We wanted to get properly ready for the city that never sleeps, so many of us tried to get some sleep on the plane which turned out to be both impossible and insufficient.
Car horn sounds, crowded streets at sunset, a music band playing in the nearby park, people sitting on the lawn with drinks in their hands... Suddenly we couldn't get rid of the feeling that we were in an American movie - until we realized that indeed it was a movie set and the camera was rolling. So much for coincidences.
But we are rolling, too. We are on the move, we want to see and experience as much as possible. Although the streets are perfectly organized, perpendicularly to each other, all the hustle and bustle forces us to take wrong turns and we end up going in the wrong direction. The GPS is not helping either, signal is nowhere to be found. It must have gone missing in the crowd, same as some of our team members.
We are taking it all in - the majestic buildings, rushing people and slowly moving cars jamed in the traffic. Only after having taken the elevator to the Top of the Rock did we realize where we were, watching the city from a bird's eye view.
After a few hours it becomes clear that it is impossible to escape the vivid life of the city, to stop for a while. As we came to terms with it, suddenly life seemed to have slowed down and we found ourselves in the unexpected greenery of the Central Park. Its size and beauty took our breath and a whole day away to enjoy it fully. Luky and Jakub haven't obviously had physical activity enough, so next morning they put on their running shoes and went to the Central Park again for a few rounds.
We literally "tasted" every day - typical American breakfast pancakes with maple syrup, grilled burgers, great food with a taste of a different country wherever we went. The Irish "Death Rabbit" in the financial district with wood shavings on the floor served us the most amazing drinks. We went to an authentic Chinese place - where else than - in Chinetown. On a different occassion, in an American restaurant they completely covered our table with deluxe steaks and we left defeated because we weren't able to conquer the mountain of food. The brave ones tasted various street food which, however, was nothing to be worried about as anything we tried was prepared with a dose of imagination and from fresh ingredients.
The city is full of people who will help even if they don't know you. However, it is also full of fraudsters and people who want to make money of tourists, so in order to keep the good city vibes, we refused photo ops from bunch of Mickey Mise and Batmen.
We wanted to see all the places generally known from photos and movies, we wanted to meet the "real" New Yorkers and get to know their nature and accent. We walked across the Manhattan from the north to the harbor and from the West Village through Chinatown and Little Italy to the East Village. Everywhere people are diverse - of different skin color, clothes or accents, and yet they are New Yorkers, this is their home. And us? In NYC we felt as good as at home.
