New York is .... BIG! (Wednesday the 14th of August)

 (pictures a the bottom)

Woke up to another great day - and started of with yet another great omelet:-) Alberte always gets strawberry yoghurt and a bread with cheese - which is the only thing we can get her to eat in the morning here.

Today we had planned to go to Brighton Beach and Coney Island. We planned to walk there - without really investigating the actual distance from Park Slope. It looked like max 6 km on the map (staring at it for a few seconds) - but that is definitely not a fact!

Before going to NY - we did not know about Brighton Beach, but Lonely Planet suggested BB as one of their "Top Tips": "If you want to get a sense of what old New York was like, be sure to wander around Brighton Beach". The area is called Little Odessa (Russian district) - and the following web page describes very well all about it (http://nymag.com/guides/everything/brighton-beach/). First reason to go there was also that Coney Island (Luna Park = amusement park for kids) is a neighbour to BB. Then we were sure that also Alberte would enjoy herself.

Green-Wood; We left home and first sight on our way was a cemetery - "Green-Wood Cemetery". A National Historic Landmark founded in 1838 in Brooklyn - which at the time soon developed an international reputation for its magnificent beauty and became the fashionable place to be buried. The cemetery is BIG! - and in the early morning on a Wednesday we had it all to our selves. Difficult to explain the beauty of this cemetery - I can only give strong recommendations to go visit and see for yourselves, experience the great main entrance, the green trees, the green hills, the view over Manhattan, the around 560.000 graves, the Revolutionary War historic site etc. (see some pictures below).(www.green-wood.com)

Brighton Beach; Here on after we walked towards Brighton Beach... and we walked.... and we walked.... and we walked. Even though we thought we were going extremely fast - we got nowhere! The scenery that we passed was so different from what we probably will see when going to Manhattan. A lot of different cultures, a lot of Jewish people, a lot of poor people, rich neighbourhoods, poor neighbourhoods, car sales shops with the famous paper in glitter hanging over them. Actually the web page linked to above pretty much describes the whole area pretty well. It was probably like going to old New York!

After many KM when we finally came all the way down to the beach - we were pretty exhausted!! But the scenery here was beautiful. A huge beach and a wide sidewalk made in wood. It was a victory finally getting there - but we were to tired to actually enjoy it like we should have done. In the horizon we could see Coney Island (all the carousels and ferris wheel) - so we decided to just stroll down the sidewalk to this amusement park. Alberte was exited.

Getting there again took some time - distances are NOT like in Denmark. Which we of course know - but somehow did not act upon.

Coney Island / Luna Park; Well we got to Luna Park - and bought some credits so Alberte could try whatever she wanted. Lucky for me there were only 1 thing she actually dared to try (some small helicopters flying max 2 meters up and down). But then we had so many credits that was not used (40 credits for $35.... one ride was from 1-4 credits. 40 credits was minimum you could buy) - so we then used them for splashing with some water trying to win teddy bears.  Alberte and I lost twice - but then Soeren came along and won! Alberte wanted a pink teddy snake - which made her day. A group of American kids clapped at them when they won - that was so nice and Alberte was proud. (NB; Just besides Luna Park there is actually another park which is for smaller kids - which we realized after buying all the credits. So if your child is not up for huge roller coasters - the go there!). (www.coneyisland.com) (www.lunaparknyc.com)

One other thing that Soeren really wanted was to buy a hotdog at "Nathan's" on the beach. They make the original hotdog - and they are famous for it. So Soeren waited in line for some time - but it tasted good! 

Way back; It was now really late, and we so much wanted to get back - with Metro!! But suddenly we realised that we were missing the "sun screen net" for our stroller - it had somehow fallen of the stroller! Soeren went looking for it at the places we had been, but it was nowhere to be seen. I was so irritated and could not forget about it - so I insisted in going all the way back down the sidewalk to look for it. At this time my body was so tired and the legs hurt from walking, but I wanted to go back, so we did.... It was not there, and then we had to walk again to find a metro. Good thing that the kids could relax in the stroller!

Worst of all was that all day I had been wearing flat wooden sandals! And that was a mistake - cause it is not possible to walk this far without proper shoes! I learned the hard way!

Food; Finally we came back - and here we bumped into "Union Market". A paradise for food lovers (that wants to spend a lot of money!). They simply had everything - and they used extreme amount of effort to present it well. No carrot was placed randomly. We bought something for diner here - we deserved it after 20 KM (i measured when we got home). We all went to bed at 21.00 PM. (www.unionmarket.com)

This day was a day with extreme impressions - and we realized that New York is ....BIG! Including distances! 

Learning: I will never walk 20 km in wooden sandals again - cause this day actually lowered my immune system so much that I got pretty sick the next day, and my one leg hurt. 

Danish Summary:

Vaagnede op til endnu en skoen dag.Vi havde planlagt at tage til Brighton Beach og Coney Island. Vi vill gaa dertil - og havde ca regnet med at der var 6 km derhen - men det var der ikke!!

Inden vi tog til NY kendte vi ikke til Brighton Beach, men Lonly Planet foreslog dette som et af deres Top Tips, og bekrev det som at opleve "gamle New York". Omraadet kaldes Little Odessa (Russian district) - od den foelgende hjemmeside beskriver meget godt hvad det handler om (http://nymag.com/guides/everything/brighton-beach/). En af grundende til at tage derhen var ogsaa at Coney Island var nabo til Brighton Beach (Luna Park = forlystelsespark for boern). Saa var vi sikre paa at der ogsaa var noget for Alberte.

Green-Wood; Vi tog hjemmefra og foerste stop var en kirkegaard - "Green-Wood Cemetery". Et National Historisk Landemaerke funderet i 1838 i Brooklyn - som paa det tidspunkt blev internationalt kendt for sin smukhed og overdaadighed - og blev et eftertragtet sted at blive begravet. Kirkegaarden er meget stor - og en tidlige onsdag morgen havde vi det hele for os selv. Det er svaert helt at beskrive hvor smuk kirkegaarden er - kan i hvert fald kun foreslaa andre at tage derhen og opleve; det fantastiske indgangsparti, de groenne traeer, de groenne bakker, smaa stier, udsigten over Manhattan, de omkring 560.000 grave, Historiske personer og krigs histore osv. (se billeder forneden).

Brighton Beach; Herefter gik og gik og gik og gik vi.... Selvom vi syntes der var godt tempo paa, saa kom vi dog ingen steder. Alle de bydele og sceneriet vi passerede var meget forskellige - der var mange forskellige kulturer, mange joeder, mange fattige mennesker og baade rige og fattige omraeder, bilsaelgere med de kendte glitter flag over deres shops oma. Faktisk vil ovenstaende naevnte artikel/web side beskrive omraadet rigtig godt. Det var nok som at besoege gamle new york!

Efter mange km kom vi endelig til stranden - det var en sejr at naa saa langt - men vi var  udmattede! Vi skyndte os videre til Coney Island (Luna Park) - som vi kunne se i horisonten, og gik ned af den flotte strandpromenade lavet i trae.

Coney Island / Luna Park; Vi ankom til Luna pArk og koebte nogle credits, saa man kunne proeve forlystelser. Alberte turde ikke at proeve saa meget, saa vi forsoegte at skyde med vand for at vinde en bamse. Jeg var ikke saa god til det - men Soeren vandt en bamse til Alberte - til stor glaede!

En anden ting som Soeren gerne ville var at spise en hotdog ved "Nathan's" paa stranden. De laver en original hotdog, som er meget kendt. Soeren fik love til at staa i lang koe - imens vi andre 2 slappede af. Den smagte godt!

Vejen tilbage;  Det var nu blevet sent - og vi ville gerne hjem. Det gik dog pludselig op for os at vi havde tabt solskaermen til vores klapvogn! Det var lige draaben efter en lang dag - og Soeren gik tilbage og ledte alle de steder vi lige havde vaeret - men forgaeves. Det var saa irriterende at jeg insisterede i at tage hele vejen tilbage ned af strandpromenaden for at kigge efter det. Paa dete tidspunkt var jeg helt udmattet og mine ben gjorde ondt - alt imens jeg bar Kaya i baeresele...men jeg kunne ikke overtales til at give op paa solskaermen, saa vi vandrede tilbage... men der var ingen solskaerm! Nu skulle vi saa gaa igen for at finde en metro. Det var godt at boernene kunne slappe af i den klapvogn - ellers havde det varet helt uoverskueligt!

Vaerst af det hele var at jeg havde haft tynde traesandaler paa hele dagen. DET var en fejl af de helt store!

Mad; Endelig var vi tilbage paa Park Slope, og paa vej hjem kom vi forbi Union Market. Et paradis for mad elskere (der gerne vil bruge penge). De har alt - og praesenterer det flot! Der ligger ikke en gulerod forkert! Vi koebte mad her - det havde vi fortjent efter 20 km! (hvilket jeg havde maalt op da jeg kom hjem). Vi tog alle i seng kl. 21.00! (www.unionmarket.com)

Denne dag var fyldt med vilde indtryk - og vi fandt ud af at New York er stor - inkl. byens afstande! 

Dagens laering: Jeg vil aldrig gaa 20 km i trae sandaler igen - for mit immun forsvar forsvandt fuldstaendig - og jeg var syg det meste af dagen efter - og musklerne i mit ene ben gjorde meget ondt!