1st day in Manhattan

Our landlady kindly got us a Metrocard for Manhattan. Her brother even accompanied us to the bus and showed us the way to the subway. Unfortunately, he had to get off at Wall Street. So we had to continue the rest of the way to Times Square on our own. When we arrived, it was impressive for me as a country person to see how big the buildings are up close. You just feel soooo tiny. After some initial orientation problems and countless annoying vendors trying to sell us a bus tour, we finally started walking towards Times Square. On the way there, we passed by a Hard Rock Café.

After taking a quick look at the Hard Rock Café, we continued towards 42nd Street and Times Square. Less than 5 minutes later, we were already there and reached our first destination, Times Square.

Somehow, Times Square looked smaller and less impressive in real life, especially since there seemed to be construction everywhere around it. Of course, I couldn't resist taking a selfie.

Surprisingly (not!), it was really warm at Times Square. The skyscrapers just don't let any tiny breeze through. Well, it could definitely be worse, I shouldn't complain :) After that, we went to the Rockefeller Center. I have to say, I was really surprised by that. I didn't know it was soooo big. This center consists of several skyscrapers and is simply gigantic.

What also surprised me was the fact that the sights in Manhattan are incredibly close to each other. Almost across from the Rockefeller Center was St. Patrick's Cathedral. It looked just as beautiful from the outside as it did from the inside. And of course, I had to take some pictures here too ;)

After the cathedral, we simply continued walking on 5th Avenue. On the way to the Museum of Modern Art, we passed by the Trump Tower and some former building (can't remember the name, but it's not so important). Now, there's a huge Breitling building instead of the old building. Shortly after, we arrived at MoMa.

Since the sofas in MoMa (Museum of Modern Art) looked so comfortable and sightseeing was quite exhausting, we decided to take a short break in the entrance hall before heading to Central Park.

Central Park also surprised me a lot. I had already imagined the park to be big, but not THIS big. There's even a zoo inside (which is quite similar to Wilhelma).

I took a photo of the map so you can imagine how big this whole park is. We only made it to the first quarter of the park. After that, we walked back because it was already 3pm and we were told to make sure we leave before 5pm because the subway is supposed to be very crowded during rush hour. And it was the right decision. It took us easily 1.5 hours to get back to our apartment in Brooklyn, as we had to first take the subway, then the bus, and then walk a short distance to get back home. The day was somehow quite exhausting and I was already very tired by 6:30pm. I guess my body is still fully adjusted to the German rhythm (jetlag and all). Anyway, I really need to sleep now. I'll tell you more about my 2nd day in New York tomorrow. The plan is to visit the Statue of Liberty, Wall Street, Ground Zero, Empire State Building, etc.