A guy asked me what living in New York City was like, so I shot him.

Day 11:
New York City

After taking the red-eye flight in, I had arrived in NYC. The plans I had to crash at the place of another AYCJ flyer I met fell through, so I ended up booking a hostel. Using the iPhone at the airport, I was able to locate and book a cheap hostel downtown and get the transit directions. I was a bit early to check in, so I had to leave my stuff in a locker before heading back out. My first stop was to Strawberry Fields in Central Park, the John Lennon memorial that is across the street from The Dakota, the apartment building in which he was killed. I first visited this site back in high school during spring break when I came with the Thespian Society for a trip to see Broadway. From the hostel, the Google iPhone maps application gave perfect directions to exactly where I wanted to go, just be entering my destination as Strawberry Fields. from there I entered my next destination of the Alice in Wonderland statue and I was directed straight there. Too cool.

I got a few shots of the park and landmarks before heading over the General Grant National Memorial and location of Grant's Tomb. I had been here during my last NYC visit in 2001, but it was closed, so at least this time I could get inside, and even pick up a NPS stamp. After walking a bit and grabbing a quick lunch in Chinatown, I hit times Square for a while before getting in line for the TKTS booth so I could get a 'South Pacific' half-price ticket. My next stop was the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site where I got my last stamp of the day and joined, last minute once more, the tour of the place. Here we learned of the history of the place where Roosevelt was born and grew up. I then took the subway to the World Trade Center and the site of the new building under construction. I was able to visit the top observation of the World Trade Center during my last visit in 2000. I remember being up there after dark and just sitting against the glass looking out for probably 30-45 minutes and then up on the helicopter deck for about as long. I met and talked with a Ukrainian girl, Iva, for a while and we walked around the site a bit before I had to finally leave in order to make it to the evening performance in time. After the show, I wanted to walk around Castle Clinton and the waterfront for a while, but was so exhausted that I pretty much went to the hostel, got a shower, typed out a few e-mails, and then crashed.