USA. New Year in New York

With this post, we’re starting sharing the story about our last year’s trip to the United States.

At the time of our arrival, the temperature outside was a bit far from the comfortable, however, it was  nothing, comparing to the major event we were expecting — as we came to New York on the New Year’s eve celebration…

1

The most of the international flights are accepted at the JFK Airport. Personally, we found it rather generic. Maybe that Aeroflot flights offload at the less attractive terminal, but we still tend to think that it was all about the long-lasting flight. Let’s find out this later, as now it’s time to get to the city. There are several options. If you travel to the fullest, the easiest way to get to the city centre is taking the taxi, which will cost you about $40-60. Another option is an express bus. This will drain your purse for $15. The bus can get you to the several stations in Manhattan. We found Grand Central Terminal (Park Ave. and 41 St.) and Port Authority Bus Terminal (8th Ave. and 42 St.) the most convenient. You can also get to the LaGuardia - another NY airport — by bus. And the last option, the cheapest and the fastest (if you arrive in NY in the day-time) — is the subway. Although we had arrived in the evening, but still chose the subway, it was habitual, I guess.

2

Subway station at JFK Airport:

3

View from outside:

4

Inside the car:

5

Entrance is free of charge, while the exit is not… And in order not to run laps, you’d better buy MetroCard for $5.

Those are paper cards which are enabled when you swipe them through the terminal. You can use the card an infinite number of times until your money balance won’t run out (i.e. you can buy one card for the whole group, refill balance and share it by seniority). 

6

There will be a separate post about New York subway, but what catches the eye right away is a plenitude of cats:

7

We were too exhausted to take a night city walk, but the next morning in the dawn we were full of energy and ready to start investigating & researching America.

If you stay on Manhattan, then your view from the window will look like this boring:

8

The higher is the hotel room — the more interesting is the picture.

The city looks the same urban way from below: 

9

First of all, we decided to go to the Times Square and evaluate the possibility of celebrating the New Year’s eve on the America’s major square. While we were getting closer to the goal the number of dreamers like us was also growing dramatically. 

10

Sometimes something iteresting appeared in the crowd:

11

We also tried to see what’s there, but didn’t find anything.

13

Well, it’s a pity, there must be something really worthy though.

14

Many streets had been blocked off since afternoon.

15

The police are being instructed before the most entertaining night of the year.

Taking pictures is not forbidden.

16

Meanwhile, the cops are preparing, we’re walking and admiring the city. Visited the famous ice rink:

17

Then we visited the Rockefeller Centre rink. There were not as many people as we expected:

18

We just took a walk without any purpose and guidelines:

19

Meanwhile, the police blocked all ways to the Times Square.

20

People were allowed with passes only:

21

The rest were sent to a nearby street where the procedure was the same:

22

After hanging around the coveted Times Square, eventually, we managed to enter there. So this mission appeared to be possible. However, it’s you who decides if the hustle in the company of drunk Americans and big round clock is worthy all of these obstacles. Frankly speaking, it didn’t seem somewhat grandiose to us. So if you have the alternative scenario to celebrate the New Year’s eve in New York, you’d better use it. As for the New Year’s night life, it is quite expensive and should be planned in advance. It’s almost impossible to find a free pass. But for the madcaps, there is one exotic option — gay clubs. Entrance is free, face control is minimal, while the number of people there is almost as much as at the Theatre Season opening in Rivne. But let’s just agree — you don’t know us, we don’t know you, and we didn’t have this conversation. 

In the morning New York takes an post-apocalyptic form:

23