New York City

Yesterday was a very rainy day. It was more or less the worst weather we could have had for our planned sightseeing tour around New York City. The ferry to the Statue of Liberty didn’t even leave the harbor because it was too windy. So we changed plans and decided to do the major sight seeing spots today. We just visited the 9/11 memorial including the museum and exhibitions. There we first watched a short movie about September 11th 2001 and then we looked at parts of the original twin towers and a lot of pictures... pictures documenting that tragic day... pictures of the victims, pictures of the streets during that day, and pictures of the terrorists at the ariport before boarding.

Later we had late lunch / early dinner at a veeery yummy burger place. After that we went back to the hotel and got ready for BROADWAY. The show we watched was CHICAGO, a musical about 6 women who killed their boyfriends / husbands for different reasons and who tried to warrant that they are not guilty. The theater stage was beautiful and the only word I can find to describe the show is “wow!” The performers were incredibly good singers, actors, and dancers. It was a great experience. When the musical was over we went to the New York Times Square and there I understood why New York is called “the city that never sleeps”. We got there around 12 in the morning and it was packed with people. The shops were open and we went shopping in the middle of the night.

Today we had a lot more things on our list so we got up early in the morning and took the 9 o’clock ferry to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. The statue is huuuge and I learned in my Us History class about how much effort it took to ship it from France to New York and to build it together. It is originally made out of bronze around a steel framework but over the years the bronze has turned green as it is now. Today also happens to be Miss Liberty’s 132nd birthday, so maybe it was meant to be that we couldn’t take the ferry yesterday.

After that we had to hurry up to get to the Big Apple Circus where we watched an artistic show. That was pretty cool, too. A New York City Circus is definitely different from the traveling circuses I know from home.

To end our tour we walked to and through tbe Central Park. It was pretty because the leaves of the trees start changing colors at the moment. Then we went to THE MET at the Upper East Side which I know from Gossip Girl. The ones of you who have also watched Gossip Girl might recognize it in the pictures.

New York was amazing and I want to thank my host family and my parents for giving me this opportunity. Thank you!

- Lea