My adventures start in New York City on a cold day in January. I had arrived late to my AirBnB because of delays, but still in a good mood thanks to my Russian Uber driver Sergei, who talked to me about tourist attractions, the current political climate and the former Soviet Union when he found out I was Estonian.
The next morning I was up bright and early, grabbed a bagel on my way to the subway and headed to Manhattan for a day of exploring. First stop – Empire State Building.
I was lucky enough to go at a time where there weren’t many tourists so I could bask in the views without interruption. Up on the 102nd floor I was all alone with floor to ceiling windows and a 360 degree view of the city. The worker was kind enough to snap a picture of me and I was surprised to hear that she had actually heard of Estonia.
I had planned on buying an American sim card so after I had had my fill of looking at skyscrapers I headed towards a T-Mobile shop. It turned out that the sim card was a different frequency from my phone so it didn’t work, but I could get a phone for free if I paid for two months in advance. They were unfortunately out of the phone, but that gave me the opportunity to go to the next place on my agenda – Times Square.
I finally got a phone and a working sim card (with internet!) and took off toward Central Park. I popped by Rockefeller Center first, though. I strolled around in Central Park, saw the carriages and the ice rink, took some pictures and decided it would be time for lunch at a cafe from the brochure my AirBnB host had given me. A good 40 minute journey later I arrived in East Village only to see that the place was still closed. Never one to give up, I kept walking around and stumbled upon a small pizza place.
Stomach full of delicious pizza and legs still tired from all the walking I had two more things I wanted to do – walk across the Brooklyn Bridge and go to Red Hook. I figured I would walk across the bridge, head home, rest for a bit and then visit Red Hook and have lobster for dinner. Instead I fell asleep once I got home and ordered asian food for dinner when I finally woke up.
In just a day I had seen quite a few of the famous sights in NYC so come next sunrise I could leave in peace.
adventures in... 