Roy and I spent eight nights in Manhattan, New York City and we thought it might be fun to try and see all of the five boroughs of the famous 'Big Apple'. Each borough was quite different from the next and even though we didn't get to discover them fully, we did get a sense of what each one had to offer.
Queens
On our way to Queens, we both had the theme song to 'The Nanny' in our heads - "She was working in a bridal shop in Flushing, Queens", you get the idea. Roy looked up what there was to see in Queens and he knew of my love for street art and graffiti so he took me to a place called 5Points to have a look at some great art. Unfortunately for us, the place was pretty desserted and we were unable to go into the huge warehouse gallery because it was closed. It was however, nice to look at from the outside.
After we finished walking around the huge building, we hopped back on the subway and headed to Flushing Meadows to go and have a look at what the Queens Museum of Art had to offer but the weather by this time had turned rather sour and we didn't much feel like trudging through puddles to get to the museum. Instead, we opted for checking out a mall in the main street of Queens so we could get out of the rain. Plus, Roy was in need of some new shoes which he managed to find. I couldn't resist walking around Target to see how the American one differed from the Australian one. It wasn't too much different, except for the American one sells groceries as well as other goods.
Brooklyn
We wandered around Brooklyn a little bit and even though it still felt like New York, it had it's own feel to it. It was quite different to Manhattan and what you usually see on movies and tv.
We stopped in at a typical American pub for a quick beer (not a fan of standard american beer - a little bit like soda water with a little bit of beer flavouring in it). They also had television screens everywhere with different channels (mainly football) playing and at each table there are these little boxes which you can press a button to hear any of the 8 tv's audio.
Whilst walking through the main street of town, we heard some music and followed it. We discovered a school marching band busking on a corner. They were really good! Check out the video.
The Bronx
I didn't take photos while we were in The Bronx and there isn't too much to say about our visit there except the fact that I went there with a sense of trepidation after, I guess, watching too much television and thinking that we were going to be held up by gunpoint and having to hand over everything in our pockets. I must admit, I did feel a little uneasy walking through the streets because the lifestyle there is quite different to Manhattan and plus, I've become so un-streetsmart after living in Switzerland (which is so tame and quiet) for over a year. Roy and I did stick out quite a bit but we made it back to Manhattan unharmed and with a different opinion of the borough.
Staten Island
Before we left for our USA trip, I had a few ideas of what I wanted to do in our time in NYC and the Staten Island Ferry was one of those things. I'd heard of it on various tv shows and knew that it went past the Statue of Liberty and is free. That's enough to convince me to go on it. Roy and I made our way to the ferry terminal - a rather large building with a sign on the front that you can't miss. We walked past the really long line for the Liberty Island ferry that takes tourists to get a close look at the statue (and it's not free) which reassured us that we made the right decision to take the Staten Island Ferry. We decided that since we were heading to Staten Island, we may as well check it out while we're there. We didn't see much of the island but we stopped in at a pizzeria for some lunch. Unfortunately, the meals we got were big in size (as usual) but lacking in flavour.
Manhattan
Since majority of our stay was in Manhattan, most of my other posts have been about things we did in Manhattan so, here I will include photos that I won't do individual posts about.
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The Apple store being refurbished.
The M&M store in Times Square.
   
Everything peanut butter!
 
Doppler radar on top of the Rockefeller Center.
  
The Meatpacking District.
   
Photo shoot in the Meatpacking District.
        
Madison Square Garden and Penn Station
  
A sculpture at the Sex Museum.
Grand Central Station.
   
The 9/11 Memorial shop.
  
Ground Zero
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| Occupy Wall Street camp. |
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| Occupy open mike night. |
I didn't want to leave New York City. It was so full of life, culture and so many things to see. It was a perfect way to spend my first visit to the USA and I think that we will definitely pay it another visit.