I took the train into town, hit up an internet cafe and learned the differences between German and English keyboards. I also got some food from a McDonalds.
I walked around town and went to places. I got apple flavored Mentos and bought a pen with my name on it.
There were other German things too, and at one point, as I waited to cross the street, I was shocked to find that the cars were stopping for me. It was very different from what life was like in Cape Town.
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| Frankfurt Opera House |
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| A church |
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| Two photos put together to get the full view of downtown. |
After getting a little lost and finding my way back to the train station, I went back to the airport and boarded my flight to Newark. After a few more hours, I was in Newark on the 4th of July. I went outside to get on my van to my hostel and wanted to turn around and go back right away from the humidity. After the ride, I checked in to my tiny, windowless room at The Big Apple Hostel - oh, no, there was a window that opened to a giant shaft. I may have napped before I went out again, but then I was out.
I told some police that I needed to find an ATM, and they gave me a hard time because of my choice of words, but eventually directed me to an ATM. When I got there, I discovered that these ATMs did not require that you give your card up to the machine. Instead, you just had to swipe the card. Genius, I thought, after 5 months of living in a country full of warnings against using ATMs lest you lose all your money due to fraud because of "the machine eating your card."
I also called my parents from a payphone and talked to them for probably an hour before heading down to see the fireworks. Time Square was bustling with activity, then the sun set and it was time for fireworks.
Then we all walked back from the water, filling entire streets and going and stopping with the traffic lights.
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| As I walked back to the hostel, I got a couple of photos of the Empire State Building. |
