Highlights from NYC August 16th-23th 2016


Tuesday, August 16th 2016
When Karina, Ulrik and I had arrived at JFK airport, we said goodbye for now and agreed to meet later.
I went out and took a taxi to the hotel, and when I arrived at the hotel I checked in. I came up to the room and unpacked and changed into something other clothes.
I went out and up towards Times Square where I enjoyed the weather. Met Karina and Ulrik there and shortly after Meike, Sina and Carlos (a German family we know, who was also in New York) met up with us. We decided to go and eat dinner at Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square. When we were done, we went our separate ways, and I went back to my hotel since I was quite tired after the journey.

Wednesday, August 17th 2016
Karina, Ulrik and I went on a trip to Jackson Heights in Queens to see if we would be able to meet Donnie Wahlberg on location for the filming of the television series "Blue Bloods". Karina and I had bought Johan Bülow liquorice to Donnie, since it was his birthday.
We found where the filming was. We waited a while until we decided to go towards where Donnie was. Karina called him over to us. He came over to us, and we said happy birthday to him. We handed him the licorice. We also told him that we were from Denmark. He said thank you for the gift and then asked if we been to Wahlburgers (the restaurant he owns with his brothers Mark and Paul Wahlberg). Karina said yes. It was actually only Karina and Ulrik, who had been there. I hadn't been there yet. Donnie invited us to go there again. He said that we should ask for Ben and say we were from Denmark. That way we would get the meal for free ;-). Both Karina, Ulrik and I took pictures with Donnie.
Today Karina, Ulrik and I also went to see Lincoln Center from the outside.
Thursday. 18 August 2016
Thursday, Karina, Ulrik and I went on a tour in various shoe stores. We were in a Vans store and in a Converse store. When we sat outside the Vans store, suddenly fire trucks arrived to the street where we were. There were apparently someone in the next house next to the Vans store that could smell gas, so someone had called after the fire trucks. It appeared that it was a false alarm since the firemen came out pretty quickly and drove away. In the Converse store, I bought a t-shirt.
Later that night I was out for dinner with Karina, Ulrik, Meike, Sina and Carlos at the restaurant at the New Yorker Hotel. We wanted to have dinner at Tic Toc Diner, also located at the hotel, but Karina could not enter the diner because of the stairs. Then we were told that we could order food from the diner in the restaurant. So we did. It was a little confusing for the waitress when we ordered from both the restaurant's menu, and the Tic Toc menu. But in the end it went up. ;-)
When we were done eating, we went out to find some postcards. When they were found, we went up to Bryant Park, where we enjoyed the warm summer night until we went to our hotels.

Friday, August 19th 2016
I had agreed with Heather, a Canadian friend, to meet her for breakfast/brunch while she was in New York, so we met around 10.30 am and then we talked a lot about what had happened in each other's lives since we had last met in 2013. When we had eaten, we went out and enjoyed the nice weather in New York. We ended up in Central Park, where we found a bench. We sat and talked and talked. Then we decided to go to Timmies (Tim Hortons, the Canadian version of Starbucks), which has a shop in New York.
in the late afternoon Heather and I said goodbye. I found out that Karina, Ulrik, Meike, Sina and Carlos was in Central Park, so I went to the Central Park again, I got there. We enjoyed ourselves for a while before Karina, Ulrik and I said goodbye today to Meike, Sina and Carlos. We then walked around until I was a bit hungry. We found a McDonalds where we got something to eat. Then we walked around again until we found some small shops in the area. After that we said good night and we went to our hotels.

Saturday, August 20th 2016
Karina, Ulrik and I had agreed to go to Coney Island. We didn't get on the subway to go to Coney Island since there was a rainstorm that stopped us for a little while ;-). But we did eventually go, and there weather was really nice at Coney Island. We walked along the promenade in one direction until we went down to the beach. Karina could not get down to the water, so Ulrik and I went down and got our feet wet. The water was really nice and warm. If I had brung my swimsuit on the trip, I had went into the ocean.
When we had been on the beach for a while, we went up again towards the promenade. We went up to the amusement park Luna Park. Prior to going Ulrik and I had talked about that we would like to try some of the rides and we had talked about, that it would probably be better to try them before we got something to eat. We had bought a card with points, so there was the opportunity to try three rides. All 3 of them were fun. One of them was very special, since we were laying on our stomach through the ride. That was very odd to try.
When we had tried them, we decided that now was the time, that we should have something to eat. We went over to Walburgers, since we wanted see if we could get the free meal that Donnie had said. ;-)
When we got there, we were shown a table. We sat down and a waitress came. Karina says we had met Donnie earlier that week and he had said that we should say that we came from Denmark and we should talk to Ben. The waitress went, and came back a little later and said Ben, would come in a bit since he was talking on the phone. When Ben came over to the table, he said his nam and and shoke hands with both Karina, Ulrik and I. He said he loved the Danes, especially the women. ;-) He explained that we should just order what we wanted. We didn't have to think about the bill. ;-) We chose what we wanted and we all got a main course and a dessert. Before we went, we went a trip up to the roof (Wahlburgers also has a seating area on the roof), to see the view.
As we went from Wahlburgers, we walked towards the train as it was getting a little late. When the train arrived at the station close to my hotel, I said goodnight to Karina and Ulrik. I got off and went to my hotel.

Sunday, August 21th 2016
Sunday Karina, Ulrik, Meike, Sina, Carlos and I took a trip to Roosevelt Island. My freight of heights reappeared when it came out when we were on the tram over to Roosevelt Island. So when we came over, I'll just wanted to get off. It took a little while, before I was over it. When I was over it, I could enjoy view from Roosevelt Island over to Manhattan, and then I was calm of the sight of water in between. We found an abandoned smallpox hospital from 1857. The ruins of the hospital, is still there today. After spending a few hours on Roosevelt Island, we toke the tram back to Manhattan. The second time I felt a little beter being on the tram than the first time.
When we were back in Manhattan Karina, Ulrik and I said goodbye to Meike, Sina and Carlos, as they were leaving NYC Monday, so we wouldn't see them again before we headed back home. Then I said goodbye to Karina and Ulrik for the day, since they had something they had to do in the afternoon and in the evening.
I shopped for a little while and found something to eat before I went back to my hotel.

Monday. August 22th 2016
Karina, Ulrik and I met at Union Square, and we found the filming of a scene of a new US TV series. We were there for a bit and saw how the filming took place. Then we found a place to eat lunch. When we were done we went out and explored the city. We found the new shopping center Westfield which is located at the World Trade Center. We went and window shopped for a little bit.
In the evening, we found a nice place to eat and we got the last dinner in New York this time. We chose to sit outside and eat. And we enjoyed ourselves. After we had gotten what we could eat and drink, we left the dining spot and went down to the station, which Karina and Ulrik had to to get to get down to their hotel. At one point, we walk past a news studio, which were taping a broadcast. We could see directly into the studio, as there were large windows all around the building. We thought it was a little bit funny. 
When we reached the station, we said goodnight and I went to my hotel.

Tuesday, August 23th 2016
The last day in New York was spent seeing the Great Northern Food Hall in Grand Central Terminal. Great Northern Food Hall, is owned by, among other the Danish chef Claus Meyer. You can find a lot of Danish foods at the Great Northern Food Hall. You can also buy ryebread mix, so you have the opportunity to make danish ryebread. I bought a tebirkes, a kind of Danish pastry. And it tasted just as the ones you buy in Denmark.
We also saw a Catholic Cathedral, located on 5th avenue. A very beautiful building. There were some very high ceilings in that Cathedral
I also saw a part of Rockefeller Center, which I didn't even knew was there.
When the time came, we went to my hotel, where I picked up my suitcase (I had checked out earlier in the day), and then we went to Karina and Ulrik's hotel, where they picked up their suitcases. And then we went out to the airport and back to Denmark.

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