America!

After Paris and Reykjavik, it's all about North America and the USA for the next one and half month, or so!

The most populous city (8.2 million) in the United States, New York City - our first destination - ain't no Disneyland. Manhattan and especially Times Square does remind it, I would say. Unreal mixture of everything you've seen in movies, TV series and news. Like Disneyworld neither New York feels real. Not at first at least. But it's real and it's unique. And as eyes-opening-experience it can be, exploring New York is quite tiring also. Time and a modest plan is needed!

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Birds enjoying their freedom in Liberty Island on November 2011.

Like other 50 million annual visitors, we also felt the incomparable international buzz all around the City. For us the trip started with Icelandic flight of IcelandAir. After getting a bit lost, we found our rented apartment next to the Mexican cafe in New Jersey. We stayed at a rented flat of friendly Indian couple. We had a lot of fun with our Singaporean friends, Jaime and Min, in Korean town, Paramount hotel and rooftop parties where we got surprisingly invited. The next morning included Finnish hangover!

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Korean woman, Sue, helped us in Laundrymat and after interesting chat she - just like that - invited us to visit her family in Leonia, New Jersey for breakfast. On Sunday we went and enjoyed a lot. Thank you so much, Sue! At the guesthouse we shared our NYC experiences with our British neighbors. On the trip to Liberty Island we had Chinese photographer taking pictures for us.

After the mandatory visit to the symbol of freedom we had an American lunch on the street.. meaning hotdog! In contrast we enjoyed a tasty Nigerian dinner with Usche in Brooklyn. Brown Eyes put it "But meaningful moments are usually those shared with others" and I couldn't agree more. New York offered a lot of nice moments and memories, thank you Jaime, Min, Sue + family and Usche! You made our New York visit meaningful!

DID YOU KNOW?

1.  In 1664 Britain took control of New Amsterdam and renamed it "New York"
2.  New York City has (2011) 5,937 high-rise buildings, of which 550 completed structures were at least 100 meters high
3. There are 62 cities in New York. The largest city in the state and the most populous city in the United States is New York City, which comprises five counties (boroughs): the Bronx, New York (Manhattan), Queens, Kings (Brooklyn), and Richmond (Staten Island). New York City is home to more than two-fifths of the state's population.

> WIKIPEDIA 2011

New York through blue eyes: