Because of the jet-lag I (Sander) woke up early at 5:55 this morning and Danielle woke up short after. It was nice to read the reactions on the blogpost from yesterday! And soon after we were ready to go!

The first stop was Planet Hollywood to get our New York Passes. The first stop of the day would be the Top of the Rockefeller Centre. We decided to take the metro and got Metrocards which are prepaid tickets. Every ride costs $ 2,25 and if the money is gone you can reload the card at every metro station or select bus stop. After a short metro ride and walk we entered the Rockefeller Centre and it seemed like we were the only ones visiting early. There was no waiting line and we could take pictures from every observation deck and the views from there are great! There is free wifi on top and that combined with the iPhone app made it easy to spot the highlights in the area.

After a short stop at a Starbucks we went towards Bryant Park which is a small park near time square. From there we walked towards Grand Central, the major train station in New York. We spend some time in the new Apple Store there, this is definitely the most beautiful we have seen so far!

After a shirt while we took the Line 4 Metro in Downtown direction to visit Wall Street. We had a look at the New York Stock Exchange and the statue of George Washington.

From Wall Street we walked via Water Street to Battery Park. From there we went took the Statue Cruise towards Liberty Island to check out the refurbishment works on the Statue of Liberty. From here we have made also some amazing pictures of the New York Skyline including the Freedom Tower/One WTC which is being build at this moment. We soon stepped on he ferry towards Ellis Island.

Ellis Island is the place where all the immigrants from oversea went in the early 20th century. It was interesting to see the process where all the immigrants went through in the time. At 14:45 we went back to Manhattan because we would meet up with Glenn at the Staten Island Ferry.

Glenn showed us some other things in Manhattan like the globe which was standing in the original World Trade Center but got damaged in 9/11. The ball is a special symbol together with the internal flame. Interesting place since you have a clear sight on the One WTC from that place.

We walked through the streets of Manhattan and ended up at Pier 17 where Danielle and Glenn had a Bubble Thea, I went for a regular coke. After a drink we decided to go to Staten Island to have a look at Glenn and Gina’s place.

For dinner we went to our all time favorite steakhouse the Outback! Gina joined us too and we had a lot of fun together! And off course we learned some new signs!

After diner Glenn took us back to the Statem Island Ferry which we took back to Manhattan. And after a ride with Metro Line 1 to uptown we got back to 50th street near our hotel in no time. After 13 hours of wandering and traveling we are tired but we seen some amazing things.

Thanks Glenn and Gina for joining us today!

Early on this Sunday morning Jörg brought us to Nürnberg Airport. The start of our first trip to New York City was made and on time we took off towards Düsseldorf Airport from where we would fly to Newark Airport. The Short fine was nothing special except for an almost empty plane. The flight to the US went fine as well even the food was good.

After 8,5 hours flight-time we arrived at Newark where we needed 30 minutes for the Customs. Our suitcases where already circling on the baggage claim carrousel and at 15:45 we where waiting outside for Glenn which would pick us up to get dinner together with Gina and his parents.

The dinner was planned at the favorite restaurant of Glenn but it was way too busy which made us change to the Cheeseburger in Paradise! Danielle and I both got an All-American Cheeseburger! The burgers where really good and the company was even better. We had much fun and there will be much more to look forward to this week!

After dinner Glenn drove us to our hotel which is really in the middle of Manhattan! The location is better then we expected. At the check-in we where already surprised by the friendliness and got directly a FourSquare Action coupon for additional points for our stay, free entrance to the fitness area and free wireless internet ($ 9,95 for 4 hours). This because I’m a Priority Club Gold Member! The hotel room looks amazing and is on the 42nd floor! It’s not a Time Square view and it was to dark to see what our view is.

After checking out the room we went down for a short walk through Manhattan. This walk brought us to the Disney Store, Starbucks, Toys’R’us, Rockefeller Square and the Apple Store on 5th Avenue! After some grocery shopping we went back to the hotel and after being awake for 23 hours we are both very tired!