Day 13: New York

After close to 3 and a half months in the US, today would be the very last day of our summer adventure (not including the flight day tomorrow). As for today, it will only be between me and Dickson as Winson had planned to take a drive down to Boston. And like what we did in Miami, we wanted to save on the last night of our accommodation and spend our night at the airport. Our day started ealier than usual, it was only 8.30am when we were done with our checkouts (of course with the free breakfast in our stomachs too :)) and we utilised the free shuttle provided by the hotel to the airport. Our plan was to leave our luggage at the airport's luggage storing facility which would make sense since it's not possible to move around with our bulky luggage. After we were done with our luggage, we took the airport's shuttle service to the nearest subway station (Howard Beach Station).


The Howard Beach Station

From the subway station, we took a subway to Downtown Manhattan. Our first stop was at an electronic superstore which the Malaysian at the gift shop recommended (it was raining and we had n choice but to spend our time indoors). There were plenty of good deals there, including the camera pouch I got from Washington which were cheaper and lots more, I almost even got myself an iPod Touch (which was only USD 250, way cheaper then those sold at the Apple Store) but after much consideration, I didn't. After our window shopping session, we decided to have our lunch and once we were done, we settled our matters with the bank (closing our account and withdrawing our money) before proceeded to a subway station and took a subway to the station which was closest to the UN headquarters.


The UN Headquarters building


Flags of participating countries

What we were about to see in the UN building were all work/art related to peace. Below are a few pictures of the work/art.


A sculpture of a gun being tied up which resembles peace


Art done by children from around the world regarding peace


Potraits of all the previous and current Secretary Generals of UN

Next, we decided to cover the other half of the Central Park in Downtown and that's when the subway came to use again. Due to the rain earlier in the morning, the weather was pretty good with moderate amount of sun and cool breezes which was prefect for what we had in mind. Below are more pictures of the park.


A sculpture which looks very similar to the Washington Monument but way smaller


A sense of serenity


The main water reservoir of the park


The beauty of nature


A flower up close


A tree experiencing early fall

After the park, all we could do while waiting for nightfall (we wanted to visit the Brooklyn Bridge at night) was loitering around the city entering shops and malls randomly without a real sense of direction :p. I even managed to buy a pair of new shoes since the one I'm having now had gave way (it was a good deal anyways since it was so hard to find cheap things in NYC). It was already 8+ in the night when I'm done with my shoes, without wasting much time, we took a subway and headed towards the Brooklyn Bridge. While we were on the bridge (busy taking pictures), we met an Irish lady (in her 20's) by the name of Claire which at first came up to us to assist her in taking pictures. We then had a chat and since she and us shared the same objective, we then crossed the bridge stopping by along the way for more photos.


The Brooklyn Bridge at night


Me & Dickson by the Brooklyn Bridge


Manhattan from the bridge


A part of Manhattan Bridge from Brooklyn Bridge

By the end of the bridge, we got to learned that Claire had been traveling the whole of America which includes the southern parts alone for the past 2 months. Sometimes it just makes me wonder what's the point of living life if we work and work without seeing the world. We got to the nearest subway station at the Brooklyn end of the bridge to get back to Manhattan and that's when we decided that we should have dinner together with Ms. Claire. Back at Downtown Manhattan (42nd street) we hopped from restaurants to restaurants to find the best deal and we finally settled down in one which was called the Applebee's Grill and Bar just along Times Square.


Applebee's

After a fine meal (I had a steak with 2 sides), which we shared much about our culture during the meal and learned much about each other, we decided that it was appropriate that we should call it a day since it was already close to 1am in the morning.


A picture of 3 of us right outside the restaurant

We then headed to the subway station which was common to Ms Claire's line to her lodging and our line to the airport and that was where we part ways. And as usual, it was a really long ride (maybe the longest of all) to the subway station which we then hopped onto the airport's shuttle service back to the terminal which we had our luggage stored. But we were so tired that we didn't bother to collect our luggage, but we found our spots for a short nap before our agonising flight back.