Júl. 26.
A várakozásokkal ellentétben semmi gond nem volt a repülőutakkal, csak az, túl korán mentünk ki a reptérre mind Budapesten, mind Amsterdamban. Csengét-Borkát megtaláltuk rendben. A gép kb fél órát késett, Nincs itt semmi látnivaló.
Taxi kedves és nem túl drága: bttó 75 usd.
Airbnb szoba kicsi, tkp egy Airbnb szálloda, a 31. utca és a Broadway sarkán. 8. emelet. fény alig jön be. Amugy légkondi persze. De nincs nagyn meleg, 30 fok alatt marad.
Lepakolás után irány a Times square, séta. Nagy élet, végig a 42. utcáig. felülünl az emelvényre, Az utcán mutatványosok, tömeg, röhögés. A lányok tartanak egy kicsit az egésztől. Kultúrsokk, mondja Csenge. Este 10 -re értünk haza, hogy akkor holnap reggelre átálljunk 0 6 órai időkóéünségre.
Fotók itt vannak. https://photos.app.goo.gl/QeJG5Ks4k52sMC1Z7
És még:
Fotók itt vannak. https://photos.app.goo.gl/QeJG5Ks4k52sMC1Z7
Júl 28.
(Sajnos a fotóim nem mennek fel a Google.fotoba, de most nem tudom megjav)
Reggeli a közeli büfészerűségben. Séta a New York Public Library-ba, ahol Bergou Jancsi know-howja alapján és kíséretében bejutottunk a díszes olvasótermekbe (rendkívül gyorsbeszédű, maszkos idegenvezető megviselte az agyamat, a kölykök jól értették.
Ezután a hallatlanul érdekes múzeumukba. (https://www.nypl.org/events/exhibitions/treasures). Néhány kép:
The morning started as usual, with some delicious
breakfast and orange juice. Afterward, we walked to the once tallest building
in the world, the Empire State building. The American righteousness was felt as
we entered the gates of the enormous building. As we made our way to the 80th
floor, not quite the top but still pretty high, we were shown light shows of how
the worksite looked like in 1930 and 1931. We exited the elevator and stepped
into a time machine, figuratively. Animated videos of workers were waiting for
us, along with animation about the tower building. Statues were greeting
us as we entered different rooms, giving us a moment frozen in time. Moving
upwards, we entered a space to look around in, the 82nd floor. King Kong made
an appearance as we walked along the hallway. This floor was all about the
wonders of the tower, along with movies that referenced the building. The most
interesting was a drawing, done by Stephen Wiltshire, about the Empire State building
and the panorama around it. Fun Fact: he flew around the tower for 45 minutes
and drew the picture for 5 days from memory. Our second to last stop was the 86th
floor. Here, we had a chance to walk around the tower to observe the landscape
a bit more and from all angles. Apart from the amazing view, there wasn’t
much to do, so we made our way to the last and highest floor, floor number 102.
On the highest floor, we had a chance to walk along the view (again) and the
landscape that surrounded the tower.
Photo link:https://photos.app.goo.gl/QeJG5Ks4k52sMC1Z7
Július 30.
Reggeki rutin után Ground Zero memorial tour. Jóbeszédű idegenvezető másfél órás vezetése, jó sztorikkal, nemcsak az emlékhelyről, hanem kicsit körbejártuk a területet a régi és az új információkért. Mi már láttuk az emlékhelyet nlhány éve, a magasztossága nem változott.Nagyon jópofa az Oculus nevű épület.
Persze az új tornyok, és egyéb építményeek is impozánsak. Sok műtárgy, szobor is kikerült a területre.
Elégedetten egy kávét, illetve én egy matcha-teát szereztünk,
majd elmentünk gyalog a Brooklyn-híd közepéig. Szép látvány, a turistafeladatot tejlesítettük.
Nincs reklamáció.
Busszal haza. Készülődés az esti Broadway-musical-re. Mosás a laundry-ben, kissé bürokratikus a rendszer.
Séta, vacsora-hamburger, majd a Marquise-színházban a Beetlejuice musical.
50%-ban nagy siker, ugyanannyi csalódás. Mi felnőttek lényegében egy szót sem értettünk, hiába készültünk fel a Wikipediából. A fiataloknak rettenetesen tetszett, és nekünk meg ez tetszett.
Egy kínai falat után hazatámolyg, Fotók a fenti linken. Késő van, nem megyek a részletekbe.
Holnap Csenge ír.
Júl 31.
Today, we had a cheat day. After an already eventful and exciting week, we decided to take a break. Our morning started at 9am (for me, for Jóska, and for Mama it started earlier). For breakfast, I had a sandwich with cheddar cheese and an omelet, my sister had the same just with ham, and for dessert, my sister and I shared a slice of real New York-style cheesecake.
Since it was warm today, we decided to have a calm(er) day and go to the beach on Conny Island. We packed two bags, mine and Mama’s, and headed towards the metro station. We hopped onto metro N and after an hour, we arrived at our stop.
After we found the beach and a spot to put our stuff down,
Boró and I went straight for the water. It was freezing. After a few tries of going in and out of the water, we successfully dived into the waves until our heads were the only thing above water. Jóska joined us in the water as well, while Mama watched our things outside. At one point, I decided that I had been in the water long enough before joining Mama. Fortunately, I packed a book, so when Mama went a bit towards the water, I had something to keep me busy. Unfortunately, I forgot to put sun cream on straight away and only remembered later, which resulted in me having a slight sunburn (my sister has it worse, she didn’t apply any at all).
Once both my sister and Jóska had enough swimming, we decided to go back to Manhattan, but not before stopping at Dunkin’ Donuts for a coffee, or four. The service was slow, so we decided to never visit that place again (but only on Coney Island). Once we had our coffee, we made our way to the metro and continued our way to Manhattan. Right after the Manhattan bridge, we got off the metro and walked into Chinatown.
Boró really wanted to visit that part of town, so we did. On the small streets, lanterns were hanging above us, creating a unique atmosphere that was pleasant to walk in. On the sidewalks, people were selling all kinds of things, some were selling food and others were selling everyday objects. Conversations in Mandarin and Cantonese were giving life to the rather dull main street and the smell of different kinds of fruits (and fish) traveled with us as we walked past the stands. We stopped at a small Chinese restaurant so that we can have lunch. It was delicious.
Mama played the hero today, as she negotiated the price of two presents that we wanted to buy. It was a teaching moment for both my sister and me on how to negotiate in the real world. In the beginning,
I started the negotiation, but then Mama took over once she realized that I was stuck in the middle of the negotiation. It was really fun and exciting to watch her win the salesman over, as he kept naming prices until they were at the price we both agreed on initially.
We continued our way through Chinatown after lunch, starting our journey towards the trump tower.
Hear me out, I don’t like trump. Yes, I did say I want to see the tower. Yes, I laughed when a trump impersonator was parading in the street.
No, I do not support him in any way, especially not politically. I mistook the tower in New York for the tower in Las Vegas and I wanted to see the golden tower in real life, which obviously didn’t happen. As much as I hate trump, I have to say, the design and the architecture of the tower was impressive. I could say that it was borderline beautiful (because it was).
We departed from the tower as it began to darken outside and made our way back to the apartment. On the bus, we sat close to a guy who had an adorable dog. We made it back to the apartment in one piece. That was today. Hope you enjoyed the recap.
Peace, Cs.
Boróka vaadászta ezt a finom sárkánygyümölcsöt a Kínai piacon:
Aug 2. New York - Washington
After some last-minute packing, we made our way to the train station. We arrived a little before 9am, leaving us with enough time to buy a sandwich for lunch and the most important thing, coffee. The train arrived late, which sparked some unnecessary anxiety in most of us, due to the inability to board the train, leaving us thinking that we are going to miss it. In the end, it all worked out fine. We made it safely onto the train, I still had my coffee so I had something to drink, and we were ready to face the next challenge ahead, finding a seat to sit in. We walked through several coaches to find some seats. My sister and I managed to sit next to each other, while Jóska and Mama did not at first, but later in the ride, they were able to sit next to each other. During the ride, I read my book (The Wicked King by Holly Black, from the Folk of the Air books) and listened to the whole Elisabeth (the musical) soundtrack while my sister watched both Frozen movies.
Once we
arrived in Washington DC, we took a taxi to our rented apartment. The apartment
we are staying in now is a lot bigger than the one in New York. Getting inside
the right apartment was a bit challenging at first, but with the power of love in
a family, we managed to overcome the said challenge. The next shock even was when I
thought I forgot my phone in the taxi, which I did not do, and I was just having
a moment where there were no thoughts behind my eyes. Before going outside to
take a walk towards the White House, Lincoln Memorial, and the Washington memorial,
my sister and I read a bit more about the history of the city and its
geography.
At the White House, we sat down on the lawn at the entrance and watched the doors. Unfortunately, nobody came out of the doors, so I can not tell an exciting story about that. Jóska and Boró talked a bit to a protester, who protested nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction. Mama and I talked about a possible future with Model United Nations (MUN), a thing I entered in my school during the last school year, where I might take the group to Budapest for the BIMUN 2023 (Budapest International Model United Nations in the year 2023). It will take place in the Eötvös gymnasium, so I hope that we can go there. We also talked a bit more about a possible future in the United Nations for me, if being a surgeon does not work out.
Once we were done with the White House, and we took enough pictures, we walked toward the Washington memorial. If you need to picture it, it is where in Spiderman: Homecoming, the scene was filled where the class nearly fell down the elevator after the race thingy they did. It was impressive in life as well. On the way there, we saw some very formal cars come out of the driveway of the White House, along with police protection and military. I guess I do have an exciting story to tell after all. From there, we walked towards a WWII memorial, a Korean war memorial, a Vietnamese war memorial, and the Lincoln memorial. The way the Lincoln and the Washington memorial were placed, facing each other in a perfect, straight line, created a beautiful effect. Jóska and I walked to the Lincoln memorial after he and my sister bathed their feet in a fountain that was at the WII memorial.
The way back home was another challenge, because we had to call for a taxi, and our phone that had the American phone number in it nearly died. We managed to go home safely, with a very nice and patient driver. Once we were home, Jóska and I were sent out to fetch some food for everybody. We walked around quite a bit, having some deep talk, before stopping at an Indian restaurant. We decided to get our dinner from there, Jóska and Mama shared a spicy chicken masala, while my sister and I shared a butter chicken (not spicy for my sister’s sake). We also got two garlic naans, which is an Indian bread type. The dinner was filled with some conversations about tomorrow and what awaits us. Sadly, the museum we wanted to go in (a museum about space and the design of the rockets) was closed, so we opted for the National Museum of Natural History, my suggestion.
And that was today. Thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed it.
Peace, Cs.
Hey, it's me finally
you have probably read what my sister has written. Well ya, this is gonna be much worse so if you want to leave go ahead. Anyways, today we were gonna go to the National Air and Space Museum but it was closed. So instead we went to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.
It was very fun and very interesting. we saw many different things today, like for example Butterfly Pavilion, David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins, Unforgettable Behavior photo gallery and O. Orkin Insect Zoo. They were all really fun, my favorite was the butterfly pavilion and unforgettable behaviour photo gallery. We ( me, csenge, zsuzsa, and joska ) all went into the butterfly pavilion even though my sister is scared of butterflies. She was very brave. Anyways, we went inside and the butterflies were flying around freely and they could land on you. They were all beatiful. Joska was a big butterfly attraction, so many butterflys landed on him.
Everybody inside was amazed. After the butterfly pavilion we went to the insect zoo. That was my sisters favorite. I dont like insects especially spiders… Well we went through my sister held a cockroach in her hand. After some walking around we eventally ended up in a photo gallery. There were many pretty, and funny photos. My favorite was “The moment by yongqing bao”.
After we finished the photo gallery my sister and I tried a snow cone. It was shredded ice with flavored and colored syrup. after the shredded ice we went to the metro station. On the way we saw a “the office” museum and store. The metro was around the corner so we asked what it was. after we asked what it was we continued to the metro station. We took the metro to the Dupont circle. There we met with Jozsef. after we met up with him we took the metro further and went to a reastaurant called Barrel & Crow restaurant. There we met with Kata ( jozsef’s daughter ) We ate some dinner and than took a group photo. We went to Kata’s car and she took us to our airbnb.
And now im here writing this, listening to beetlejuice to get my creative juices flowing. Well ya. Thats that. Im done writing. I hope you liked it cause this might be the first and last time I am writing. I dont know, well see. Anyways goodnight or good morning if you are not as cool as us and are in europe. Before I leave I want to tell you a joke.
“Knock Knock”
( you speak )
“Hach”
( you speak )
“Bless you”
oki bai.
Aug 4.
Today was the day, Jóska’s birthday. In my family, there is a tradition to wake the birthday person up by singing to them and bringing coffee, so that is what we did. After that, we had breakfast, which was filled with birthday calls from many different friends and family members, including one from Klári and Gergő. We also gave a present from us to Jóska, a picture album filled with pictures from 16,5 years ago (and some from even before that). Pictures were from different travels we did together throughout the years and some from different parties in Budapest. We only had a small amount of time to look through it, since we had to get to the Capitol. So, we did just that.
Once we arrived at the Capitol, we found our tour guide with no problem.
Funnily, we were the only people doing the tour today because everyone canceled due to the heat. It was in fact very hot today, but we are the best, so it didn’t bother us…. that much. We heard some very interesting facts about the building and the history of the city. The tour was two hours long, the first hour was spent outside, mostly in the shadow, while the second hour was spent inside the Library of congress.
I want to talk a bit more about the library, because that was one of my favorite parts of the tour(s) we did. The interior design was simply breathtaking. Marble pillars were holding up the ceiling, which was decorated with several paintings. The outside design did not disappoint either. The whole building had an ancient Greek/Roman feeling to it. The tour guide mentioned it was because the country is young, so they want to appear older by building older looking government buildings, interesting. But back to the beauty of the library. Different parts of knowledge were represented in the different paintings, showing that there is not one kind of knowledge. On the floor of the great hall (the name sounds like it is from Harry Potter) were the twelve zodiac signs. On the walls, there were the names of different people who contributed in of the categories of knowledge, I immediately saw Goethe (Wer reitet so spät durch Nacht und Wind?...)
A not so fun fact, the library was originally in the Capitol itself, but in the year 1814, during the war of 1812, the British burned down some of the parts of the Capitol, including the library. Jefferson had it rebuilt, and he sold his books to the library,
apparently his book collection was the best in the whole country during that time, and he used the money to buy new books. “I just can’t live without books”, he said. We saw some of his original books in the library, it was impressive and beautiful.
We also looked at the main reading room.
It was gorgeous. I fell in love with it. I feel like I talked to much about the library, talked…written…?, it doesn’t matter. The next building we visited on the inside was the Capitol itself.
There, the tour started with a movie about the history of the Capitol. The tour guide showed us an old room of the representatives, which looked great. It really had that antique feeling to it. We also saw some paintings and statues that were from different states or from the Capitol itself. My favorite painting, favorite as in the most interesting historically and not ethically, was the painting about the baptism of Pocahontas,
she was a real person. Her story is heartbreaking and I am sad because of what the English did. The painting was ridiculously inaccurate, with Pocahontas herself being painted wrong.
After the Capitol we went back to the library again, to see an exhibition of different photographs. After that, we went to Georgetown,
where we walked around for a bit. We saw the river, we saw different buildings and it was a bit like being transformed into a much older time. We made it home safely, after a long wait for the bus, and we looked at the picture album again, but in more detail. Jóska definitely enjoyed looking at the pictures and reliving some of the memories once again.
Pictures (https://photos.app.goo.gl/QeJG5Ks4k52sMC1Z7), it is late, and I have to sleep. Hope you enjoyed it
Peace, Cs.
