New York 10/03/2017 - 10/08/2017

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My Itinerary:

Departure Tue, Oct 3 Web Fare JetBlue Airways 1124 Los Angeles (LAX) New York (JFK) 1:02am +1 day 4:40pm Terminal: 5 Terminal: 5 Arrives on Oct 4, 2017 Return Sun, Oct 8 Web Fare JetBlue Airways 123 New York (JFK) Los Angeles (LAX) 7:10am 10:15am Terminal: 5 Terminal: 5

Leave LAX On October 3rd Tuesday at 4:40pmLand on October 4th 1:02 am

87 emily lane staten island 10313 Wednesday October 4th: Take the Staten Island Ferry to Manhatten.

1 Bay StreetStaten IslandNY 10301

Go To Central Park and rent a bike:

Central Park Bike Rentals117 W 58th St, New York, NY 10019

Ride around all of Central Park Pastrami at Frankels631 Manhattan Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11222

Go To Times Square Visit Nintendo New York

Go To Rockefeller 7:30pm 930pm & 1130pm Comedy Cellar if there is time.

Thursday October 5th:

Mount Loretto unique area20 Kenny Rd, Staten Island, NY 10309

Take the Staten Island Ferry to Manhatten.

1 Bay StreetStaten IslandNY 10301

Joes Pizza7 Carmine St, New York, NY 10014

Sleep No More @ mckittrickhotel 7:00pm

Take the Staten Island Ferry back to Staten Island.

The Whitehall Terminal4 South Street; New York, NY 10004

Get home.

Friday October 6th:

See A piece of the berlin wall

520 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10022

Go through Highline park

Museum of Sex233 5th Ave, New York, NY 10016

911 museum180 Greenwich St, New York, NY 10007

Crif Dogs for Hot Dogs

113 St Marks Pl, New York, NY 10009

Go To The Empire State Building

Saturday October 7th:

Coney Island (Dumbo)

Walk brooklyn bridge

Katz's restaurant

205 E Houston St, New York, NY 10002

Watch Kinky Boots on Broadway 8:00 pm

Sunday October 8th:

Go Back to LA Leave JFK Jet Blue 7:10 AMGet to LAX 10:15 AM

If free time

Brooklyn:

10/03/2017 Tuesday

All packed and ready to go. My mom drops me off at the Van Nuys Flyaway and I get to the airport. Everything goes smoothly and I meet my friend Alex at the terminal. Alex decided last minute to visit New York and somehow got a seat right next to me on the plane. It was a change of pace for having someone traveling with me that isn't family. We went onto our Jet Blue plane and of course I forgot my headphones. Alex lets me borrow his but my jack wasn't working so I call the stewardess. She comes up and says, "Well we have headphones that you'll have to purchase which will work on the jack for about $10." I forget the exact price. She tells me that it's a good deal, but then I ask her if the head jack that the headphones come with is universal and she couldn't answer that question so I refused to buy them. Turns out that Alex' jack was working, so he took the left piece and I took the right and we watched Dazed and Confused. Besides that problem, Jet Blue was a fine flight to fly in. What I liked most was that the snacks was located near the bathrooms in a clear cupboard where you can come up to anytime and take as many snacks as you like. They also had free wifi where you could very easily sign into! Which was really nice. The only thing I didn't like was the same from my previous flights, Direct TV. I understand what they are trying to do, but it's so annoying to tune into a channel halfway during the show. Also, it said that Rocco's Modern Life was playing and Alex hadn't seen it yet, so I forced him to change it to the channel and something completely different was on! I see what you're trying to do Direct TV, but it's not working. Please just have pre-set shows or something on demand.

10/04/2017 Wednesday

We had arrived at the JFK Airport in New York and proceeded to exit. I called my uncle Nathan and let him know that we were coming out and he said he will meet us soon. As we come out I get another call from Nathan asking which terminal I am in and I let him know. About a half hour he shows up with my aunt Oxana and we drive home. He says that the reason why he was late was because the people at the airport told him that the terminal I was in was closed and he was to meet me at another one but no one told us anything. Either way we found each other, dropped Alex off, and proceeded to Nathans house where I was staying in Staten Island. On the way there, we saw a herd of fauns which I'm told isn't typical at night in New York. We get to the place, a quaint two story house where Oxana shows me my room and asks if I wanted to eat. I told her I'm a bit hungry and of course she made me tons of food. I was very grateful and went to unpack after I ate and finally went to sleep.

I woke up early in the morning because Nathan was going to work at 8am and promised to drop me off at the ferry so I can get to Manhattan. Oxana was nice enough to make me a whole 3 sandwiches before I left and poured me some water from the sink. I drank some water and to me it had a different taste which I wasn't used to and not that I didn't like it, but in California the water tastes more fresh. I think it's because California puts a bit more fluoride into the water which I can appreciate. I pack my backpack for a full day of activities and get dropped off at the Ferry.

Someone guides me to the lower level and lets me know that the Ferry will be here in a few minutes. I wait and it shows up. This Ferry from Staten Island to Manhattan is free and 24/7 which seems to be very convenient. We need a free one here that goes straight to Catalina Island! I get into the Ferry and sail through a nice view of the Statue of Liberty.

After that, a very beautiful view of Manhatten.

I already felt that I was in most movies that take place in New York as soon as I saw the sky rises in Manhatten. I get off the Ferry and right there is the Metro. Nathan told me to take the R-train so I can make it to Central Park. There is a 1 train, R train, and if I remember correctly a BDFM train all in the same tunnel. I ask which one is the R train and get guided to the correct one. The first thing I notice is that they have Wi-Fi at every metro stop which is also very easy to sign into. These are very old Metro stations and they have Wi-Fi! Los Angeles, no, California why do we not have Wi-Fi in our metros yet!!?? How is it possible that we are so behind in technology!? I also bet that when they do finally get Wi-Fi in the Los Angeles Metro stations it will be impossible to sign in or you'll have to jump through hoops to use it. It is very frustrating.

I look at the map inside the Metro and figure out where I need to be. So far it is easier to know where you are than the Bart in San Francisco. Also I have noticed that I have service inside the Metro even though it's underground which was nice so I can see if I'm going the right direction or not. My Sprint service was again working in New York just like it was working phenomenally in Guam. It tends to work very well everywhere but California for some reason.

I get off the metro and head to a bike store called Central Park Bike Rentals so I can rent a bike. Alex said that he was on his way with a friend so I decided to wait for them so we can meet up. At this point I started seeing that traveling with people is actually pretty inconvenient. Things are way easier alone but at least I won't be lonely. Alex and his friend also named Alexey finally show up. The shop has bike rentals for $25/3 hours and Alexey who has been living in New York for a brief time now says that the City Bikes are only $11 for the full day. Sounding like a better deal, we left the shop to get city bikes. At that point someone runs out and tells us, "Hey the owner wants to speak to you guys." I let him know that we aren't interested but he insists that we come back inside because the owner asked him to get us and he is doing his job. Which was already weird but I go inside anyway so he doesn't get fired and tell her that we are going for lunch. She quickly has a rebuttal and says that we can have the bikes for $20/3 hours. I tell her we may come back and she says that we can put them on reserve. At this point I just start walking away. I understand where she was coming from and when I used to work at LA Fitness I had to do the same thing for clients who wanted training. I hate being haggled with, if you're going to lower the price, have it lowered in the very beginning or else I will go to the competition and get it from there. It just seems so scammy to me as if they were going to take advantage of me if I didn't leave and say no because there are other bikes for better prices.

We get to Central Park and find a locked bike rack with bikes on them. Alexey then mentions that we just have to find another bike rack in 30 minutes or else they charge us more money automatically. Which I wish he would have told us this before because I didn't think that was a good idea at all. I'd rather have the bike and not worry about time rather than having to park it every 30 minutes. Either way we get it because I have seen the city bikes around Los Angeles but never tried it and I thought this was the best time to do so. We put the credit card in and it gives us a code to take the bike out of the rack. You can choose any bike and put the code in, once the code is entered the 30 minutes starts. So we quickly ride out and start biking around Central Park.

A bit before the 30 minutes are up, I let the guys know and start looking for a bike rack. Alexey then suggests that we go for an hour and just pay like $10 extra but I get stubborn and let him know that if we wanted to do that we should have just gotten the 3 hour deal. I make us find the bike rack and we park the bikes. This was a good time to find a place and eat. We found a nice place to sit and I eat one of Oxana's sandwiches that she made for me. After we eat, we decide to walk around more, enjoy, and take pictures around the beautiful Central Park.

We choose a destination to get to which is a large lake in Central Park.

After we get there, unfortunately Alexey has to leave and Alex and I decide to walk the Museum Mile nearby and find a Museum to go to. We chose to go to Cooper Hewitt Museum from great reviews that I read on my phone while walking around. We enter, pay and go in. This museum has pretty cool things like 3D printed chairs and other technological things that were made. The best part was a room with a projector and you can either choose a scenery from a preset option or draw your own. We decided to play around with it.

That was the funnest part of the museum. To me it wasn't worth the price we have paid. I later learned that sometimes Pixar goes there and other cool companies to show off and that is the time to go there. Oh well, now I know. My next destination was Time Square and Alex wanted to go to Acro Yoga which was just past Time Square. We decide to get the City Bikes and bike down. We put the credit card into the machine and it remembers that you have already paid for the day and gives you another code to take the bike out. We took the bikes and were on our way.

We get to Time Square and say our goodbyes. I walk around a bit and realize that it isn't a square at all. Just a place where there are a lot of advertisements and streets. From the television it seems like it would be like the Red Square in Russia but it wasn't anything like it. Cars are going through the streets and seems like just another regular New York City block.

I walk around a bit and a few blocks away find Nintendo New York. A cool store that also has a little museum talking about Nintendo consoles and other cool things.

One of the most interesting things I've found there was an original Gameboy that one of the soldiers had which has survived a bomb and still works to this day.

It made me remember when I first got the original Gameboy and it fell into a gutter filled with water. It wasn't working until I let it dry and a few days later, worked as if nothing happened. This was in the early 90's and I still have that Gameboy today in working condition! Can't have that now with the Iphones and Samsungs. Even if it falls from a few feet above at the wrong angle it will shatter. Definitely won't be able to survive a Bombs blast!

While I was looking at these kinds of things and trying out the Nintendo Switch, my cousin (Nathans Daughter) Gabby calls me and asks me where I am and lets me know she is coming so we can grab something to eat. So I play the waiting game again. It isn't too bad, just something I'm not used to while traveling and definitely worth it to experience things with others as well. She gets there and we are happy to see each other. I haven't seen Gabby for years. We play catch up and I ask her to take me to Joes Pizza for a quick bite. However, since we were near Rockefeller already, we decide to go there first so we can get tickets to go to the observation deck during sunset.

We get there and all the tickets are sold out until 9:00 pm. Gabby tells me that will be too late for her and tells me to just get a ticket for myself. There was a black worker lady yelling at everyone letting everyone know the time slots that they have and "If we are nice and only if we feel like it, we will give you the 11:00 pm tickets but only if we are nice enough." It worked, the people got into a line and then she started asking if anyone there would like to be a brave soul and separate the people by time. I'm definitely not used to seeing someone telling customers that they'll give an extra time slot "If they feel like it." And then asking the customers to help out. It was interesting to say at the least.

After buying the ticket, we get to Joes Pizza and there is a bit of a line here. I think that's great, a line means that the food is going to be amazing. I get the Pizza but it was a bit cold and nothing too exciting. We have the same kind of New York style pizza here in Hollywood and I think it's much better. Not cold and a bit crunchy the way I like it.

Afterwards, we decide to get dessert and start walking so we can stop at any dessert place we can find. We find some ice cream place called the Pop Bar. This was probably one of the tastiest ice creams I have ever had.

After the ice cream, Gabby goes home an I get back to the Rockefeller. I came about an hour early and was really tired on my feet so I decided to sit down by the entrance to the elevator where there was a line. I'm quickly told that I cannot sit there on the floor like that, so I ask them where I can sit, and they tell me to go all the way down the hall and there may be chairs there. I get there and seems like everyone was waiting like me because pretty much all the chairs and tables were taken. Many had their head down waiting for their time to come up to go view the observatory. I still ponder why I couldn't sit on the side next to where I needed to be, it's not like I was blocking anything. My time has finally came up and I go up to the deck. On the way up, there is a little show in the elevator shown with a projector as if you were flying up which I thought was pretty cool. Also, the building is so high that my ears popped, it was about 68 floors high.

Gotham looks beautiful at night.

I slowly went to look all around, you can go a bit higher and look around there as well. There were letters on the building that obstruct the view of the bottom a little bit which was a bit annoying but not too bad.

After exploring the deck, I went back down and took the ferry back to Staten Island where Nathan was waiting with Oxana to pick me up to take me home.

10/05/2017 Thursday

The next day I decide to take it easy and explore Staten Island. I woke up at 10 am where Oxana awaits to give me more sandwiches this time. The first ones were from bagels and these ones are out of croissants. I tell her that I already have 2 left from the day before but she insisted that they were old and not good anymore. I laugh but still try to save as much food as I can and take the croissant sandwiches with me as well.

The first place in Staten Island in my itinerary was to visit Mount Lorreto. Nathan says that his grand daughter, Gracie loves that park and they visit it all the time and offered to take me. As we get there, someone is standing at the entrance to let us know that it is closed for reconstruction which was a total let down for me. Nathan then tells me that there is another park that Gracie likes and proceeds to drive me over to that one called The Wolfes Pond. I sat on a bench and ate one of Oxanas very tasty amazing croissant sandwiches and took a look around.

It's a nice park right near the beach, and an interesting pond.

It was near a beach full of dead Horse Shoe Crabs.

Next he took me to the Great Kills Park where there are things to climb on and a nice marina.

Finally we go to a place called Historic Richmond Town. A town where very old houses get imported so people can see how people lived back in the day.

The main visitors center was closed but some places like a court was still open. Turns out, the first US courts seemed to have been made into other peoples houses, at least that's what it looked like. It had a kitchen, bedrooms and everything.

Pretty cool place to explore and look back on a few centuries or so.

Afterwards, I needed to be in Manhatten because there was a show that I signed up for. Nathan first took me home where I finally met Gracie for my first time. She was doing her homework. I have met her mom Barbara long ago and again for a second the first day on this trip just to exchange greetings. I wish I'd have seen them a bit more during my trip. After the meeting, Nathan takes me to the Ferry so I can get to the show.

I start walking to the show and at this point I notice, New York is under heavy construction. I mean every block I go through, there are those little overpasses built so you can walk underneath while there is construction on the building. Also there is trash bags on the side of the sidewalks awaiting for them to be picked up I'm guessing. I think that the streets are so small and there is already such limited parking that they don't have trash bins at all. However, they heavily recycle. I saw 4 bins everywhere for different types of trash for recycling purposes. This is way more than Los Angeles has and it seems like everyone pays attention and uses them which is nice to see. The construction overpasses and the trash bags however, is not nice to see. Although I did think about it and since there is so much construction going on, in a year I can come back to New York and essentially see an updated maybe even a newer city. It seems to change and upgrade every year which is amazingly nice. The only new thing I can think that was in Los Angeles lately was a slide they made off of a building called Skyspace. Other than that, I can't think of anything new that was built for the last 10 years even. So, you go New York, keep building and making those sweet upgrades. Definitely have to fix the trash problem though because some streets were pretty smelly I have to say.

After pondering all of this, I make it to the show. It's a show called Sleep No More at the Mckittrick Hotel. Alex invited me to this event and of course I show up before he does. I have no idea what this is or how it's going to go but the line is wrapped around the street so I call Alex and let him know to be on his way. All of a sudden the line starts moving and is moving fast and still no sign of Alex. I'm about to get in and text him on where he is, he says he is coming. I was next in line and they let me in. I tell them that I have a friend coming and they said that I can wait in the bar inside. I come in and it goes through a pretty eerie hallway until you get to the bar. They give you a regular playing card and ask you to get a drink. I got the 4 of diamonds that they gave me and a coke. Alex texted me saying he is close and to wait for him at the bar until someone called out for all the 4's to come up. I tell him that they are calling my card and I don't want to or even knew how to give up my spot, I'll just see him inside on whatever this is since he said he had done this before.

Sleep No More is a very interesting concept. You are first led into an elevator where they give you a mask and tell you not to talk from here on in. They are very serious about not talking. They stop in different floors of the hotel and try to separate groups and couples as much as they can. So even if Alex and I started together, we would have probably been separated anyway. They let me out of the elevator and let us know, the more you explore the better the experience will be and shut the elevator doors. There is maybe 6 of us and we wait for a moment for something to happen but nothing nor no one is showing up. We start walking and peering into the rooms of the hotel. This place is very nicely decorated, the room I started in was pretty much a cemetery place with an empty store and like a box maze. I slowly started to go inside the rooms and around. After a while, a woman without a mask walks through and I see people following her and I start following her too. She does some interpretive movements and is acting crazy clinching her arms around herself and walking drunkenly. She continues to act crazy touching her face and hair until she gets to another actor. They start kissing and groping each other and quickly leave. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to follow but they went too quick for me to catch up. I explored some more and then another actress came in, this time a pregnant blond lady who was dancing inside a room with couches. A black man shows up and starts to dance with her. At this point, this felt like I was watching a silent film being acted out. They leave the room, and I immediately follow and make sure they don't lose me this time. They go up and down stairs and seem like they want to lose some of the crowd. They get to another room and dance some more. At this point I start understanding that there are various actors who you should follow. So I head back to the cemetery hoping that there would be an actor there at some point and follow him because I think it would be most interesting for me. I find a man actor on my way and decide to follow him and yes, he goes to the cemetery. He digs up some bones and takes them to a lab, seems like he is some sort of alchemist of some kind. Another man walks in and takes a bone that he has created and walks off, half of the group splits up and follows the other man. After sometime, During his alchemy, it becomes boring so I start following someone else and try to get through as many actors as I can. After a whole lot of walking fast upstairs and downstairs of the 5 floors that were there, I realized I haven't been to the very lower level of the hotel. I decided to take a break and explore the lowest level which was awesome. All the actors showed up here and were dancing. This is where it seems to start and all of them get separated and they redo their acts about every 20 minutes. I wish I had started in this room to begin with. I chose another actor I haven't seen and decided to follow once again. A woman who gets the poison and puts it into some other mans drink. At the very end, they guide us to the lower part of the hotel where all the actors have dinner and all of us see the horror that entails where they kill the King.

If you haven't figured it out already, this was a somewhat an interactive play of Hamlet. Alex told me that it was Hamlet a while back when we bought the tickets but I of course forgot and was terribly confused on what was going on. This experience was pretty awesome. The only things I wish they had done was, let us explore for a bit first. I really liked the exploring part and the eeriness that it produces in the beginning, but then guide us to where all the actors are starting their rotations. Have us follow an actor of our choice until they get back to dancing again and choose a different actor. After, you can get to as many actors as you can, let the actors take a break and have you explore a bit more and then at the finale, lure everyone to one place like they did at the end.

I get back to the bar where I finally spot Alex and he is speaking with two Canadian visitors that he'd just met. Allison and Zac. We get to talking and all go together to a nearby pub.

Allison has a few majors under her belt and theater is one of them. She is the one who reminded me that it was a story about Hamlet, which I have never read or watched so I asked her to tell me the story. I now know the story of Hamlet, thank you Allison!

We got to the pub and they ordered their food. I stayed a bit to continue chatting but then I decided to leave and go to another food spot that was on the itinerary to eat because no one strays away from the itinerary! I decided to walk to Katz's Delicatessen restaurant. This is what the internet recommended for the best Pastrami Sandwiches.

I find the place and enter. I am given a blue ticket at the entrance. I hold onto it thinking that they will call a number or something but there weren't any numbers on the ticket. I see some lines behind cutters so I go stand in one. I get to the front and the cutter on the other side asks what I want? I let him know that I'm here for the pastrami. He cuts a pastrami and puts it on a plate for me to eat while he cuts the rest. He finishes, puts mustard on rye bread, and hands me the sandwich with a few pickles on the side. I ask him where I take it, and he tells me to choose a spot to sit, eat it, and then pay at the register. I get to my spot and eat.

It was actually the best pastrami I have ever had. The internet was right, definitely amazing. After my amazing meal I go pay at the register. "That'll be 23 dollars," they tell me nonchalantly. I reluctantly pay and leave. 23 dollars!? I just paid 23 dollars for a pastrami sandwich with mustard and a few pickles, no drink, or anything else. Amazing! This is why they give you a ticket instead of a menu, because if I'd seen this price on a menu I would really be hesitant in getting that sandwich. Whoever made this setup of a way to pay in a restaurant is a genius. Even though it was in fact the best pastrami, I wouldn't pay more than 15 dollars just for 2 pieces of bread and meat and the restaurant was pretty full too. Genius!

I am on my way home and get to a metro. At this point I realize that the Metro doesn't work like it does in Los Angeles. In Los Angeles, if you want to go north or south you will enter the same tunnel and on the left side, the metro will go one way and on the right side it will go another. You can enter either train you want once underneath the tunnel. Here it is a bit of a cluster. You need to cross the street to find the correct metro and once inside and you go through the gate, then you pay and if you are going the wrong way it's too bad. You will have to leave and pay again to go the right way. It would be fine, but on top of the tunnels they only have letters, it doesn't really say south, north, west, or east. Instead it says Downtown or Uptown. Which is actually amazing and I wish they did this in Los Angeles. Going north? Uptown, South? Downtown. I also wish that the metros also had East town and West town. Although in Manhattan it seems like it only goes north and south.

So as I am Googling on which metro to take, it is tough to know if it's across the block or not because Google maps doesn't really show that much in detail and sometimes the entrance isn't even across the street, sometimes it's a few blocks away! On top of the tunnel it will say BDFM Train. That means there is a B D F and M train going in this tunnel and yes, I've already made the BDSM jokes a few times while being there. When you get inside the tunnel it will then again break apart. BD on the left side and FM on the right side and another tunnel leading you to where you need to go. Needed to go to the South and it lead me right outside again. This was really confusing and it is amazing that there are no maps inside the tunnels of how and where the trains go. There are maps inside the metro itself as you're riding on it, but non in the tunnels. Why? So all this time I have actually been getting lucky on where I was going and happen to take the correct train, until...

I find the metro station I'm supposed to get to so I can get down to the ferry which was the F-train. However the F train wasn't running at this time. There are small papers posted letting everyone know. I of course missed those papers and was waiting for the F train with some others. There is an information desk, however it is on the other side from the gate when you enter after you pay. So to speak with the person you'd have to exit. This is a problem, I don't understand why they can't have the information desk in the middle between the entrance gate so the person can answer all questions. At least have a button so you can talk with them once inside. I yell, so I don't have to exit and they hear me. They tell me to walk across and the other train is going toward the Ferry. In this particular station, you can get to the other side without paying so I do so. I get on the train and it takes me completely the opposite way into Brooklyn. I get off and wait for the metro to go the other way and it doesn't come, I give up and call an Uber.

I tell my uncle Nathan what had happened and let him know that I will be late so he won't have to wait for me at the ferry for too long. An Uber comes to pick me up. A nice lady from Peru who is very much down on her luck. She told me that her parents are still in Peru and are very poor with barely enough to eat. She herself has Cell Anemia which makes it so that she doesn't have enough oxygen in her brain. She has been in New York for over 20 years and still speaks in very broken English. I felt very sorry for her and she says all she does is drive Uber all day and night, and barely makes enough for rent. She totally ignored the navigation and missed the exit a couple of times. She even asked me if it's this particular exit that she should get off, and I told her I wasn't from New York so I had no idea. Needless to say, we went over the Brooklyn bridge a good 3 times before we find our way. Already 30 minutes later than intended I get to the Ferry and I'm told that the Ferry won't come until another half an hour. It finally gets there and I get to my uncle Nathan and aunt Oxana. Poor things must have been waiting there for me for hours.

10/06/2017 Friday

Woke up and began my trip back to Manhattan. Alex calls me to ask what I'm up to and I tell him that I'm going to the Empire State Building and ask him to join. We get to the top and get the Big Apple view in the day time.

Someone said something about a quarter and I instantly remembered the ol' saying, "If you drop a penny off of the Empire State Building, can it kill someone?" So I absolutely had to take a picture of me holding a penny on top. I ask around if they had a penny because I nor Alex had it and I needed it! I ask someone who was also a tourist what seemed of Spanish decent repeated my question. "A penny?" He reached in the bag very confused why I'd ask only for a penny. He hands it to me with more confusion of how happy I was to receive this penny from him. I thanked him and took my picture.

Next stop was Highline Park. As we walked, Alex told me that he was going to be hanging out with Allison and Zac and wanted to see if they were doing anything. He walked to Highline Park with me. This is a place where it was a metro at some point but then stopped running because it was either too costly to rebuild or not enough people were taking it. They were about to put the rails down and build condos but there was a big uproar and they decided to make it into a pretty unique park.

We walked from the halfway point to the northern side of it. Allison called Alex and he decided to leave and join them for whatever they were doing. I took my sandwich lunch break and ate the rest of my pastrami sandwich from Katz's, it was still good. Having to go to the restroom I decided to get off the Metro Park and look for a bathroom. Man oh man, just like San Francisco, restrooms are close to impossible to find. Even Starbucks didn't have them! There was actually a subway sandwich place there where there was a bathroom. Hallelujah! Even Los Angeles Subways don't have bathrooms. I go in and of course it was out of order. Definitely San Francisco. I have to ask, for a city where there is so much foot traffic and boast about their metros, there doesn't seem to be bathrooms around! Get on it New York and San Francisco! I finally find a store and go in to ask where the nearest restroom is, I mean they have to take breaks too within the 8 hours they work there right? She points me to a hotel and I go there. Very annoying but not as bad as San Francisco. Which made me also think of the people there, I haven't seen much of the oh so famous rudeness going on or anything in New York yet. Where are all the people who curse and tell it like it is no matter who you are that I've heard so much about? Oh well, maybe I just have to stay a while longer and notice it. Onto the Berlin Wall.

Online I found out that there is a piece of the Berlin wall taken out of Berlin and is located in New York. I Google the address and get really close but for the life of me I cannot find it. I walk all around the block of where Google is telling me and cannot see a wall. I decide to ask someone and instead of telling me where it's at, he tells me in his thick new York accent, "Here let me show you." And has me follow him. We turn the corner and go inside a hotel and there it is. I thank him and check out the actual Berlin Wall.

Two sides of the Berlin wall. One side is full of graffiti from the capitalist side and the other clean wall is from the communist side where you can get in much more trouble doing anything like tagging or even touching the wall. You may get shot because of fear of people trying to escape and climb over. Just like the wall, looks neat and clean but a nasty world to live in. Any world where people get shot for trying to leave is problematic.

Next stop is the Sex Museum. I get in there and I guess there was a bachelorette party going on in there where maybe 8 or more Middle Eastern Women were laughing and being loud. A bit too loud for the small place but they seemed like they were having the time of their lives. The museum is separated in different rooms. One room, the bar has pictures talking about how Transsexuals and the Gay scene came into new York claiming their rights. Other rooms were BDSM, talking about how animal have sex, sexy lingerie garments what famous people wore and so on. Nothing that was too interesting to me.

After, I went to the 9/11 museum. I exit the metro and end up at a huge oval mall. It turns out it was a new Westfield mall that was built. I follow the exit signs to get out and find bathrooms, no exit. Interesting, I go back and follow more exit signs and find another entrance to another metro. Ok!? I go upstairs and follow those exits, and as I think I find it, someone stops me and tells me that it is not an exit. I get a bit upset and now claustrophobic. "Where do I exit!?" I ask. She tells me that I have to look for the hallway next to the apple store downstairs and go out that way. I find the apple store and finally the exit the longest hallway ever which I wouldn't have found in my life if I didn't ask anyone, it was ridiculous.

I get out and see that the mall is shaped sort of like a skeleton of an eagle. I proceed to the 9/11 museum. I find it and go in. As you enter there were banners hanging down and a projector was showing images of people who were telling their stories that they remember during the tragic event on 9/11. It definitely set the mood as you go deeper into the museum. I go into a theater where they had a movie about Bush and Giuliani talk about where they were and what they thought was going on at the time. Everything I had already known by watching the news during and after the event. The whole museum was pretty much everything I've known because it was imprinted in my mind so much. It's a great place for people who weren't born then or were too young to remember or tourists from out of the country who want to see what people were going through. As for me and others in the United States who remember watching the news and talking about it with other people, this was nothing new. The most interesting thing for me was video surveillance they had of the terrorists going in through the metal detectors in the airport and walking through without anyone stopping them. What I would also have liked was for them to show us stories of those people who escaped the building at the first sign of trouble. What was going on in their mind? How did they escape? What did they think was happening at the time? There was another movie they showed us where they say that they will rebuild. Right now there are fountains in place of the twin towers, but from what I got from the film is they are very much thinking to rebuild the towers. We shall see.

I get out of the museum and see the beautiful fountains in place of the Twin Towers.

At this point Gabby calls me and we meet at Crif Dogs for hotdogs. She brings her boyfriend David along and we greet each other. I try to order one of their hotdogs but try to have them take out the Pineapples. Two workers look at me with disgust, "Then don't order that." I responded with, "But I like every other topping on there just not the Pineapples." Again with disgust, "But that is the best part of that hot dog." Laughing, I ask them to make a recommendation for another hotdog without any fruit because I don't like to mix fruit with meat. They give me a recommendation and I take it.

It was pretty good, not the best, but above par. I wish they were bigger, but not bad. As we eat our hotdogs, we see a telephone booth in the restaurant. Someone goes into the booth, lift up the phone, and a wall opens and they go in. "It's a speak easy bar." Gabby exclaims, "We should totally go afterwards." I agree. We continue to chat and eat and after we were done, we cleaned up and noticed that people who tried to go into the speak easy, were getting kicked out. Seems like there were already too many people and no one else can enter at the moment. This was a poor design because every time someone picks up the phone they have to be told that it's over packed right now, so the person leaves and a few seconds later someone new comes in and again have to be told that they aren't letting more people in. The guy on the other side must have been so annoyed telling people to go away every few seconds.

Instead we decide to go get dessert and find ourselves in a place called Spot Dessert Bar. A pretty cool place where they make very exotic desserts.

The plant in the pot was edible even the chocolate dirt.

It was pretty good and very pleasing to look at where we didn't even want to eat the beautiful creations.

We finished our desserts and I ask them to drop me off the metro. They drop me off and we say our good byes. This time I'm not going to the Ferry because I'm staying somewhere else in Brighton Beach. David tells me to take the J train all the way down.

Of course to my luck, the J train is also not running at this time. Also for some reason my internet is not working and I'm already inside the gates. No info desk is found, and no map around which is oh so stupid. There were some interactive digital maps but they were few and far in between. I just don't see how hard it is just to put a paper map up on the wall! I remember Tania, my friend where I'll be staying at told me that she lives near Coney Island. I ask someone on how to get to Coney Island and they tell me to take the Q train. I take the Q train and try to get my phone to get online and nothing. This train luckily has a map and a digital stop display. It shows where the train stops and where the next stop will be. I'm not totally sure exactly where I need to stop and where to go when I get off. Oh well, I have 20 stops to figure it out. I keep trying to connect to the internet and notice I'm under 20% battery power. I quickly call Tania and let her know that I'm coming and hope to get the map going so I can show up by 1:00 am. She says ok, but to call her on the cell so she can come down to open the door because they don't have a phone set up in front of their complex to reach them.

Halfway there, at about 10% I still cannot get to the map. I put my phone onto ultimate battery saving mode and hope that it doesn't turn off on me. I continue to look at the map and decide to get off a certain street. I get off and luckily my phone map starts working and I follow at 5%. Rushing because I still have about a mile to walk to get there. I call Tania telling her I'll be there in about half an hour and if my phone dies to come look for me. I finally get there and have just a little juice left to call her down so she can open the door. We find each other and she invites me into her house. Whew!

10/07/2017 Saturday

I wake up from Tania's very comfy couch and meet her boyfriend, Victor. We chat and eat breakfast and head to the beach. I change into my swimming trunks and after being called crazy 100 times that I plan to go swimming, we leave. We walk straight to the beach from her place and check it out.

It reminded me of Venice beach with shops on the side, but without people trying to entertain you and a lot less people walking around and everyone is speaking in Russian. It is a very clean beach and the walk is very enjoyable. Of course, I have to get inside the water.

I thought I would get in and quickly get out but it was actually really nice. A bit chill factor coming in but once you're in, it is very refreshing. I swam a bit more and really enjoyed the water. When I usually come out of the water in the Pacific Ocean I am shaking because it's so cold. Not here in the Atlantic, it was really nice and rejuvenating.

We continue to walk down to Coney Island. A very old timey theme park which was amazing to see.

It even had Colossus constructed the same exact way as we had in Six Flags Magic Mountain until they recently took it down and built a new one. Except they called this one Cyclone which was constructed the same exact way and built in 1927. Colossus in Magic Mountain was built in the 1970's.

We go on and see a cool ride called the slingshot which shoots you way up in the air. Tania and I decided to try it. You get a ticket and we ask how much for the ride. It ended up close to $20 per person to ride it. Why is New York so expensive? We get it anyway and decide to try it.

A lot of fun, I haven't had adrenalin go through my veins like that in a long time. Victor drives and joins us at the Brooklyn Promenade AKA D.U.M.B.O which stands for down under the Manhattan bridge overpass. I was expecting to see a statue of Dumbo there, but no such luck.

Beautiful place with great parks and buildings. You can also see the Brooklyn Bridge where we were heading towards.

We stopped right underneath the bridge and got some ice cream from The Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory. I got a Pepsi Float, I usually make floats but this was my first time buying a float ever and it wasn't bad.

While eating/drinking our ice cream, we walk onto the Brooklyn Bridge. The Brooklyn Bridge is an old bridge which was built in 1883. They have a walking area purely for pedestrians and cyclists on top of where the cars are. I found it pretty neat.

On the bridge there was a person selling what he called a 4D picture of New York for only $10. Very cool, this is my new thing now. I bought it and moved on.

We crossed the bridge which goes from Brooklyn to Manhattan and decide to go back to Brooklyn on a Ferry.

We get back to the car and drive to our next event where we will be meeting Gabby and David at Broadway and watch Kinky Boots. We get there a bit early and I decide to get a burger from one of the stands on the street as New Yorkers do. It was cash only and I had just the right amount with $2 left. I got the Burger and the guy at the stand asks me if I wanted anything to drink. I asked how much water costs and he said it was $3. I only had 2 and he took it and gave me the water. Again, where are these neurotic crazy rude New Yorkers that I've been hearing about? We went inside a pizza restaurant where Tania and Victor wanted to eat and we ate. Afterwards, we met Gabby and David at Kinky Boots.

We all go in and watch the musical, as New Yorkers do.

The play is about a boy who grows up working at his fathers shoe shop. He reluctantly inherits his fathers shop when the father dies and learns that it is going bankrupt. On the other end, there is a boy also growing up who loves wearing high heels and keeps getting shunned. He is a transvestite who grows up dancing but his shoes always break because shoes like these don't support the structure of a man. These two find each other and have to combine forces to save the shop and make a perfect shoe for men who love to wear girl shoes. At first I thought that this was just going to be another propaganda in your face type story. Every time the transvestite entered the room people were hollering and clapping when he didn't even do anything yet. I am still wondering why everyone was clapping. I needed a good storyline with good characters and actually it didn't disappoint. They did a good job of having a story about acceptance and everyone did a great job in the play. We all gave a standing, this time warranted, ovation and talked about it. Tania felt like it wasn't a show for children after noticing that there were many kids there. Gabby and I quickly asked her why not since there wasn't anything sexual or very raunchy things going on? I don't remember what the rebuttal was but I think Gabby and I won the argument.

I heard that while in New York I had to try cheesecake. So we all went to Juniors Restaurant and well it was cheesecake. I usually like it more to be crummy, but this wasn't so. Still, no regrets.

This time going back to stay at my uncles house, I say bye to Tania and Victor and David drives Gabby and me back to Gabys house in Staten Island where Nathan and Oxana are already waiting for me. What punctuality, I feel like they get there and wait for me 4 hours in advance. Nathan drives me back home and I try to take it all in one last time as we pass more Fauns. This time a family, two big deer with 3 Fauns.

Sunday 10/08/2017

Early morning. uncle Nathan drops me off at the airport, I thank him for everything and go inside. Alex and I meet up and go on our way back home. I borrow his headphones again and this time everything works just fine. I actually ended up sleeping a bit and just listened to music. I also was able to log onto wifi and catch up on my youtube videos on my phone, which was nice. JetBlue does it right, except for DirectTV, please update the service so I don't start on shows that are halfway in process.

All in all, the trip was awesome! There weren't any major hiccups as per usual. It was weird relying on meeting people at certain areas and having to slow down so others can keep up but overall worth it for the company. Everyone in New York were way nicer than the experience I had in San Francisco. At one point in the metro, I saw a person sitting down who asked someone if this is the way to a place we were going. In Los Angeles, someone will tell you where the map is or just tell you where to get off. Well in New York, the New Yorker actually goes straight to the map to find out and comes back to the guy and tells him. Then the guy asked him if it was another stop that he had to come off of, and again he walks to the map and walks back. This is unheard of. Gabby explained to me that New Yorkers don't want to waste your time so they will just do it themselves so the process is sped up. China is still a place where I think the most nicest people are but so far New York is a close second.

Thank you to Nathan and Oxana for your amazing hospitality! Thank you Alex for being my trip buddy and telling me about Sleep No More, it was great. Thank you Gabby, David, Tania, and Victor for your hospitality, showing me around, and keeping me company. I absolutely enjoyed it a lot more with all of you there! I think I did pretty much everything in New York that there is to do except for a couple of museums but like I said before, it keeps getting updated and rebuilt so, until next time!

Up next is putting a shrimp on the barbie, Australia.

View all my New York photos here

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New York 10/03/2017 - 10/08/2017

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