exploring the city. On my first day I walked through the city, it was a wonderful hot summer day and I just randomly passed the White House. Pretty cool 🙂

#TheWhiteHouse