New Year's Eve in New York City

Oh New York. You keep giving me pleasure over the years! For the FIRST time I made it in winter time. My family and me were at a wedding in North Carolina first and afterwards, we headed to New York to enjoy the world's center, as I like to call it, during snowfall and sunshine!

We were there for six days and of course I was all about instagramming every single moment, as I was flooded with mind boggling impressions.

My personal recommendation: VISIT BROOKLYN! It's so underrated! Greenwood Cemetery, Coney Island, Park Slope, Williamsburg,... all these places should not be missed during a stay in NYC as they are so very different than Manhattan and show you how eclectic New York is!

 Recommendation No. 2. DON'T. go on TimeSquare on New Year's Eve. too. many. people!

Trivia: it had -4°C so it was unbelievably cold. I wore as much as I do when going skiing and froze nonetheless. However, I didn't care for the cold at all for a glance of ice-skating people in Central Park or a view over Manhattan from Brooklyn Bridge.

by the way: do follow me on instagram! KOALA_REPUBLIC it is. see you there! :) 

gorgeous weather in frozy Central Park & my favorite building of them all

 the fantastic view from Brooklyn Bridge Park & the Ball Drop's probably SINGLE nice moment!

 enjoying fauna on Highline & stunned by the 9/11 memorial that has turned out beautifully

 drinking the sun in Brooklyn's Greenwood Cemetery & glancing at Manhattan from Brooklyn Bridge

 Coney Island Sunset. See for yourself....

 Brooklyn daily life & Brooklyns sleeping-beauty-lookalike Botanical Garden

American food - who doesn't love it, let's all be honest. (I did gain some pounds ;D)

PHOTO POST: New York and Chicago!!

I'm back from one of my highlights of 2012 and probably one of the best journeys I've ever been on!

New York and Chicago were absolutely amazing! Two weeks were certainly not enough, the ones of you who've been there know what I mean.

My good friend Larissa and I had an appartment on the Upper West Side in a little hotel and did a mixture of sightseeing and relaxing in my favorite city. The people in NYC are said to be so rude, well, if you ask me they're tons nicer and friendlier than Europeans ;) We met so many random people that we exchanged stories with, every day! 

Chicago was stunning. I wonder why no one ever seems to have been there. The skyline is amazing as well. Only backfire was the 41° Celsius that we had over the whole of the two weeks :D Of course, we went swimming in Lake Michigan one day.

I don't have to tell those who have been there, but the United States is definitely something different! Especially NYC, where you wish you were friends with every second pedestrian, just captures my every blood vessel and thought while I'm there (hehe). I hope that once I can live over there and to you, who have not been in NYC or Chicago, go there! Summer or winter, never mind :)

Now I just wish all of you a wonderful remaining summer, mine started out VERY well, I hope yours did too. Enjoy my impressions:

NEW YORK

New York City Skyline... Lower Manhattan - the Staten Island Ferry is for free, never enjoyed anything that much ;)

the obligatory time square pic ;)

the flatiron building :) while the traffic light was red ;)

my favorite building in New York with the most beautiful top - the Chrysler Building

one of the best museums I've been to

Alice and me!

Metropolitan Opera on the Upper West Side

Upper West Side in the evening.. stunning

 CHICAGO

Chicago from above (Willis Tower - the highest tower in the USA)

Chicago skyline and me

the bean <3

the Art Institute of Chicago with a Roy Lichtenstein exhibition inside right now!

beautiful Michigan River flowing through Downtown Chicago