At the end of the journey - the unique New York City

USA.SC.North Myrtle Beach.Work and Travel Program.20 y.o. girl.Great experience.(The beginning)

My USA experience started from New York and happily, it was going to end again there. When arriving for the first time in the city unfortunatelly I didn't have the opportunity to explore it, I could only spend some time in Columbia University and at the bus station. Now, on our way back, we were about to see more, at least we had a plan.

New York  Stock Exchange

In front of the hostel 

It was not difficult to find our hostel in the center of Manhattan. It was in an old 3-4 floor building with a little yard behind it. Vessy and I checked in and soon we went out in the big city. We were walking down the wide avenues, watching people going around us. There were so many different people- men and women, dressed elegant and sporty, hurrying up and walking slowly, local and foreigners. I was grabbing all this situation as I knew it could be my last time seeing it.

Empire State Building was the first landmark we visited. We had to wait for half an hour to enter the elevator and reach the top. The elevator was so fast that only for few minutes we got to the Observatory on the 86-th floor and then we switched to another elevator and we went to the 102-d floor. It was an unforgettable experience from the highest point in NYC- the whole city was in front of me, well... under me! After that memorable moments we got down on the street again and continued to Rockefeller center. It is definitely a place where you can spend whole day. We didn't have that time but we visited the Channal Garden and The Ice Rink. The Channal garden is a square with lovely plantings and beautiful greenery. People say that it's the same every season of the year. The garden is called like this because it is situated between the French Empire Building and the British Empire Building- exactly as the channel between the two countries. The Ice Rink is a huge skating rink that opens in the middle of October. I'm sure it will be amazing to be seen around Christmas when they light the Christmas tree. During the summer it is replaced by the Rink Bar. I've heard that under Rockefeller center there is an underground city with lots of stores and restaurants and pedestrian alleys that connects the buildings. But we prefered do some shopping on the ground as we wanted to be more outside and feel New York closer.

A post card from the 60 - s

Times Square, photo by searchroulet.com

Going ahead we reached the notorious Times Square. The famous New York Times Building was standing there in front of us, all the commercial signs, known from the picture were also there, staying for years just changing their theme a little bit- Coca Cola, Budweiser, Swatch, JVC, etc. At the Crossroads of the World (as people call Times Square), you can buy thickets for the popular Broadway shows from TKTS ticket booth. There again, every 31 December the whole New York comes to the square to celebrate the New Year and I wished myself to live this moment one day.

Tired but happy we went back to the hostel to celebrate Vessy's birthday. (Yes, she had a birthday). We met few guys there and after having a drink one of the guys invited us to a party in  New York club. We accepted the idea and had an amazing night through the streets, the subway and that New York Bar. It was the most strange birthday Vessy had had up to that moment. She said: "I had an amazing time with international people - a Bulgarian, two Americans, a French girl and a Japanese guy!"

Almost at the Statue of Liberty

After the heavy night and a little hangover we woke up early and went on our discovery plan in the city. Our flight was at 7 p.m. and we had only few hours to take more and more of New York. Our first stop this day was Battary Park, where starts the cruise for The Statue of Liberty. We saw about 50-60 people waiting to buy tickets for the tour and we decided to leave it for another happy moment in New York if we had a chance. You better use the previous link and book tickets online, it will save you a lot of time! Anyway, we waved to The Statue of Liberty and went on along New York Stock Exchange and Wall Street. We also passed through the place where the Twins had been, which was fenced. Our last moments in that gorgeous city we spent in Central Park enjoying the October sun and feeling happy of where we were. At 3 pm we took the subway and soon we were at the airport.

It was time to say goodbye to New York and The USA, to our lovely summer, happy and sad moments. I made friends, I lived for the moment, I met different people and cultures. I didn't earn much money but as I love to say: "I made my best free excursion ever!"

The end