New York, USA, 17.-27.6.2012, Day 5.

On our fifth day in New York we did something that was new to me again as we headed out to Coney Island for the day. The subway ride there is quite long but it's all worth it when you get off the metro at Stillwell Avenue and can smell the ocean. Aaah, heaven! Before I'd been to Coney Island myself, I'd read many reviews of the place, saying it's completely dated and a bit seedy even. I don't agree at all; to me, Coney Island is adorably old-fashioned and plain charming, and I recommend it to absolutely everyone who happens to be in New York in the summertime. It's amazing that in a place like New York, you can find a beach like that to spend the perfect summer day on. Loved it!

Of course, the downside to our visit was the crazy heatwave that continued to have the city in its embrace. There were lots of families sunbathing on the beach, but we couldn't even consider doing anything like that as the heat was simply too much to take. However, I did go and dip my toes in the Atlantic Ocean.

Satu and my mum on the beach.

After spending a couple of minutes in the sun like that, we had to find shelter, and something to drink. I got myself a Pepsi Max and we sat down under a shade on the boardwalk for some snacks.

It was HOT!

My mum :).

Once we felt okay about venturing out into the sun again, we decided to check Luna Park out. It's an old-fashioned, tivoli-type amusement park right next to the beach. You don't have to pay anything to go in but the rides are $6 each, I think. The park was quite empty, almost abandoned, when we went there, but that was quite nice as you didn't have to queue for anything. We walked around, played some games (we tried our luck in some sort of 'Shoot the Mafioso' game but didn't have a clue about what we were supposed to do, heh) and Satu even won something...

And then it was time to go on a ride...my mum isn't into stuff like that, but luckily I managed to convince Satu to ride the Wonder Wheel with me! What a scary ride that was! There are two types of passenger cars - some are regular ones while the others aren't fixed but rather slide back and forth on rails as the wheel goes round and round. Crazy! We obviously picked the regular option as we didn't want any sort of unpredicted extra movement during our ride. It was still crazy! The Wonder Wheel is almost 46 metres tall so when you're high up, you really are high up. We did our fair share of screaming, I'll admit that. Then when we got back down and thought we were about to get off, the Wheel just went ahead to rotate one more time...aaaaargh :D! We were laughing so much as we'd thought we'd be getting back to safety after one round. Oh well. We survived and that's the main thing :D!

Satu and I, ready to go up!

Some views from up there!

See? Scary stuff! We were holding on for dear life!

My mum can be seen walking down there :D.

Go up it's Great my ass....:D Okay okay, it was fun, too!

The little shops and restaurants along the Boardwalk were adorable, and the next thing we did was have a drink...

I had a Brooklyn Summer Ale - the one in the middle.

And then on to New York Aquarium. The entrance was $14,95 and that was quite alright. The aquarium was quite small in my opinion - definitely very small compared to Vancouver Aquarium - but a nice enough place anyway. We went to a sea lion show there, too, and it was similar to what I saw in Hawaii last summer with dolphins and penguins...I just don't like the American way of doing these shows at all: loud music, loud shouting and clapping and just an atmosphere that makes me feel horrible for the animal who has to perform in the middle of all that noise. I don't approve of it at all. Anyway, a few pictures...

Walruses!

After our visit to the Aquarium, we headed back to the subway station. I bought some salt water taffy on the way to bring back to the hotel with me and it was sooooo good! A seaside town tradition that I fell in love with. We also had hot dogs and burgers at the original Nathan's. I'd read just about everywhere that if you're in Coney Island, you have to have a hot dog at Nathan's as apparently they're heavenly. I don't eat red meat myself so I had to skip that delicacy, but my mum and Satu said the hot dogs were good so I'll believe them. I had a fish sandwich and old-fashioned lemonade myself and those were delicious, too.

 

 

Me with my salt water taffy back at the hotel.

We did one more thing in the evening as Satu and I decided this was the day we'd go up the Empire State Building. So, we sat at the restaurant next to our hotel for a bit and then went up to the 86th floor to admire the views, and the sunset. The entrance was $23 and I think it's definitely worth the price.

Aaaaah! So many pictures, but I just love the Empire State Building, there's nothing like it! The views are spectacular, and you really realise where you are when you see the city lights...you're on top of the world and you feel so free! One of my favourite feelings in the whole world. This is my city, even if I'm not American. New York represents so many things that I love - how could I ever not love it? I've lost my heart to everything about New York - especially its past, but also its present and why not future as well. It's THE place to be.