New York!!!

Alright, I am back from New York. It was a great week, with lots of fun, good (and LOTS of) food and of course, some money trouble my dad had to save me from.. just as usual. (Love you Papa!!! You're the best!) Also, I have to say a great THANK YOU!! to my friend Mahdi who was not only my lifeguard, tourist guide and food provider, but also an amazing companion who didn't mind doing a 4 hour trajectory each day to pick me up and drop me off at my hostel safely.

Alright, let's get this started!!

First stop: Central Park, Time Square & C.O.

My hostel was right next to Central Park, and I got very lucky with the weather.. so, taking a walk in the morning amidst ducks and squirrels was one thing I very much enjoyed during this week.

Sun... so.... warm.... yay!

Wait.. that's no duck!! o.0

Feeding the ducks...

or wait...?! o.0

Time Square.. shineyyyyyyyy!!

Mahdi took me on a city discovery tour with one of these tourist buses.. it was awesome. Especially since I didn't have to walk :p

Piece!! (For some reason, Mahdi likes when I do crazy pictures.. :p )

Some building I forgot the name of.. And I never made it to JCPenney *cry*

The Empire State Building..

just as the name says :p

Panoramic view of Manhattan..

The Woolworth building. Our very annoying tourist guide on the bus tour said that apparently after 9/11 the owners changed, and now its not accessible to tourists anymore. Don't ask me why, but of all the things she said, this is the only thing I've actually managed to remember..


Some plaza with a gold statue and many flags? Sorry Mahdi, I have a bad memory for names of places :p (/edit : Apparently it was Rockefeller Center! o.0)

Some spooky house!!

The port..

And some BIG bridge!! (/edit 2: Manhattan Bridge.. Mahdi is killing me right now :p)

This was amazing, it's a collection of funny cardboards which I just had to photograph.. I especially like the one with the mom and her kids :p

Awesomeness.

THE NAKED COWBOY!!!! Sadly I lost his autograph :(

OMG its THE restaurant. Red Lobster.. probably the place we went the most often during this week.. such amazing food. (And so expensive too... :/) But I still dream of it.. Lobster Pizza, Spinach-Artichoke-Cream-Cheese dip with Lobster, stuffed mushrooms with sea food, Salmon, Baked Potato with LOTS of cream and butter (No, the potato was NOT dirty ;p stop saying that.. Potatoes are BROWN! Simple!! :p) and shrimp spaghetti.. omg...


Misleadingly, this was not in Red Lobster, but in Junior's.. a pretty awesome restaurant with the best cheesecake I've ever eaten.. well, besides the German ones with raisins :>

Dishes are HUGE.. Here, Mahdi so kindly agreed to exchange his chicken with my chicken, which was cold.. to make my cesar salad even more amazing, he even sacrificed his corn for me!! And Buffalo Wings are just.. yummie!!

Second Stop: ESPN

ESPN is some gaming place where you can not only watch all kinds of sports on a thousand over-sized monitors, but also have pretty awesome food and play games like bowling, racing simulators or table hockey (I dont have any pictures of the table hockey!!! CRY!!! Well, anyways, at least noone can prove I cheated.. >:) )

Dead Mahdi, after having eaten super spicey Buffalo Wings.

Boxing Simulator..

Bring it on!

You better not be messin' with me, boi!!

A boat simulator where you had to coordinate paddling to get through a more or less difficult parcours, ranging from Egyptian tombs to glacial falls and dinosaur land. I still firmly believe there is a way to escape that goddamn Tyrannosaur.. -.-

Third Stop: Madame Tussaud's

Madame Tussaud's is a world famous wax museum, and the figures are really extremely well made.. they look real! Well, as real as it can get, in the case of that mommie..

The first room was filled with famous personalities, such as figures of Whoopie Goldberg, Jennifer Lopez or Jennifer Aniston..

The Psy-Guy from X-Men..

Brangelina...

Oprah Winfrey (is it spelled like that? o.0)...

Two bad guys.. oh wait..

Julia Roberts...

Mahdi with Woody Allen!

I believe this is me with Beyonce Knowles..

Mahdi da Pimp!

Scary... a mirror cabinet!

Yes, thats me.. in the kitchen. Clearly, this shows the unreality of the situation.

A cowboy.. this time a dressed up one.

Another room was filled with famous politicians and cultural personalities. Here I am being accompanied by Jassir Arafat and Fidel Castro.

Even though this guy looks like a magician, I believe he is actually the ruler of some country.

Another nameless person :/ shame on my memory.

That's Rockefeller to the right, some other rich guy to the left, and me in the middle.. I do am expensive >:) (Yes, I know, thats bad grammar .. -.- )

Mahatma Ghandi..

The Pope (dont ask me which :/)

The Dalai Lama!

Mahdi discussing a new theory of relativity with Einstein..

while I listen to Ernest Hemingway telling me another story about the Old Man and the Sea.. yes, I am a very simplistic person :p

Oh Why, its Napoleon..!

The man with the fist..! :D

The man who gets the tongue.. :p

And Miss President, busy at work..!

A Memorial to 9/11.

Another room was dedicated to persons from cinema, music and sports. Johnny Depp looks cooler as a pirate :/ cant help it..

I know this looks weird. But I am - NOT - licking her.. -.-

My future husband..

I tried to fall to make it look like in Chaplin's movies, but I guess I am not very credible at acting.. ;)

Some famous American dancer.. I just liked the angle.

OMG it's da JEWELLERY MAN!!!

Steven Spielberg, showing me his latest concept for Jurassic Parc 878135871..

Now here come the sportspersons. First off: Michael Jordan, basketball superstar!

This picture is dedicated to Mahdi's friend Carlos, who is a baseball fan. I have no clue about baseball. Well, Mahdi explained me the rules, but you know... that memory .. :p

Me with Michelle Kwan, a famous American Ice skater. I really admire her for her grace..

Muhammad Ali: 1 - Mahdi: 0

Love me tender... looooooooove me sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet..... *lalala* As you may have guessed, we have entered the musician area!

Marilyn Monroe and her twin!

I just had to take a picture of the interpreter of New York, New York.. Hommage to Frank Sinatra.

Shiney Elton John..

and even shinier Prince!

Dancing with Tina Turner..

while the Beatles play Lemon Tree for the 90000000000000000st time.

Of course, Madame Tussaud's wouldn't be complete without Michael Jackson...

or Britney Spears.

"This is my favorite song of all times.... NOT ANYMORE!!!" The karaoke American Idol at the end of Madame Tussaud's was the funniest thing I've done in a while.. and Simon, I still love u :P

Fourth Stop: New York Nightlife

The Empire State Building at Night.. Nothing more to it, really :p

Friday Evening Mahdi learned how to dance Salsa! And he was pretty good at it.. for a noob :p

When we left the club it was raining and foggy, and I still think it provided the perfect atmosphere for an awesome picture.

Last stop: Fall Foliage at Bear Mountains

On Sunday we did a boat cruise to Bear Mountains, a 3 hour ride north of NYC on the Hudson River. The colors were beautiful, and I have to say, even though its kind of fun to have eternal summer in Latin America, I miss the autumn of North America a lot.. actually of Germany too. I guess it's true that you always want what you don't have at the moment..

Another panoramic picture of Hudson River and Bear Mountain..

Mahdi with matching pullover and umbrella.. Stylish, stylish, Sir! :p

Me after I almost fell into the water for trying to be stylish too -.-

At Bear Mountain, there was a replica of the German Oktoberfest... and even though it was very touristic and the woman clearly had no idea what she was singing, it reminded me of home.. *sighz*

Finishing off with this cute couple who had bought pretty much every souvenir item the Bear Mountain Oktoberfest had to offer.. :D Humptata, Humptata... Holladrihoooooo!!!

Sadly my camera died shortly thereafter, so I do not have pictures of the Titanic Artefact Museum Mahdi and I went to before I left for Bolivia. However - and this is for you, Maaaam :p - I hope you enjoyed the pictures of my adventure in the Big Apple.. It took me a WHOLE DAY!!! to upload them!!! :p