Back in DC!

After a long bus ride with my earbuds and iPod charger in the luggage compartment and I in my seat, I arrived back here in Washington DC, greeted by clouds and a slight drizzle. As you know, the last few days I was staying in a hostel in Manhattan. The Internet was slow, and all I had was my iPod, so there wasn't much I could do to blog :P.

But here's a recap of my adventures.

First off, the hostel I stayed at was called Hostel International, and I would highly reccommend it to anyone looking to stay in New York City. It's located near the upper end of Central Park on the west side, and I paid $40 a night to stay in an eight person dorm. It's a lot cheaper than a hotel, and you meet many very interesting people. The hostel was very clean, secure, and had excellent common areas and a large kitchen that was free to use at any time and would make any chef happy.

My first night there, I attended a free comedy night at a local comedy club, an event that the hostel had organized. I was the only American in the group that attended, so it was highly enjoyable to see the comedians when they realized almost the entire audience spoke English as a second language. Luckily, there's no shortage of jokes that get lost in translation, and the comedians were good at improvising.

The next day, Monday, I went on a tour of Brooklyn that was hosted by the hostel. The part of Brooklyn that we toured was pleasantly quieter than Manhattan, with less traffic to boot. It was a cloudy day, with the rain sporadically falling. The walk across the Brooklyn Bridge was wet, but provided a breathtaking view of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty in the distance, as the skyscrapers disappeared into the clouds. From there it was a long but enjoyable walk back to the hostel with a fun group of three people from the UK and one from Australia.

On Tuesday I took a longer tour also hosted by the hostel. This tour included much of New York CIty, and was 13 hours long. It was also the best tour I've ever been on. Our guide was amazing and had an incredibly in-depth knowledge of the city. We started off in Brooklyn, crossing the Brooklyn bridge, and then headed to ground zero. At the site of the original World Trace Centers, we got to see the beginning of the construction of the new One World Trade Center, which, when completed, will be the tallest building in the USA and is being built with the strongest of materials. This tower will be able to withstand a plane crash. 

We also took the Staten Island Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty. On the ferry ride back from Staten Island, the setting sun was glowing vividly behind the Statue of Liberty. It was a spectacular sunset, perfectly timed. After roaming through Chinatown and Little Italy, we had supper at very good Indian restaurant. Then we walked across Times Square at night, and got back to the hostel around 1:00 AM.

After a short night's sleep, it was time to depart from my stay at the hostel, but not before leading a "tour" of Central Park with some friends from the hostel. Then it was goodbye, and a mad dash down to Penn Station to narrowly catch my bus to DC.

Currently, it's a wet and rainy day here in DC, so I've taken the opportunity to catch up on blogging, laundry, and uploading pictures. Check out Flickr and Facebook for my pictures covering the last few days! It also seems I've developed a tiny cold. I'm sure the solid 22 hours I spent walking the streets of a rainy and cloudy New York City on Monday and Tuesday had nothing to do with it :). But no worries, I'll be going to the top of the Washington Monument in no time. As always, I hope everyone is doing great, I'll be back on Tuesday!

Peace,

-Adam