New York New York

I really love traveling to big cities, so I couldn't miss visiting New York if I had the chance. I arranged a 7-day trip to New York this June!! Let me make a simple introduction about New York City in advance.

When someone mentions New York, what do you think of? I think most people will answer: the ‘Statue of Liberty’. New York is one of the biggest cities in the world; it is also the most densely populated major city in the United States. However, New York is the most multicultural city in the world. There are as many as 800 languages spoken in New York.  The city consists of five boroughs—the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island. Before we went to New York, we searched about where to stay and its attractions. A big problem traveling to the City is the expensive accommodation, especially in Manhattan. Finally, we chose to stay in a Taiwanese B&B in the Queens area. Fortunately, it cost only $80 for 2 people per night. Next, I am going to share some interesting things or tips about my NY trip with you.

In New York, you can visit several world class museums or art museums in one day. I had thought the museums charged a set admission fee, like MET, Natural History; however, these museums don’t charge a specific amount. They only ask that you donate something depending on your economic situation. Some museums offer one day a week free admission, like MOMA and Guggenheim.

 

 

If you don't like to visit museums, what can you do in the day time? You could go to visit the Statue of Liberty, Central Park, Grand Central Station, Wall Street, or the Brooklyn Bridge.

I want to say something about the Statue of Liberty. I really suggest that you not only take a ferry to look at it but also get off on the island to look at it up close. The ferry fee is USD 18/person for a round-trip, and you can visit two islands, one is the Statue of Liberty and other one is Ellis Island. I think it is valuable because it will take you almost all day to see them both. That day, I was touched by the Statue of Liberty because when I looked it at in on the island, I felt I was able to understand what freedom really means to Americans.

 

 

   

 

If you like to see special architecture, you could visit the Flatiron Building, Trinity Church and the Cathedral Church of Saint John.

 

 

Where can you go at night? You could experience a musical opera show or watch a Yankee’s baseball game. I did both of them on my trip. But I want to say more about musicals. Everyone knows all theaters are located on Broadway. Where is Broadway? It is located in the famous Times Square. Times Square is the most crowded place in NY. As everyone knows, there is a big event there every year, the countdown party for New Years. The night view of Times Square is really amazing. We saw many huge digital banners advertising famous brands and the opera. What a beautiful view Times Square is at night. I also watched "Phantom of the Opera" on Broadway. That was a wonderful experience. In the US, the theater is not so big, so you can see the actors clearly. However, in my country, you usually need to use binoculars unless you want to spend at least $300 to see the opera ><".

 

 

 

 

About the baseball game, one thing I want to mention is the ticket price. That is that I was so luck to buy at $5.00 ticket. Haha~

 If you want to see the whole New York City view, you should go to the Empire State Building or Rockefeller Center. The price is the same, $29.00 each. I chose to go to the Empire State Building, and I got a certificate for the first visit. However, It took about 1 hour waiting in line to arrive at the top floor. When I got to the top floor, I saw the entire New York view, and how wonderful the view was! The feeling is difficult to describe in words.

 

 

 

 

 

While traveling, another important thing is the food. On this topic, I will introduce Chelsea Market to you. At Chelsea Market, almost all the shops are restaurants or stores sell foods. Seafood is famous here. We ate big lobster and drank mike shakes in a famous ice cream store. My friend was so happy to eat lobster because lobster in my country is super expensive. I think the price of lobster in Chelsea Market is almost half of the price in my country.

 

I also had a dinner in Korean town, and it tasted so delicious.

 

 

 

 

Finally, I want to talk about the people in New York and their subway.......New York people are not as friendly as the people in Seattle, and their answers are always very short, never a whole sentence....only a few words, two or three words with gestures. The New York subway is super convenient. There are two types of subway. One is express and the other one is local. So, if you don't pay attention which train you should take, you may not get off at the stop that you want. And the New York subway has centuries of history. Therefore, it is often being maintained or repaired. When it is being maintained, the subway routes are changed.

 

Above are my happy memories of New York. :)

Friendly Fremont

My favorite area of Seattle is Fremont. Why Fremont? Fremont isn't dangerous like the University district, and it isn't noisy or crowded like downtown. In Fremont, you can walk at a relaxed pace and explore the area slowly. When you take a bus to Fremont, you can get off the bus near an intersection between Fremont Ave N and N 34 St. As far as I know, bus of UW (#31/32) and Downtown (#16) arrive there directly.

 

My friend and I took bus #31 to get there. After we got off the bus, the first stop is "waiting for the interurban". This place isn't written up on our teacher's 50 City Walks card, but it is shown in my Seattle travel guide book in Taiwanese. Local residents or visitors sometimes put decorations on this statue. It looks fun!

We kept walking toward the direction of Evanston Ave N. We found the "Fremont Rocket",  a very big rocket connected to a roof of a store. Actually, we were not interested in the rocket. Haha~

Then we kept walking on Evanston Ave until we found the Statue of Lenin at the intersection bewteen Evanston Ave N and Fremont Place N. The Statue of Lenin is a huge statue. You can see the picture. I looked so small compared to the statue. Lenin was a very important person in Russia history.

 

What is our next stop? If you go to Fremont, you have to go to this place, the "Fremont Troll". The Troll is ready to climb out and its left hand is pressing down on an old mini cooper. Every time, when I take my friends here, there are always many visitors taking photos.

 

After we visited several places, we got hungry, so we decided to go an American restaurant, called Blue Moon Burger (703 N 34th St). It is in my travel guide book. We ordered two different kinds of hamburgers and a half and half (half fried onion ring and half French fries). It cost around $19.00. By the way, the clerk of the restaurant was friendly and nice to customers because he told us that we could drink free sodas if we ate at the restaurant. Haha~

 

After we finished our dinner, we went to the bus stop. While we were waiting for the bus, we saw the Fremont bridge being raised. WOW, we were so lucky to see it. In our country, no bridges can be separated and raised.

Above is my half day Fremont trip. In Fremont, there is an annual parade every June. This June, my friend and I also went to see the parade. The performers seemed be almost all local presidents. They had heavy makeup and played some musical Instruments or danced. Some people wore fairy-tale costumes. The most special thing is that we saw several naked people with body painted. I have never seen anything like this in Taiwan. Finally, I really recommend Fremont. You can take an afternoon to visit it and find some interesting things there.

 

 

 

 

 

    






     

Taiwan Night Market

What best represents Taiwan? No doubt!! It's the night market. In Taiwan, every city has at least one night market or more. Taiwanese people love visiting the night market, especially on the weekend. On the weekend, if the weather is good, the night market is always so crowded. It is a popular social activity. Parents take their children to the night market to eat and play games. People also go to the night market for dating. A gathering of friends go to the night market for a dinner or  shopping. Therefore, I think if you have been to Taiwan, but you didn't visit a night market, it means you didn't visit Taiwan.

What can you do in a night market?? First, you can eat Taiwanese traditional food or exotic cuisine. However, every night, the market has different famous food. For example, if you go to Rao He Street Night Market, you have to try charbroiled pepper bread. If you go to Shilin Night Market, you should try Oyster omelet or BBQ or Stinky tofu. Of course, you can also eat Thai cuisine, Japanese cuisine, and Hong Kong food in the night market. People also eat steak or hot pot here. Maybe you will ask me what kind of food my favorite food is in night market. My answer is fried chicken and BBQ. I could eat them every day!! But, they are unhealthy foods. :(

After you are full, you could also go shopping or play some interesting games in the night market.  That's why Taiwanese people love going to the night market. It is so fun in our night market.

So, I really strongly recommend that you visit our night market if you have a chance to visit Taiwan. You will experience Taiwan’s night life and culture at the night markets.

BTY: These pictures come from another blogger’s website.