By water. By land. In the air.

What is the favorite activity of Americans? Waiting in line and organizing queues. It's likely that school children are already learning how to handle brass poles and barriers. The highlight so far is the ride on the Water Taxi. Two women are sitting in the ticket office. One of them takes our New York passes and gives instructions to her colleague, who prints the tickets.

Then the boss leaves the office and takes command of us. 'In a line please guys!' We spontaneously assume the proper posture and follow along with three other guys in single file. We are directed around three corners and then in a circle. The first person is told where to stand, and we are aligned. A gate opens and the guide from the ship comes out with a huge tip jar and bids farewell to the guests from the previous tour.

We sail around Manhattan and have a thousand spectacular views, which are unfortunately obscured. The first day with unclear visibility and overcast skies. The guide tells us that it was here at the dock that 'Sully' landed his airplane in the Hudson.

At the Statue of Liberty, there are photo orgies. Ten people each take a hundred pictures. Almost all selfies. We get off near Ground Zero and go to the 9/11 Museum.

Here is the next well-organized queue. Or rather, queues. It's somewhat confusing, but firmly under control of about 100 uniformed personnel who always appear like ghosts whenever you get in the wrong line. First, turn your passes into tickets, then get in the right queue. But wait for half an hour.

At the entrance control, my pocket knife gets me in trouble. I receive a blue slip of paper and instructions on where to retrieve my knife. Weird. Yesterday at the Guggenheim, I could have vandalized 10 paintings worth $100 million in total.

The museum is overcrowded, which intensifies the oppressive atmosphere of the exhibition. You walk along the preserved foundations of the towers and see several fragments of the steel structure and destroyed fire trucks. For me, the most touching image is the gaze of a young firefighter going up the stairs to certain death.

We ascend from the underworld to the upper world. The Empire State Building with a particularly well-organized line. This is the second time my knife gets me in trouble and I am instructed to leave it at home tomorrow.

We walk to the observation deck from the 80th floor, of course. You can't help but look around to see if Meg Ryan or Tom Hanks will show up at any moment. The old elevator operator is already there....