Washington Market Park

Day 3 - Settling in

The day started with news that the water would not be working until midnight. Good fucking morning to that. We went to the same place as the day before to get breakfast. This time, I got a toasted blueberry muffin. I had no idea a thing like a toasted muffin even existed. America keeps on surprising me. Since it was raining, I decided to just spend a short amount of time walking around outside and focus on indoor activities this day. I went to the metro to head to the Broadway theatre. This was the first time that I felt confident on the metro. The day before, I managed to find my way, but it involved a lot of uncertainty and guesswork. By this time, I felt like I got the system figured out. After seeing Broadway, I wanted to head to the Grand Central Station with a quick stop at the - actually quite underwhelmingly boring - Rockefeller Center. I realised that Google Maps was pretty much unnecessary in Manhattan as long as you knew which corner you're supposed to end up at, so I made it a challenge for myself to keep the usage of my phone to a bare minimum. I managed to reach the station eventually. Right behind it I could see the Chrysler Building. Because of the rain and the clouds, you couldn't see the top of it - another reminder of how imposingly huge everything in this city and probably this entire country is. After a tour through the station, I visited the NYC Public Library which is just a block away and a huge maze on the inside. While I was there, Lukass sent me a message to inform me that he was on his way to the city as well now and we decided to meet back at the Central Terminal for some coffee and a metro that would take us to the Intrepid Museum. The Intrepid was one of the coolest experiences so far. I've never been on an actual war ship before. We even got a little private tour by a nice lady who works there that we asked for the way to the deck. They have a lot of military aeroplanes and even a space shuttle there. Also, it is located right at the harbour in Manhattan so you also get a stunning view. During our visit, the rain stopped, so we decided to take a walking tour around Manhattan. We didn't have much of a plan and decided that we'd simply figure it out as we went. Lukass and I had to make our way to the metro that would take us near China Town. The path led through a district called Hell's Kitchen (which I seriously hope is somehow related to Gordon Ramsay, but I doubt it) which I would consider to be one of the sketchier areas of Manhattan. We were asked for a dollar by a guy who wanted to buy drugs, stating "at least I ain't lying" and who ended up following us for a few minutes. This was the first time I was actually relieved I wasn't exploring NYC all on my own. It is a bit harsh to see in general, actually. The poverty, the homelessness, the trash on the streets. It is very different from Europe. I empathise with the people. Matt and Lukass told me I'm too naive, yet I also can't just turn it off. It gets to me a little. Anyway, we made it to the metro in one piece. At this point, my feet hurt a lot since I'm normally a lazy bastard who doesn't walk much. Lukass had the same problem but we decided to ignore the pain for exploration's sake. We also stumbled upon a tattoo shop which ignited the desire in me to get a tattoo here. Time will tell if I'll actually go through with it. We arrived at China Town where we had some amazing western Chinese food and walked through the neighbourhood before continuing to Little Italy. Both areas look and feel like their own little world, a city within a city. You wouldn't guess you were in New York if you didn't know, apart from maybe guessing it by the typical fire escapes on the buildings. We continued our walk through SoHo and Greenwich Village, which are by far my favourite parts of Manhattan. This is where people actually live their lives, it's not just office buildings and skyscrapers, it's the actual heart of Manhattan. It feels alive, almost like a normal town would. By the time we finished our walk, both of us were exhausted. However, the plan was to meet up with Matt and finally walk the High Line Park. We arrived there shortly before it closed and the walk was accompanied by the lovely golden glow of an almost setting sun. The High Line Park has to be one of the most beautiful walks that you can take in NYC. We then stumbled around the city desperately trying to find a place that sells coffee after two coffee shops were either closed or had a broken machine. In the end, we decided to say fuck it and simply went to Starbucks and ordered the most pretentious white people coffees we could find on the menu. Lukass left us after we finished our coffee to head home while Matt and I went to a nearby ramen bar. These must have been some of the best ramen I've ever had. By the end of it, we had to fight falling asleep on the metro on the way home. All we managed back at his apartment was to finally try the Belgian beers that I had gotten for us before heading to bed.Read more