New York City

Thursday (07.05.) Franzi and I took a bus from Boston to New York City and met up with Franzi's friend Bine and her sister's boyfriend Tobias. As we drove into NYC we thought of movies and tv shows we had seen the city in. The bus entered NYC from north via Harlem and Bronx before it reached its final station at Port Authority Terminal near the Times Square in Manhatten. We collected the keys for our AirBnB at the owners working office next to the New York Times building and then we went to west 147th street... just north of the central park in the middle of a histpanic quarter that felt more like Mexico and Cuba than Miami :) After unpacking, we met Bine and Tobias at the Times Square... both had explored the city for two days already and just bought tickets for Top of the Rock (the rooftop outlook on the Rockefeller Center) for us earlier. We couldn't resist but taking some pictures at the Times Square while Bine and Tobias shopped some souvenirs. We then walked north on the broadway until Columbus Circle where we entered the Central Square. There we walked along those alleys that we have seen in movies so many times :D The main way of Central Square brought us to the Bethesda Terrace and Fountain. We left Central Square for 5th Avenue where we were first greeted by the hotel that Kevin lived in during "Home alone 2: Lost in New York" (Kevin allein in New York). Walking down the 5th Avenue Franzi and Bine almost felt like starring in "Sex and the City" :P The best view to me was offered by the huge white St. Patricks Cathedral opposite to the Rockefeller Center that appears huge even among skyscrapers and offers an amazing contrast to these office buildings. We then had some dinner at the Rockefeller Center's galeria.

colorful Times Square

the typical Times Square shot :D ... still amazing

Bine, Tobias, Franzi and I at Bethesda Terrace

group photo before leaving Central Park for 5th Avenue

beautiful St Patrick's Cathedral between skyscrapers

After dinner our time was there to go on the top of the rock... after some queueing we had quite some nice overview of this skyscraper city. Top of the rock offers Central Park views in the north, sunset in the west, the Times Square below and a view of the Empire State Building in front the financial district's skyline. We enjoyed the sunset with a fine breeze of wind in our face and I was eager to catch some night shots of the city :) After some time it became rather cold up there and so we left after spending more than two hours above the city^^ We then visited the Grand Central Station and walked back to the Times Square. The lights led the way to the Times Square which we passed through towards Hell's Kitchen where Tobias received a tipp for a nice bar. We ended up in Rudy's Bar & Grill... 3 dollar for a beer in proximity to the Times Square plus a free hotdog for each beer, all kinds of music, some great bar feeling with awesome bar keepers... quite a nice tipp Tobias got there :D after some beer a magician presented us his tricks... for free, just to practice... and he did truly amazing! What an amazing first day in NYC :)

someone photobombed that one^^

sunser behind clouds over Jersey City and the Hudson river

night view from top of the rock towards the Central Park

top of the rock offers great views of the Empire State Building (left)
and the Times Square (right), while the financial district is rather far away

Grand Central Station (left), Chrysler Building (behind, middle)

quite a fancy car in front of Bryant Park :)

street art between Times Square and Rudy's Bar

The next day (08.05.) when Bine and Tobias left to meet Bine's sister, Tobias' girlfriend, the metro brought Franzi and me to the financial district - Wall Street! The Trinity Church marks it's entrance. Down the Wall Street I tried to catch a picture in front of the Wall Street street sign and NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) building... but too many tourists and security didn't allow for a nice shot. Down the street we saw some stupids demonstrating for USA to join BRICS (as if that was possible at all) and that Putin was the nicest guy ever... well - at least reliefing to see that not only European countries harbor such idiots^^ Passing the NYSE at broad street we went to pick up some bagels and coffee for breakfast and one of New York's famous bagel shops: Leo's bagels. With our bellys filled we hopped on the Staten Island Ferry that brought us for free to Staten Island and back offering nice views of the Statue of Liberty and the financial district's skyline. After that 1 hour ferry ride we walked along the Battery Park and took some photos with a humanized Lady Liberty on our way to the World Trade Center 9/11 memorial. The black pools are a stunning memorial for 9/11 and these huge fountains deliver quite a unique climate to this area. The new One World Trader Center (OWT) is simply enormous in height. By now the 3rd highest building in the world with 541m after the Burj Kalifa in Dubai and the Clock Tower in Mecca... at least until the Shanghai Tower is finished later this year which will then be the new #2 :) both, the black pools and OWT are hard to capture on a photo. Many buildings around are still under construction showing how long it takes to repair that immense damage in the middle of the city.

the federal hall between skyscrapers at Wall Street

New York Stock Exchange down broad street

Banker's break :)

skyline view from Staten Island Ferry

Lady Liberty - seen from the ferry :)

quite worth a trip these views from the ferry

me posing with humanized Lady Liberty at Battery Park

From the World Trade Center we went past the Court House to the stunning City Hall and via the Brooklyn Bridge over East River to Brooklyn. The Brooklyn Bridge, too, offered great vistas of the skyscrapers. The bridge itself is worth some views as well of course :) When we arrived on the Brooklyn side we were almost starving and thus got some food at a store and made our way to Brooklyn Bridge Park. But not before taking some pictures of Manhatten Bridge when passing it^^ In the Brooklyn Bridge Park we not only enjoyed our meal, but also the vista of Lady Liberty, the financial district's skyline and the Brooklyn Bridge. We stayed for sunset and returned over Brooklyn Bridge after sunset which offered great night vistas :D I couldn't stop photgraphing this city... I especially love the contrast of old buildings and even skyscrapers from the beginning of the last century and the modern skyscrapers. Back in Manhatten we went to Chinatown and were disappointed. It is even smaller than Boston's Chinatown. So far, I'm disappointed by US Chinatowns... I was expecting bigger ones like in Bangkok or at least as in Singapore or Kuala Lumpur. Thus, we continued to Little Italy... however, that was even more disappointing than Chinatown. New York's Little Italy litterally consists of one crossing. Not comparable to Boston's Little Italy. Nontheless, we were up for some drink and entered one of the restaurants at New Yorks little Italian crossing^^ A nice finish of that sightseeing marathon day :D

financial district from the Brooklyn Bridge

Franzi jumping at Brooklyn Bridge :)

beautiful in Brooklyn close to the East River

me in front of Manhatten Bridge

I find Manhatten Bridge more awesome than Brooklyn Bridge :)

Lady Liberty across the bay

Minions conquering the Brooklyn Bridge Park :D

financial district after sunset from Brookly Bridge Park

too sweet :P

photos from Brooklyn Bridge are even cooler at night^^

Brooklyn Bridge at night

financial district with the bright One World Trade Center at night

Franzi reading about New York while I captured that Italian restaurant scenery :)

The next morning (09.05.) I joined Franzi for a run along Hudson River before we got a bagel near Union Square. From Union Square we walked the broadway north passing the Flatron Building at Madison Square on our way to Herald Square and the Empire State Building. At Times Square we bought a reduced musical ticket from TKTS for Phantom of the Opera. Before the musical started, we visited the High Line, an old railway that was converted into a park above the New Yorker streets. The High Line is relaxed if not filled by tourists^^ Some street are on the way makes it quite an interesting walk. From the High Line we continued through Chelsea to the musical theater and found some Bar'n'Grill on the way that fed us with baby back ribs :P The musical was fun, especially as we had seats in the 4th row :D When the musical finished, the Times Square was filled with people. I captured some more photos while we enjoyed it's lights. Then we went to Rudy's bar again for some good and cheap beer before sleep :D

Franzi infront of the Flatron Building

Franzi on the High Line

Street art seen from the High Line

busy 8th avenue on the way to Phantom of the opera

ready to enjoy these baby back ribs in that scenic Bar'n'Grill :)

Times Square filled with people after the musical ended

Times Square's lights are simply amazing...

The last day (10.05.) we started with empanadas from our Hispanic neighbourhood before we walked straight from there (147th street) to Central Park. We underestimated that distance quite a bit and arrived at Central Park already quite exhausted. There we walked to the Jaqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir and watched petals falling from the blooming cherry trees. We continued to Belvedere Castle before leaving Central Square towards Times Square. There we went for some shopping to the M&M store, souvenir shop and Disney store. After the long way we went to pick up our luggage from the AirBnb and caught the bus back to Boston... what a great trip to New York City that was :)

cherry trees around Jaqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir that lose their petals

Franzi watching the skyline across Jaqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir

beautiful... and the cherry petals are nice too :D

skyline view from the Central Park

Stefan and Franzi visit Boston: sightseeing, brewery tour, baseball game, 2nd anniversary

When I came back (26.04.) to Boston from Japan, I stayed with an Airbnb for the first nights. Because I had to leave my old apartment when I went to Tokio. I had a tiny place in Brookline Village (Brook St). Stefan was scheduled to visit me in Boston during his around-the-world-trip on 30.04. and Franzi came on 1st of May... quite a packed week. Just on Wednesday (29.04.) I got to know that I could move into my new aparment already the next day (30.04.) instead of the day after. As I had already booked another Airbnb for Stefan an myself, Stefan was lucky to have it all to himself when he arrived^^ After I brought Stefan to his Airbnb, we went to Chinatown for dinner. Then we walked to Howl at the Moon bar where we had several drinks I watched the students from BU (Boston Univeristy) and NEU (North Eastern University) celebrating the end of their exams. It didn't take long until the only old ladys in the place sat down next to us, talked to us and forced us to go dancing.
The next day (01.05.) I sent Stefan to Copely Square, Boylston St (shopping), Boston Common and Old Boston Statehouse, while I went to work. Later we met at Lechemere station where I picked up most of my belongings from Christian. Stefan helped me carrying them back to my new apartment., before we had the best spare ribs I ate so far at Soulfire next to my apartment at Brigham Circle. Then I went to the airport to pick up Franzi... this time I even had a flower to say hello to her. But she was a little distracted as her flight was 2.5h late and didn't bring her luggage. As it was late we just enjoyed a beer at my new balcony before going to sleep.
On Saturday (02.05.) we took the Metro to Haymarket and visited Quincy Market for lunch. Stefan was amazed by all the food that was available there :) After lunch we went to the harbour, crossed to seaport and walked along the harbour walk. Then we continued to the Harpoon Brewery where we met with some friends from Franzi's English meetup group to take a Brewery tour. The tour was not too interesting, but the beer testing was :) Great deal for 5$ and the Pretzels outside in the beerhall are the best Pretzels I have ever eaten so far! (Germans usually don't believe that). Then we went back to our apartment as Franzi's luggage was supposed to come - but it didn't. Christian joined us for another beer and we tried to find a place to watch the "greatest box fight ever". After we found out that only a handful bars broadcasted the event, we went to Christian's place to buy it via his payTV connection - no success either. So we went to bed without the box fight after another beer.

our sightseein crew :)

Faneullhall Marketplace

huge dining room inside Quincy Market

entering Harpoon Brewery...

....stealing one of their trucks...

...having fun on the tour....

...and drinking beer :)

 The next day (03.05.) we read in the newspapers that the fight was not as good as it was supposed to be... so we didn't miss too much. This day we went with Stefan to Bunker Hill. After climbing the obelisk, we went to the tiny harbour, crossed the bridge and walked down the Esplanade along Charles River. The spring was in its best time with great sunny weather and a full cherry blossom - just almost a month later than in Japan. Stefan hated us for making him walk all that way^^ We ended at the Fenway Stadium and watched a game Boston Red Sox vs New York Yankees. Stefan explained us how the game works... it took 5 hours, the beer was expensive, the food expensive and bad, it was still rather cold at night, and the game was boring. Though, I was told that it was a very exciting game. Aside from a shot by shot video analysis during the game the last minutes were really quite interesting: Red Sox were 5:8 behind the Yankees in the last inning, Red Sox's hitter wer in, with 3 balls, 2 outs and a Red Sox player on every base... a homerun would now give 4 points to the Red Sox and the game would end 9:8. The hitter hits the ball, it flies high, but comes back to early and a Yankee catches it in the air - all Red Sox out - game over. Nice last minutes when the whole stadium stood up drumming on chairs around them... still the boring 5h before were not really worth it - I don't plan on going again.

ice cream break after climbing the Bunker Hill Monument

Spring feeling at Boston's Esplanade

Fenway Stadium:

Boston Red Sox vs New York Yankees (5:8)

 Monday (04.05.) started with another great breakfast on my balcony before Franzi and Stefan cycled to Harvard and MIT while I went to work. My colleague Rosa defended her PhD thesis this day and at the evening we all drank some beer together at Mission Bar at Brigham Circle. Franzi and Stefan joined us and had quite some fun engaging Americans in embarrasing talks^^
Tuesday (05.05.) morning, Stefan left Boston towards Washington. Today was Franzi and my 2nd anniversary. When I came back fom work we cycled to the Esplanade at Charles river watching the sunset. This was when I asked Franzi to marry me - and she promptly answered "yes" :D
Afterwards we went to the Italian restaurant Al Dente in Northend. Tasty and big portions :) An after dinner walk around charming Northend before we cycled back home.

after sunset under a blossing cherry tree at Boston's Esplanade
(Franzi wearing her new ring) :D