Excuse my
arty photos, I couldn't help it ;D
This is the street / block just next to our hotel, with lots of well-known brands like H&M, Uniqlo, and...Footlocker! O_O
Yellow taxis. I managed to take 5+ of them within 2 hours on the 4th day, which I really enjoyed. The drivers were nice and such busy traffic was certainly interesting. The taxis weren't expensive in my opinion, probably cheaper than London cabs. General big city rates I'd say.
Time Square! My neck hurt after trying to look at all the billboards.
Grand Central Station. It was an amazing place, so tall and so beautiful. The only letdown was of course by the time we got it was getting dark, plus my camera isn't good with such light conditions so I walked away with blurry yellow photos :(
Colourful display inside the station. LOOK IT'S SO COLOURFUL
Our (sort of) street at night. The lights and boards played their part, but the people are what made this place such a big non-stop city.
On the 2nd day we headed to the
New York Public Library (below). This building on the way was simply gorgeous!
The library itself. I loved all the decorations and details both outside and inside.
Gift shop.
In this library I had to keep looking up...
...and up...
...and up. Every corner is filled with embellishments.
On the way to
MOMA.
St Patrick's Cathedral. Beautiful.
I checked in absolutely everything in the cloakroom in MOMA so I didn't have any photos of it. My brain sometimes sucks. But then who needs photos when you're seeing Picasso and Van Gogh pieces in real life in front of your eyes.
3rd day we went to the
911 memorial and took the Staten Island Ferry to see the
Statue of Liberty.
We walked the
Brooklyn Bridge. The weather was great with blue skies, although my camera battery was dying, all the pictures I took were crisp and bright.
Then in the evening...*drum rolls*
The Empire State Building!
A $25 ticket gets you to the main deck (86th floor), where we stood in freezing wind to take pictures.
Of course we didn't stop there. We paid extra to go all the way to the top 102nd floor. It was a small room(?) with glass windows to observe New York city, 360 degrees.
I took the taxis to the shops I found online on the 4th day, and thanks to the internet, they were either closed or moved. I wandered around the streets and shops nearby, the whole atmosphere was so different to the main blocks - the streets were almost empty in the afternoon.
Chalk drawing on the ground.
I was catching up with my relatives on that day, we had (great) meals in
China Town and visited the Tokyo Rebel shop that I always wanted to see.
The shop was way smaller than I expected, but it did have many various stocks from lolita to punk styles. It sells Japanese brands at almost original prices, although the majority are still pretty high to afford. Otherwise I would've bought more than just a T-shirt...
Last day was Lennon based. We took the subway to
The Dakota.
Cute little girl outside. Awwwww
Strawberry fields in
Central Park, with badges bought from stalls at the entrance. Typical tourist.
We walked across Times Square again on the way back to our hotel.
There were LOTS of Duane Reade's around. A bit like Tesco.
Last chance to have a meal from America's McDonald's! Handy box of chicken bites and mint drink. The picture doesn't look too stereotypically American (aka high calories) but then it was too much for me to finish at once.
Chocolate factory in
Toys R Us! I LOVED the ceiling. Sadly it was selling only pick n mixes...
