Bence in the States

All fifty states visited by 2014.12.31

2015-02-03T03:45:00.000-08:00

HAWAII, 12.24.2014 - 01.01.2015

05.01 - 05.09 - 2711 miles in 9 days

2014-05-24T18:19:00.001-07:00

After almost 4 month I spent wonderful 9 days with my Flora! She is the biggest treasure in my life!

I am so lucky she loves me and I love her too! Wow, such an incredible feeling when you meet your loved one after four months and I felt her between my arms again. Best feeling ever!

To be continued:

https://florabence.exposure.co/2711-miles

03.07 - 04.30 - First Walmart experience until inventory

2014-05-24T18:14:00.001-07:00

The reason I did not update my blog for a long time is because I simply didn't have time and/or energy to do so.
I started my Walmart career at Manchester, CT as the backroom assistant manager. The situation I got myself into was challenging. This was the most challenging job of my life so far. As the person who is in charge of the backroom operation I have to make sure that whatever comes into the building gets unloaded on time, stored properly in the building and picked to the salesfloor at a nice speed of flow. I cannot write more about it, however, I probably could write a whole book about my first two months at Walmart.
I work 4 days on and 2 days off. Before inventory my schedule was two times 8-8 and two times 8-5. On my last day I went to the movie theater with Attila every time.
After my second rotation I was so tired I fell asleep on the movie:)
Basically I spent my two days recovering from the four days, I did simple things like doing my laundry, cooking and baking, grocery shopping and fishing a couple of times.

Here are some pictures until May 1st:

blueberry pie before

after

ikea breakfast

chinese food from the mall, it was terrible and not enough

it was cold in the middle of march

grocery shopping

changing my diet to a healthier one

zucchini, spinach

hmm

grocery shopping

the new house we are about to move into

from the deck

got haircut

first time cooking eggplant - i really like it

some spinach and broccoli - i had to realize green stuff is not as bad as I thought before

always add sour cream to everything

snow blizzard on March 31st

April 1st

ikea 2

fishing 2

my special flat sponge cake

beetroot stew - yay

little sucker

green rhubarb

apple brownie

westview

april 20th, inventory lunch

after a 12-hours shift

my lucky beard for inventory - after 25 days

that was cool!

after the day before inventory with 5 holes - imagine how much i walk every day

after 30 days not shaving

from right

from below

from left

before and after

02.17 - 03.07 - ASM Bence

2014-05-24T17:50:00.001-07:00

I've successfully taken my assistant manager trainee exam on the last day of the class and also earned my certified food safety manager certificate.
The 8 weeks training was so great it is hard to describe how much I learnt about Walmart and the retail business operation. I've met wonderful people on the class, eaten incredible amount of food.
I gained at least 10-15 pounds of weight because of my extensive restaurant visits.
It is hard to capture everything that happened to me after 3 month looking back but again it was a great feeling when I became a legit assistant manager at Walmart.

Some examples of my special diet:)

This was the material for the exam. Over 2400 pages

The first photo with my first smart phone

Jack was the best! I miss you, Jack!

HOT wings!

Walmart ready:)

02.10 - 02.16 - ME, NH, VT

2014-02-21T21:01:00.000-08:00

https://goo.gl/maps/KLBwI

plus 4 hours driving back to Glassboro, NJ

there was a big snow storm, named Pax hitting the East Coast from Thursday to Sunday

breakfast

lunch at the Bethlehem store before driving another 6 hours home in the middle of the storm in the dark...

it was my worst driving experience ever

i've seen numerous accidents on the road

the worst was the sleet on the road, image you are driving 60 mph on a straight road, doing nothing and all of a sudden your car is sliding towards the shoulder...

The Lodge

22 inches thick ice - 66 cm

was not able to reach the bottom of it

fishing from the lodge - my dream lodge:)

Peter, Captain Bob, Chuck, Bence and Attila in the Lodge

New England Snow Museum

america's first general store

snow tubing

snow storm on Saturday night as well

http://www.simonpearce.com/pages/our-restaurant

Vermont at its most picturesque

Simon Pearce is a genius in my eyes. Whatever he created is fascinating in many ways.

You have to share similar mindset to appreciate his work at its most.

One of his books is:

the glassblowing factory is downstairs

the food, the restaurant, the factory, the accessories, the atmosphere, the gallery, the location are in the biggest harmony and perfection

pure fine art and perfect marketing

the chef was also Hungarian:) - these were my most expensive two eggs so far

02.03 - 02.09 - Philadelphia Eastern State Penitentiary

2014-02-21T18:41:00.000-08:00

The training is going well. On the weekend Alesia and I went to Philly visiting the Eastern State Penitentiary.

It is considered to be the world's first true penitentiary.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_State_Penitentiary

http://www.easternstate.org/

Al Capone's cell

Women at the Penitentiary

This place was pretty hard on those immates

Visiting room

Philly Cheese steak from the South Street

South Street with a lot of fun places

Stooges

going to West

on of the best cheese steak places to go

with curious eyes:)

Also visited a huge costume shop (i am always amazed what kind of sh*t people buy) - believe me there was nothing useful in that store but a couple million dollar worth of inventory.

01.27 - 02.02 - D.C. and Philly

2014-02-06T20:13:00.000-08:00

01.20 - 01.26 - Eva farewell

2014-02-06T19:49:00.001-08:00

night shifts, sick Friday, New Haven party Saturday, Eva farewell dinner Sunday

pix left on my camera at Ildi's place

01.13 - 01.19 - AMT 8 weeks started

2014-02-06T19:47:00.001-08:00

in Glassboro, NJ.

Deptford, #5476 - Bakery
100/100
Mariott

training, great people, 500 yrs+ retail experience, 371 pages, badge, challenge, intense, learning, retail vocabulary

Long Beach Island, NJ

01.06 - 01.12 - Orientation

2014-02-06T19:26:00.003-08:00

Walmart orientation.

12.14 - 01.05 - in Hungary

2014-01-11T16:54:00.000-08:00

Wonderful, wonderful three weeks with my Flora, my family and my friends!

ukm!

Happy New Year 2014!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1j1qwQQ8-Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxIiPLVR6NA

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/116379916018288411048/albums/5964283505796868001

12.09 - 12.13 - Walmart and flying home

2014-01-11T16:36:00.000-08:00

12.02

12.03

12.04

12.05

12.06

12.07

12.08

12.09

12.10

12.11

12.12

12.12 in NYC waiting for the shuttle flying home from JFK

My week:

Monday - Call Walmart and told them I am going home on the next Saturday

Tuesday - Walmart called me with an official offer for the assistant store manager position

Wednesday - Booked ticket to fly home 10 days earlier leaving on Thursday

Thursday - 8AM - drug screen, i was scheduled to do the drug screen until 8AM not at 8AM, i was in the system at 7:56AM and of course passed the exam - at 1PM leaving Hamden and at 9PM bye-bye America, Hungary here I come

Friday - arrival at Budapest at 3:30PM

Saturday - traveling home by train with Flora and Tomi in top secret surprising my mom and dad

I was supposed to arrive on 23rd of December, no one expected me 10 days earlier:)

That was not my original plan either, but I figured why should I wait another 10 days for doing nothing here if i can spend this time with my family.

Getting the job from Walmart was a huge relief for me after attending four rounds of interviews and waiting over two months. But I got it eventually. Starting date is 1/06/14.

WOW! Welcome to HUNGARY!

What an incredible and exciting feeling to reunion with my beloved ones!

Hello Flora:)

12.02 - 12.08 - NYC Christmas

2014-01-11T16:19:00.003-08:00

the flower market in nyc

i visited Juli and Miki in the city

Christmas Markets

wood ties from recycled materials from a southern Californian construction for $40 cash $45 credit card

i was shocked!

but what a margin:)

recycled spirit bottles from southern California

$30 a bottle? ooh sweet deal!

church turned into a hip fashion store

it was a hardcore disco before with a lot of crackheads

now it is a piece of art

yes

rich vegetable soup is being made in a team spirit

with a big load of mushrooms

yammy

warming up for the night

mandatory

with a Connecticut pine tree

an insane portion of Indian lentil soup is cooking on the fire

bon appetite

Thank you, Juli and Miki! What a great weekend it was again:)

11.25 - 12.01 - CFA Level I.

2014-01-11T16:07:00.000-08:00

There were no photos taken for sure.

I was preparing Flora's present and started learning for my fish exam.
I got the 2014 CFA Access Scholarship that I applied for in March.
It means I can take the first exam for only $250 in 2014 instead of $1500. I am up for it.

11.18 - 11.24 - PMP

2014-01-11T16:02:00.001-08:00

PMP exam on November 25th

Now i am certified.

Many thanks for Charles. Without his help it could not have happened.

Purple soup made with black rice. Xiao was right. Don't use much black rice in a meal. (she said it is poisonous, i can tell you it was not, but it had a very interesting color) 50% of it is still in the fridge waiting for scarce times. Had a good taste though:)

This was the first item I bought in the USA in 2011 with Szasza at Walmart. 68 cents... and only lasted 2.5 years.

My first cookies are being made with the help of Flora.

Getting there

almost

ready with my specialty: rotini with sardines

men cooking

everybody contributed what he had in the fridge

came out good:)

11.11 - 11.17 - Uncubed and Magyar Bal

2013-11-18T20:23:00.001-08:00

11.04 - 11.10 - BAT, Deer hunting and Firearms

2013-11-07T16:52:00.002-08:00

Bloomberg Aptitude Test score: 550 - 89 pctl

https://talentsearch.bloomberginstitute.com/profiles/B138239019450

I've taken the Bloomber Aptitude Test two weeks ago while I was sitting in my bed. I signed up and was surprised when a woman showed up on my screen asking me to show around the room and clean my desk, etc. Well, okay. I had two hours to answer 100 questions. "The BAT currently has these eight sections:^[9] [News Analysis (12 questions), Economics (12 questions), Math Skills (14 questions), Analytical Reasoning (12 questions), Financial Statements Analysis (12 questions), Investment Banking (12 questions), Global Markets (14 questions), and Chart and Graph Analysis (12 questions)]." - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloomberg_Aptitude_Test

Here you can take the BAT exam.

http://about.bloomberginstitute.com/

After i finished the exam i read about it what it was, etc. People actually prepare for it, i didn't.

It came out pretty good.:)

I wish i looked through my finance equations and functions.

89th percentile is not bad.

On the way home a truck in front of us hit a huge deer. The deer run into the woods but I smelt it from the road and also heard him dying, just could not check it in the dark. It is how most people die in hunting, a wounded buck kill them with his antlers.

So on the next day I went back and checked it out:

14 points deer

I've not seen a deer like this.

It is too bad I could not get the antlers.

This is how close it was to the road. It damaged the front of the truck.

It could have killed me probably if it happened to my car.

On Friday and Saturday I was hunting with Jeffrey on the farm. It was great however we did not shoot anything. There are still a lot of leaves on the trees and the brush is also thick. We missed a deer because the bullet hit a small branch. We did not see or hear the deer until it was right there. It's quite amazing how silent these animals are.

Friday afternoon on the stand

Making s'mores over the fire

Eating ice cream after visiting the Cabela's

http://www.cabelas.com/

The BEST shopping experience you can ever get!

at the gun library

1/6 of the gun section or even smaller portion of it

it was just huge!

my favorite one was a pink shotgun

i've to get my daughter goin'

after destroying a brand new broom i am giving a hair cut to it

i can fix everything

Leaving in the morning

The gun is ready

Sunrise

This is the spot where the buck jumped back after the shot and run away. We were so close to get it.

This is where the buck marks its territory and you can smell its scent as well.

Bow stand on the tree

Sipping double espresso without sugar or milk at the fire pit after morning hunting.

I felt pretty cold eventually.

I was sitting almost in the fire.

The magic table

Saturday afternoon with a handgun as well.

The hunters

Firing up the beehive oven to bake pizza in it for the first time in my life

Loaded with dough and coal

Getting there

Alley made some edible dinner fortunately

Even though it looks delicious it went bad, so bad, I cannot tell you how bad it was.

I had to through into the garbage because the bottom was burnt. Never put the coal underneath your tray.

well...next time will be much better:)

It was a lot of fun though:) I could write a whole post about it alone!

After arriving home from hunting we went to shooting ranch. John promised that he is going to take us shooting. After a year or so the dream came true.

Andras, Nicole, Jeff (the pro), John, and Bence

The spot

I do not know exactly the made of the guns so now here are only the pictures.

We have shot with 10 different guns.

Original WWII gun from his grandfather

It sounded like hell. Huge respect for the vets! I mean HUGE!

150 yards

The WWII gun was the most serious gun. It was freaking laud.

Jeff is a pro and trains kids for missions going to Irac and Afghanistan

This is just A safe for his guns.

In the back there is the ammo cupboard.

Andras, Jeff, John, Nicole and Bence

John with the WWII veteran

Nicole is shooting

Jeff

It was a lot of fun! Thanks John and Jeff!

10.28 - 11.03 - Halloween

2013-11-07T09:56:00.001-08:00

At Jeffrey's house

At QU with other non-resident aliens

This became the best

QU ad by the Multicultural Office. They did not mention me though.

I want to learn how to use watermarks.

Since Flora left, i have been eating much healthier and three times a day. I even buy cage free farm raised eggs. It tastes so much better.

I never know what is going to come out of the ingredients i have in my fridge.

I try to avoid cooking canned bean with onion, sardine and egg. It tastes as good as it sounds.

Thank you, Jing!

My second soup in my life! Corn cheddar pork soup with potato, celery and carrot. Was goood!

We also celebrated Kati's birthday.

Eva, Ildiko, Szabi, Attila, Barna, Kati and me.

I forgot to take a photo before others left.

Hunting season is yet to come:)

10.21 - 10.27 - My 3rd Fall in CT

2013-11-07T09:37:00.000-08:00

Up on YorkHill, next to our aparment

The Mill Pond

10.14 - 10.20 - pmp and wacom

2013-10-18T19:35:00.002-07:00

the best is yet to come with my new wacom intuos

watch my first graphics for Flora

10.07 - 10.13 - East Village and the Catskills

2013-10-18T11:05:00.002-07:00

This was an insane weekend in any terms. On Thursday I visited Charles and got camping gears for the weekend hike in the Catskills. I thought I was fully equipped and prepared for spending the night outside in a borrowed tent. But don't go that far.

From last week with Attila in Southport

Thanks Jing for the rice cooker. It's in good hands.

There was the 3rd CEENET Trade Visit with Polish focus organized by Donna.

http://www.ctceenet.org/2013/08/28/2013-polish-trade-visit-to-connecticut/

On Friday morning I jumped into my car dressed professionally and headed to Manhattan to meet the CEO of the globe's first and only Venture Capital firm specialized in aquaculture. I arrived without any major delays and found a free (!) parking space with the help of Juli in Manhattan 20 minutes on walk from the Times Square. The meeting was fantastic and we talked over one hour and forty minutes about aquaculture, business opportunities and a lot more. I was quite surprised by the fact that I only expected 15-20 minutes and not that friendly talk.
Then I met Kristof from the MCC at the Grand Central and grabbed a beer somewhere on the way to Chelsea where we met Juli and Miki for many more drinks:)
After a short chit-chat and dress change we ended up at the Keybar in East Village. This is a cool, Eastern European bar run by two Hungarians Attila and Gyuszi.
We had five massive hours drinking like true Hungarians. We started with two rounds of Raspberry Palinka then switched to our national drink called Unicum (this is a special bitter made by many different herbs using a secret formula. We mixed the 11 rounds of Unicum shots with 6-7 beers in the meantime:)

This is how you park in Manhattan

Kristof, Juli, Miki plus Bence

At the Keybar - getting there

http://keybar.com/

almost there

here we go with Attila the owner

Then we went home by taxi around 2AM and got up at 7:30AM for a wonderful camping in the Catskills.

It was not grateful to wake up and get in the car. I had to eat something and felt so dehydrated so I bought some milk and bread. Juli showed me an extremely expensive bakery (gourmet bread) where I purchased a $4.5 ?! 1.5 lbs bread. However, it was the best bread I've ever had. It sucked the Unicum out of my belly eventually and saved my life probably. My milk purchase made Juli and Miki laugh at me, but wait until the end of the story.

Nobody had money or cards but me:) So I withdrew some money as well from a Hispanic grocery store with $2 surcharge. Anyway, we were ready to go. My car made the night, it was still there, no tickets, no cracks, nothing. Finally we set the gps and headed out from NYC. The upcoming 2 hours driving felt terrible, i am sorry, i felt terrible. The sickness came in long lasting waves, i had to pull down the window to get some fresh air. When we found the camping I could not believe that we arrived.

Fully equipped like a camper

In the bag: 2 sleeping pads, 1 tent, 1/2 gallon milk, 1/2 loaf bread, 1 chunky canned soup, 1 ramen noodles, 3 pairs of socks, 1 pair of trousers, 3 sweaters, 1 spoon, 1 lighter, 1 BG survival knife, 3/4 gallon water, 1 jacket, 1 lamp, 1 sleeping bag down to 25 Celsius (This night was 5 Celsius)

Sleeping pads, the tent and the pack are from Charles.

Happy couple:)

Juli is a professional photographer (Juli would say, no, she is not, but she is) with some nice lenses and a solid DSLR base.

The weather could not have been better. Seriously, fall is gorgeous in New England but it was ridiculously gorgeous. Catskills is one of Charles's most favorite hiking places. I can understand that.

This is where we camped. Guess what happened to my milk? We drunk it together of course, there was no more laugh. It tasted like silk and blanket for my stomach.

This is what we saw when we woke up. But first I had to set up the tent which I haven't done for a while, let's say 8 years:) It went well though and I started making fire.

Like this. We collectively gathered some branches and kept the fire going until 7:45 PM where we went to bed. Yes, 7:45 PM. It was pitch dark and we were exhausted.

But before that we had a nice warm dinner with gourmet dried instant food prepared by Juli and Miki.

It is around 7PM. The fire felt so good and we just sat around it and talked about traveling, plans, stories and all that. There was no signs of my hungover any more.

This is the morning preparing the "junk" breakfast by Bence. The night was long, wet and cold for me. I only had an ultra light sleeping bag which is warm until 25 celsius, as I said this night was only 5 celsius. I wore 3 pairs of socks one of them was for skiing, 2 pairs of trousers, 3 t-shirts, 2 sweaters, 1 jacket, 1 hat, 1 sleeping bag. Juli suggested me to put warm stones from the pit so it will warm up my tent. It worked until it was getting really cold so it did not help much, but the idea was good.

I fell asleep at 8PM and woke up at 11:58PM first and I felt it must me around 4AM so it disappointed me and the stones were cold. I checked the weather outside, we got a huge fog so everything became soaked. Temperature dropped significantly and there was a bit wind going on as well. I tried to sleep more and woke up at 4:30AM next, then 5:45AM and finally at 6:00AM i left my tent because I was cold.

Making a fire when you are sitting in a cloud and everything is so wet can be quite challenging. Fortunately, I've seen Bear Grylls's all survival episodes and in 15 minutes there was a fire ready to sleep next to it on a sleeping pad. That's what I did until 8:30AM when everybody woke up, had a warm breakfast, packed everything and left the camp site.

9:00AM

9:30AM - this is my favorite photo

Thanks Juli!

Pretty

There was a wonderful weekend with Juli and Miki. Thanks guys!

See you soon!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catskill_Mountains

09.30 - 10.06 - Southport 2.0

2013-10-18T10:15:00.001-07:00

Besides my full-time job seeking efforts, interviews and PMP studying I attended the Southport Gallery's Hungarian night which featured The Art as Ambassador - Hungarian Masterpieces collection.

It was a great night in many ways. Here are some pictures from the event:

My best food was the crackers dipped in goat cheese with Hungarian paprika cream on top.

I went fishing on the other day and caught my second American channel catfish in the Mill Pond close to the university. It had a really nice size and was absolutely surprise to catch it from my frequently visited spot where I've been fishing for over two years and never got one.

09.23 - 09.29 - Southport and BigE

2013-10-06T20:19:00.004-07:00

This was on Friday - Art as Ambassador: Hungarian Masterpieces

Collection of Nancy G. Brinker and Christian L. Sauska

http://southportgalleries.com/

This was my favorite piece with two paintings on both sides.

The canvas was too expensive to just waste.

With Jozsef Rippl-Ronai (1861-1927)

Homage to Monsieur Bing (Portrait of a Lady in Brown Dress)

And on Sunday we jumped into the Ildiko's car and drove up to a very nice farm where I had my first brunch ever.

We got the best table with beautiful view

I ordered two pieces of french toast and one pancake with apple sauce and some whipped cream on the top.

Others ordered three pancakes with blueberry sauce on the top.

It was really good!

Barna, bence, Ildiko, Szabi

pic1

pic2

pic3

On this farm everything loves apple, even a turtle eats it:)

pic4

pic5

It is a genius business model. I must have something like this on my farm someday.

Then we went to the Big-E.

http://www.thebige.com/ese/

Where we tasted the essence of the American marketing.

Guy who is making his fortune on pig puppies.

Others go to dog shows or dog beauty competition or whatever

Guy trimming sheeps

Pig beauty competition

Milking a sheep

Who is watching who:)

Alpacas

I liked that

I liked that even more. The lady told me these are salvage furs, so they wait until the animal dies and then take the skin. OFFF COURSEEE! They live long i am telling you.

Selling pearl right from the shell picked by the customer from a dirty fishtank for $25? Sweet! I like it:)

This was awesome!

Phase 1

Phase 2

A huge pumpkin

How to sell chicken cuteness in phases for different customers:

Phase 1

Phase 2

Final phase

2250 lbs horse - 1000 kg

Blooming onion - after

before - i want to have some

This was absolutely the #1 business model on the Big E. You get a dirty, old piece of ... chair. You put a sign above it that says $5 and people are happy to pay you!

Ingredients to the success:

big disgusting chair, white trash like target market, one smartphone with a wonderful camera, one professional photographer, one inkjet printer and $5

I love that photo too. American couple is eating junkfood and living their last days happily. I like this healthy consumption. Sustainable (for the seller)

This was actually great! What a smell!!

And a happy customer. The line was 60 yards long.

The great state

How about a stone with drilled hole in the middle for $32?

Deal!!

Getting ready for Christmas1

Getting ready for Chrismas2

The Big E was slightly different from other trade shows that I used to in Hungary.

The only difference is that we have to learn marketing.

And sell chicks with shells and pig beauty competition with huge margins.

09.16 - 09.22 - Honorary consul inaguration

2013-10-06T20:19:00.001-07:00

This was left out from the NY weekend. Flora and I organized a small BBQ party for everybody. Flora is preparing the delicious salad.

We got a nice crowd:

Attila, Dani, Barna, Kati, Andris, Marti, Flora and bence

Thanks everybody!

We also celebrated Attila's birthday.

____________________________________________________________

Waving Flora goodbye was not easy and I miss her a lot. She arrived home in safe and got a job at a great law firm. Everything goes well on the Hungarian frontier as well.

In the meantime in Connecticut big thing happened to our community.

Professor Christopher Ball was inaugurated as Connecticut's Honorary Consull of Hungary. The ceremony was on Thursday I believe. Chris held his best speech ever. It was just fantastic!

Congratulations to you, Chris!!

http://www.al.com/business/index.ssf/2013/09/huntsville_high_uah_graduate_c.html#incart_river

Ambassador Karoly Dan is holding his speech to Chris with the Hungarian-American scouts in the back

Congratulations!

Attila, Kati, bence, Ildiko, Eva, Chris, Hanna

_____________________________________________________________________

Since Flora left I keep eating well and feed myself with good stuff.

This is a decent size largemouth bass. It was a fun fishing:)

09.09 - 09.15. - NYC

2013-09-05T06:37:00.004-07:00

NYC weekend was the last weekend and another big dream came true.

Nagyobb térképre váltás
Bow Bridge
Rockefeller Center
5th Ave
Grand Central
are missing from the map

Just like every time Flora brought the car in front of UIL and I jumped in and drove down to NYC. Flora stayed at home until lunch packed everything and prepared for the last couple days. Our apartment was in The Bronx at a host that we never met, but everything was smooth and flexible. This guy has an entire house in The Bronx at a good neighborhood 3 minutes from the Subway station and 50 ft from the Bronx Zoo and Botanical Garden. We decided to go by car because we parked on the street for free and we saved a lot on using car instead of train.

After our arrival we immediately headed downtown to maximize the time in the city. The first night sight was the Times Square. It was as fabulous as usual. We had a great time there!

Flora enjoyed every moment of it, just like me

Happiness

lots of people

"What are you lookin' at?"

On Saturday morning we started with the Statue of Liberty Island. That was my first time to the Lady as well.

The weather was nice, however, it was a bit chilly after a while.

There was a very kind old lady who took a lot of photos of us.

With the Statue of Liberty.

With Manhattan in the background

huge and strong

Pretty!

On the island you get an audio guide and by listening to it you can know everything about the island, the statue, and all its history, how it became one of the greatest symbol of freedom and the USA besides the Capitol.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Liberty

I just like this statue, I always imagine what those people could have felt when they arrived with nothing to create their new life on the new world.

After the Lady visit we were going to the Empire State Building, we strapped the foodbag on at a local burger place. It was really good burger for a very reasonable price.

And by the way it was located next to the Famous Little Italy Pizza place, the pizzas did not look that good so we stuck to the burgers.

The Empire State Building

We got special bundle tickets and before the building we watched or were part of a flight simulation over NYC. It was in an IMAX theater. Was really good. Then we went to the 86th floor and were amazed by the view again.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_State_Building

West Side

Lower Manhattan - downtown and midtown

in Flora's hands

turtle neck

On the top

Flora with Manhattan

In the visitor center you can find so many useful souvenirs like this pink King Kong

After two huge attractions we had to run home get changed and come back to the Broadway.

We were watching The Lion King at the Minskoff Theatre

With Mufasa

Flora with the playbill and the tickets. We had very good seats in the mezzanine 3rd row middle

It was absolutely fantastic. Just amazing.

I am glad that I was able to take Flora to this play.

Disney Presents: The Lion King

On Sunday we visited the 9/11 Memorial

They made a fantastic job creating this memorial for the heroes.

Then I showed Flora around in the financial building and district

In front of the NYSE

Touching the bull's balls - could not get more luck

Beautiful!

On the tail

After downtown I wanted to show Flora the Chinatown and Little Italy but the subway was shot down so we had to walk:) After a long and tiring walk where we also visited all the courts in NYC we arrived to the Chinatown.

Because we like experimenting with food, I ordered new meals I haven't tried and the rice soup was a huge surprise. I finished it but next time I will not order that for sure:)

Jing, it was very similar to my favorite porridge:) I wish I knew that. I wish you and Xiao were here.

WTF? These are titty balls:) Yes, if you have small ones or just want to give a surprise you can buy one or a pair for $1 each:):) I could not believe my eyes.

This was great! Fish market - in the fishtank that i am pointing at there is tilapia

$3.8 per lbs alive

A bit of nostalgia from Nicaragua: Mamasita!

In Little Italy there was a street festival

We tried delicious pastries: cannoli and something else with peanut butter

Hand made cigar $12 each

After Little Italy we walked through the Manhattan Bridge with a couple of beers and saw what is inside the shadow of the skyscrapers. This was very disappointing and sad to see how many people live in Manhattan.

This is what I would expect in the Bronx not in Manhattan

The beautiful view from the Manhattan Bridge on the Brooklyn Bridge

On the famous Brooklyn Bridge where we saw the sunset over NYC

It was very cool!

In the middle of the Brooklyn bridge

me too

Almost dark

Together

Together2 - in the background is Brooklyn

On Monday morning we visited the Columbia University campus

Flora is performing in front of the main library

Next to the north west corner of the Central Park we found this Hungarian Pastry Shop with authentic Hungarian pastries and with Italian owner and Hungarian baker

What a pleasant surprise?:)

We crossed the Central Park and arrived to the Metropolitan Museum

We walked through the first floor only and it took nearly two hours and we were just walking not reading. Impressive monument

Central Park pond

This was the best and most beautiful fountain I've ever seen. There was no fish in it unfortunately.

On the Bow Bridge!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bow_Bridge,_Central_Park

After spending like four hours in the Central Park we continued our tour on the 5th Avenue with all the luxury brand shops. Rockefeller Tower is a must see

This shop is huge! Build-A-Bear!

Check it out, fantastic business model.

The Chrysler Building

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysler_Building

I showed Flora where I take the train to the City and how I get home

Standing in the Grand Central

Sitting on a MetroNorth train

Checking out the Apply shop

Then we were driving home and preparing for Flora's leaving

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After seven beautiful weeks Flora had to fly home.

I miss her so much!

Love you, Flora!