Easter weekend in Rehoboth Beach

For those who have read my article about Rehoboth beach back in October, they might ask: ‘hey, wait a second, is she going there again???’

Yes, we did! And this time we didn’t have rain at all in opposite to the trip in October when we had horrible weather conditions with rain, wind and even ice rain.

When I was only a participant at the October trip, I had a different role this time. The October weekend was organized by a former intern who could not plan the weekend anymore. As we had such a great time there and we really wanted that all the new interns who arrived in February and March could experience the same fun and atmosphere, Mona and I decided to take over the organizational part. This did not only include planning for 30 people, writing and communicating with them and planning for them as well as equipping the house but the main work was negotiating with the landlord. He was very polite and a nice person to work with that everything went great…Anyway, this part went very smooth and the weekend was ahead of us.

Tim, Mona’s hubby picked me up at work around 2pm as we needed to be the first to arrive at the house to meet the caretaker and get a tour around the house to know everything about it. One after the other intern appeared throughout the early evening and we set up the table for peer pong and flip cup. So you can imagine that this was the start of a great party night with BBQ, Jacuzzi sessions, Play station and Wii games, a visit from the police because of the noise and dancing on the tables and chairs:-)

I had the same room as last time but I shared with Miriam and Jillian. The next day started late and very slow as we all needed to recover from the night. Some people went shopping, others made their way to the national park with wild horses and the rest just chilled out at the house or played Playstation or Wii.

Ryan just moved up from Louisiana the weekend before and promised me to come over as well. He arrived in the afternoon and we took a walk along the beach before we headed for dinner in town. When we came back, more and more people finished up their meals or their hamburgers and we all felt ready to start the Saturday night….This time, Tim was playing the DJ for us and kept us on the dance floor all night. It was great and the pictures tell more than I could tell.

On Sunday morning, the house was very quiet. A lot of people slept in or hung out on the huge roof top. It was a wonderful sunny morning and very warm for the first weekend of April. As this was the Easter weekend, all the interns with American boyfriends and girlfriends had to leave earlier to be at the Easter dinner with the families. The rest of us headed to beach and we were playing beach volleyball, strolling along the beach or just hanging out together. If I remember right, this was my first Easter weekend at the beach and it felt so good!!! In the early afternoon, it was time for the last BBQ and then we all started cleaning together as we had to leave the house around 5pm.

Even though it was a lot of work for Mona and me beforehand, it was a wonderful weekend and we enjoyed it very much. It felt even better when the other interns were thanking us for organizing it and giving us feedback that they all had fun and a great time.

But this weekend with all the interns in one house does not bring only a great time for everyone. It really helps to connect with each other and you can get in touch with interns that you never see or very randomly because they work in different buildings. Everyone has the chance make new contacts and get to know each other better. This is always a great event for the entire intern community and we hope that these weekends can continue.

See all the pix from the Easter weekend in my photoalbum:

http://gerryg.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album45

Farewell Party - Casino Royale

Thomas and Michael stayed 2 more days and after the last shopping trip on Monday, they finally had to leave on Tuesday. Before they left for the airport, they came over to Malvern and peaked into my office. I was soooooo sad that they left and how incredibly fast the 2 weeks passed by. It felt so good, to have friends from my home country here! Being on the road with them all the time was pretty exhausting and I was longing for some sleep and couldn't wait for the weekend. But there was no real relaxing time as we had the next farewell party coming up.
Unfortunately, my roomie Julien came to the end of his internship which also made me very sad as we had such a great time here in Wayne. Also Petra and Daniel wanted to say good bye to the interns. After all the funny or 'interesting' themes we had for the last parties, I was glad about the theme they chose for their party: Casino Royale.
We were all looking forward to dress up and change our home into a casino. All the girls wore pretty cocktail dresses and the boys jumped into their suits.

My landlord Bill even pulled on his Tuxedo!!! Being all dressed up and looking so elegant, made the whole atmosphere of the party unforgettable. In addition, Tyra came over from Washington and was able to experience the intern community once more. It was a wonderful party!

You can watch more pictures on my photoalbum:

http://gerryg.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album44

Thomas and Michael in the US - Part 3: New York

After exploring Philly, Washington and partying in Atlantic City, we were all longing for a relaxed Sunday. I had to work again on Monday while the boys were able to sleep in, go for shopping and make up final plans for the big trip to New York.

On Tuesday morning, the journey began for them. My Roomie Julien brought them to Wayne train station. From there, they took the train into Philly and jumped in a greyhound bus which brought them to New York.
As I still had to work Tuesday and Wednesday, they visited spots I was not that hip to see. Also, on Wednesday, it was St.Patrick's day and there was huge parade through the City. I started after work and drove to our hotel in New Jersey where I met my 2 impressed guys.
We wanted to see a lot, so our schedule was pretty tight for the next day. Many people had suggested to us, to make a boat ride around Manhattan and so we did. That way, you can see the Statue of Liberty very well and also catch a different view on Manhattan.

Even though the wind was quite chilly, I really enjoyed that ride.
Then we went into the city and made our way to the famous "Ghostbusters" house.

After Michael got his picture, we headed south and walked down the waterfront. The next stop was at former "Ground Zero" which is a huge construction area now. Even though you already see new buildung emerging there, it is still impressive to realize the impact of this event.
We continued to walk through battery park down to the south peak of Manhattan and then turned into the direction of Wall Street. They have statues of the Bull and the Bear around there and I couldn't resist to jump on and ride the bull.

I have been told before that you will become rich when you touch the balls of the bull, so I did, just to make you not missing any chance here. Grand Central Station was the next stop on our "wanna-see-list" and as it was so close by, we also had a glimpse into the lobby of the Chrysler Building. The plan for the evening was to experience "Top of the Rocks" at sunset. For those who don't know what I mean by "Top of the Rocks": This is the Obseervation Deck on the Rockefeller Center.

We picked the perfect time to ascend there. We had enough time to walk around, take pictures and see the city by sunshine.

Then we found a very good spot to see the sun setting down and so we ended up leaving the deck in darkness. Michael and Thomas wished to experience a jazz session in one of the Jazz Clubs in the city. The first one we wanted to enter didn't let us in as they were already full. But then we found pretty sweet, classy Jazz bar at the Lincoln Center and we all agreed that this was a perfect end for such a wonderful day.
We started the Friday with a stroll thorugh Chelsea and Soho and my special spot for the day was the house of Carrie in the TV show "Sex and the City" and a visit in the "Magnolia Bakery" which is also featured in the show. The bakery was so busy and to the boys' amusement, girls were constantly approaching the little shop from all directions. There even exist "Sex and the City" bus tours which all stop at the famous places of the show. Empowered after a little snack from the bakery, we made our way to Little Italy where Thomas needed to get something 'real' to eat. We got a recommendation for a good Italian Sandwich shop. While Thomas was waiting for his sandwich to be prepared, he discovered the little check from George Bush who paid his dinner with the check and Thomas also found out that this restaurant feed all the hungry firemen and policemen after the 09/11 disaster with great enthusiasm and unforgettable commitment.
Following Little Italy, we entered a different world, just one block further, Chinatown starts to spreap out. It is interesting to see that even international banks like HSBC display their names in Chinese letters.
Finally we arrived at Brooklyn Bridge and we decided to walk the bridge to the other side to Brooklyn.

After that it was time to return to the hotel. We had to get ready for the night as we had tickets for a basketball match in the Madison Square Garden. This was one of Thomas high priority wishes and he was smiling like a happy little camper.

The Knicks were playing against the 76er's (the Philly team). The 76er's were leading the first 3 quarters of the game and when the knicks started to catch up in the last period, the audience went crazy!
When we did the whole planning about what we gonna do in NYC, the boys also requested to have at least one party night in the City. It wasn't the first time for me in NY, so I knew where to go. I lead them to the Niki Beach Club where we have been with the interns before back in February for Miri's birthday. I really like this place and you can find the article about this club on my blog here as well. We had a great night there and definitely needed to sleep in the next day....
You might imagine that we started our Saturday much slowlier than the days before...We had to check out from the hotel room and then took the ferry again to Manhattan. As we all needed some kind of recovery we just walked down the blocks to the Central Park. There, we found a nice sunny place to chill and hang out and all of us took the chance to have another little nap.
Later that afternoon I wanted to show them 2 really cool hotels. On our way there we stopped in some shops around Fifth Avenue and Times Square.

Especially the M&M shop caught our attention. I wanted to show them a very nice hotel concerning the architecture and design at Times Square. The first time I saw it was together with Mona, Tim and Miri. Not only how the entire hotel is designed inside but they also have a restaurant with a revolving platform at the 48th floor of the hotel and overlooks the city.

When I saw it, I knew in the same moment that I would take Thomas and Micheal here and invite them for the last dinner in New York. And so we were sitting there, enjoying the food, overlooking the city and remembering the great and funny moments that we just had all th days before. The sun was setting down and while we were turning above the roofs of New York, we felt just happy and thankful that we could share all these memories together. What a wonderful world :-)

Check all our New York pictures on my photoalbum:

http://gerryg.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album43

Thomas and Michael in the US - Part 2: Atlantic City

Saturday morning: Far too early for Michael and me, Thomas got up at 6am in the morning to give Tyra and Christoph a ride to the airport. When he came back, he threw us out of the bed. We took our time and at around 11am we sat in the car to drive down to Atlantic City in New Jersey. The trip was horrible because we experienced some severe pouring rain periods and flooded areas which forced us to take a detour. It took us one hour longer than anticipated but we were still the 2nd car to arrive as all of us were stuck on the road because of the rain somehow. As it was Jackie's (Siemens intern) birthday one day before, there were about 20 people coming down to spend the Saturday in Atlantic City and celebrate with her.

Atlantic City (AC, how it is called here) is famous for its boardwalk, casino gampling, sandy beaches, shopping centers, view of the Atlantic Ocean, and as the inspiration for the board game Monopoly. They describe themselves on the webpage that way: "It's Atlantic City, NJ, and it's better than ever. Casino gaming. Spas. World-class entertaining & nightlife. Fine dining. The Atlantic City Boardwalk. Golf. Fun attractions. Ocean & Fishing. Water sports. Shopping. Any way you look at it, Atlantic City guarantees fast-paced excitement and non-stop activities."
We all stayed at the same hotel and had to taxi buses booked to bring us to the "Tropicana" one of the Casino complexes which hosts a Casino, bars, restaurants, nightclubs and shops under one roof. On of the sport bars was our destination for dinner and after that we strolled around through the casino. Some of our people gambled but I was not into it. We found a nice bar and later a cool Latino club to swing our hips on the dancefloor. The great thing about AC is that the clubs close at 4am instead of 2am like in Philly. So we really took advantage of this.

We slept in the next day and left after the breakfast. Two hours later we arrived back home and it was just a lazy Sunday for us like going for grocery shopping, doing laundry, chilling at home and making up some plans for New York which was on our list for the next week. Here are some pictures from our party night:

http://gerryg.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album42

Thomas and Michael in the US - Part 1: Philly and Washington

It was planned for such a long time: Thomas, Michael and Norma wanted to visit me in March for 2 weeks. We were all so excited but just one week before the scheduled departure, Mia, Norma's child got sick and the result was that Norma unfortunately and sadly enough had to cancel the entire trip. Thomas and Michael nevertheless decided to come and on March 8, in the late afternoon I picked them up at Philly airport. It was so good to see them after such a long time being away! To me, it felt like as if they also brought a taste of home with them.
As I had to work the following 2 days, they rented are car in order to be independent and flexible. We picked up the car and went home. To keep them a bit longer awake, I decided to take them out to the 'Cheesecake Factory', a restaurant which has normal dinner meals but their specialty is the huge range of cheesecakes as dessert. Saying this, the boys got introduced to the American way of being hosted in a restaurant (where the waiter introduces himself: "Hi, my name is Bob and I am your waiter tonight") as well as the enormous portions in this restaurant and they also tasted their first American beer. While I was at work the next day, they made their way to Philly and explored the 'City of Brotherlove'. In the evening we met for another intern farewell dinner. On Wednesday they decided to visit some spots in Philly again while I was at work. When I came home from work, we packed our stuff together, threw it in the car and off we went for Washington, as I took the next 2 days off from work. Tyra, a very close friend from high school lives there and we were lucky to stay with her.
Our Thursday started with a bus ride to the Washington Capitol. I had booked a free tour in advance for the Capitol. After this little education about American history, we strolled down "the Mall". This is the mile where you can find all the museums in Washington and this is also called the Smithsonian. Almost all museums don't charge for admission which is great! We didn't entered any of them this day as we saved it for the next day because we heard about rain for Friday in the weather forecast.

Arriving at the Washington Monument, we couldn't get any tickets to get up there because all the tickets for the day were already issued. So we just continued walking down to the Second World War Memorial and continued to the Lincoln Memorial. After taking the typical tourist pictures, we decided to walk over the bridge to the next Metro station and went back to the City centre to make our way to the White House. Being exhausted from the sightseeing, we were happy to hang out in the evening with Tyra and her boyfriend Christoph at home with a glass of wine.

The weather forecast became true: We woke up and heard the rain drizzling outside. With our perfect German planning :-), we managed to have almost all the attractions left which are inside. Only our first stop was outdoors: We took the car and drove down to Arlington. Our first picture session took place in pouring rain at the Iwo Jima Memorial. When we entered the Arlington cemetary, the rain fortunately became lighter. We walked around, saw J.F. Kennedy's grave with the eternal flame and caught a glimpse of a funeral. I have to say that Arlington really impressed me but I cannot even describe it.

Our next attraction on our 'list-to-see' was the National Museum of Natural History which is famous from the movie 'Nights at the Museum 2'. After that we went to see the National Air and Space Museum. Both of these museum are so such and bear so much variety that you could easily spend a day in each of them. For the evening, we had decided to try out an Italian restaurant in Georgetown. Later on, we met Tyra and Chris at home again. They both had just finished to pack for their Las Vegas Trip. We also packed our stuff together as we were about to leave for Atlantic City the next morning.

For more visual impressions, visit my digital photoalbum:

http://gerryg.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album41

Weekend in Baton Rouge with Ryan

Well, most of you didn't hear about Ryan so far who I met in New Orleans when I asked him and his friend to take a picture of our group on Bourbon Street. This was back in November. We kept in touch here and there and met again for Christmas Eve in Washington D.C. Since then we stayed in regular and closer contact ;-) and the wish to see each other again was growing stronger. The only problem was that he lived in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Therefore we came up with the idea that I could fly down for a weekend.
Finally it was Friday, February 26, the day I should leave for Baton Rouge. Yes, I say 'should' because it wasn't clear whether I could fly at all. The reason was the third incredible snowstorm we had this winter. I was tracking the storm cloud and its movement since Tuesday that week already and was always up to date about the weather and its development. The weather was already bad on Thursday when we worked from home already and also when I got up Friday, I saw that it wouldn't make sense to get to work through the snow. First action this Friday morning was hammering the flight number of my flight into the flight tracker which was already saved in favorite internet links. My flight itinery was leaving from Philly at 6pm to Houston, TX and change planes there to Baton Rouge, LA. As the plane which I would take from Philly was coming up from Houston this morning, I could track it and stay up to date on delays. Around 2pm it turned out that the flight from Houston to Philly was already one hour delayed. My problem was that I only had exactly one hour in Houston between arrival and departure, incl. boarding time already. Therefore I called my airline to find out about my options:

Option 1: Taking the flight to Houston and trying to get the connection to Baton Rouge somehow magically --> If I would miss it, I would have to stay in Houston on my own expenses and get the first flight next morning to Baton Rouge

Option 2: Trying to find another flight connection --> negative, all flights booked out as the lady just checked then

Option 3: Postpone the whole flight and the return flight to next weekend --> negative, after the lady checked as there were no more flights available for the next weekend

So obviously, I really had no other option apart from dropping the ball completely or trying and hoping to be lucky. Saying that, my roomie Lalo drove me to the airport and I was hoping that the plane would have caught up some time meanwhile, coming up from Houston. But when I was waiting at the gate, it became clear that the one hour delay would remain. If you would have seen me...I was a wreck, mentally spoken. We were waiting for that weekend for such a long time and now the whole weekend together became uncertain. As I didn't want to miss any chance and opportunity, I decided to speak with one of airline staff members at the gate and explained her my problem. Even though all the trouble they had because of the snow and delays, the lady was really nice and changed my seat from the rear of the plane just behind first class, that I would be able to leave the plane in Houston as one of the first passengers. She also gave me the information that I would have to change the terminal building in Houston for the connection flight. GREAT :-(((!!!!I n addition, she mentioned that I should run my a** off once I am out the plane....Thanks for that advice...Anyway, I was very thankful for her service.

In the meantime, I updated Ryan with all the changes, possibilities, bad news and options what could happen. He wasn't losing hope and just reminded me: "The Germans drive fast on the Autobahn, so just run as fast as you drive on the highway!" I promised, I would do. Finally, we took off exactly one hour later than on original schedule. I was hoping that we would maybe catch up 10-15min on this 3hour flight, as every minute was worthwhile for me. Unfortunately, the weather and the wind weren't my friends that day, so we landed exactly at 9pm. The other plane was boarding at 8.45pm, with flight time 9.15pm. Changing terminals from my gate to the gate in the other building normally takes at least 30 min as you have to take a train between the buidlings. This is what I learned from the nice service lady at the counter in Philly.

Once we parked with the plane and the doors flew open, I was bursting out of the plane, starting to run. I made my way through the airport, running slalom and following the signs. I lost my breath and must have looked very desperate because one of the guys with the airport trolleys who normally transport olderly or disabled people with these, waved at me and let me jump on his vehicle. Not capable of speaking yet, I whispered my gate number and he brought me straight to the doors where the train to the other terminal was departing. This guys was my guardian that night, for sure, he saved me at least 3 min of running. Lucky enough the train arrived immediately and I had time to catch breath for a moment before starting of again. In the other building, the same procedure, chasing for the signs of my gate....everytime I turned around a corner, there was a new corridor! I just couldn't run anymore, as my legs were hurting and my lungs and my throat were burning. There was a guy running around 25m in front of me. I shouted and asked him whether he would fly to Baton Rouge as well, as he was running in front of me all the time. He scream 'Yes' but not stopping. I yelled at him to hold up the plane but when I turned around the corner, I saw the gate. The gangway was empty, no one at the counter, still the flight to Baton Rouge on the display....Both of us were standing there for a moment, unable to move, just breathing. Then a flight attendant came up the gangway. She rushed us through, into the plane and not only one second after I entered the plane, they shut the door.....It was unbelievable that I made it! I was breathing so loud, sweating all over, full of adrenaline and totally happy. The connection flight was only 1 hour. After the landing, the pilot took ages to park at the little regional airport and finally I stepped out of the airport and fell into Ryan'a arms. I guess you can imagine that I was so exhausted from the emotional chaos and running of the whole trip that I was totally fine with cheese and a glass of red wine.

From that point on, the weekend went perfect: He showed me around Baton Rouge, we went to eat in the Sushi roof top bar where he worked before, with view onto the Mississippi river, visited the Old Louisiana State Capitol and in the evening I got to know his friend Jordan and his wife who invited us for dinner. We had such a funny great night with them, enjoying the food and playing games. On Sunday, we slept in, got some food and then watched the Olympic Ice Hockey game between USA and Canada before he brought me to the airport. This weekend was far too short!!!!But isn't it always like this when you have wonderful time?? The way back to Philly was again with a stopover in Houston but this time far less stressful than on the way down there. My roomie Julien picked me up from the airport and brought me home save. We didn't take that many pictures but you might get an idea about the Old Louisiana State Capitol on my photoalbum:

http://gerryg.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album40

Porn Set Party - Alex', Poldi's, Martin's, Artur's and Phillip's farewell

Well, the next few people wanted to celebrate their farewell and say goodbye. The boys chose a theme for their party which caused a lot of interesting conversations. Especially the girls where not sure how to dress....First all of us were afraid that we would dress to sexy, so all the girls talked among each other and checked out the plans for the outfits to make sure that nobody was over- or underdressed... It was much easier for the boys: Either wear sunnies and a moustache, come in a morning gown or as a pimp or play the farmer's boy or the postman.

You can imagine about the typical costumes we as the girls were turning up in: We had teachers, secretaries, school girls, play bunnies and hot chicks....But I guess to get a better idea about the whole theme, check out the pics on my photoalbum:

http://gerryg.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album39

Jeckedelphia Alaaf!...or Carnival in Philly

When you read that headline, you might think "What the heck is Gerry talking about? Carnival in Philly? In the US?"
Well, let me tell you: The first time I heard that there is a Carnival party in Philly, I thought, this can't be anything good...or comparable...to the Carnival parties I know...:-)
Tim, who lives in the US for 2 years now, attended the last Carnival party and recommended it to us. For me, as a girl from Cologne (or so close by), some reluctance still remainded. When I heard that this was organized by the German society it sound at least worth a try but then I learned that the main organizer of the event is American. Hope for a good 'Carnival-like' night, declined again for me.
But still, I needed to find out what this was all about. The first weird thing was that they recommend a theme for the costumes: Soccer world championship. Who the heck gives a theme for Carnival???? Anyway, I had the chance to wear my Flamenco costume again and went a Spanish Flamenco dancer.

The party was hosted in Philly at the 'Rathskeller'. When we went down the stairs to the basement and entered the room I couldn't believe what I saw: It looked as if we would be back in Germany in one of the old school, traditional pubs with all the colorful glass in the windows, the dark wood, the decoration with all the heavy mugs and a real bar to order drinks. This already turned me into a good mood. At least the location seemed to be authentic...But then the next surprised hit me: The music! I heard songs from Cologne!!!Typical Colonian Carnival songs! For those who are from the area, I will tell you that they were playing De Hoehner, De Raeuber and Brings as well as all the Mallorca Schlager Songs. Well, the night seemed to work out.

But the highlight was about to come: I went to the bar to grab a drink and ordered a beer. Waiting a the counter, I glimpsed around and checked out the area behind the bar. I discovered some real glass for the Colonian beer at the other side of the counter...."No way" I thought, "they do not really have...??" and by leaning over the counter and checking out the keg from which they poured my beer, I learned that they really had a keg of "Gaffel Koelsch". Even though Gaffel Koelsch would be my first choice at home, I cannot describe you, how happy I felt at that moment! A piece of home. I would have never imagined that! Of course there is no need to tell you that this night was a blast, even though I missed the Colonian Carnival!

See how Carnival in Philly looks like:

http://gerryg.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album38

Bring back the 90's - Johanna's, Dominik's & Frank's farewell party

The weekend after New York was dedicated to another farewell party. Dominik, Johanna and Frank decided to go for a '90's Party'. You can tell a lot about the music in the 90's and what you did but what was typical to wear??? The whole week we had conversations at work about how to dress up.

Two of the interns who hosted the party really looked like actors out of Beverly Hills 90210 and the girls mostly showed up in jeans mini skirts, high ponytails, shirts which we knotted in the front or simple with a Take That shirt;-)
But we also saw baggy jeans, big sunglasses with large dark or colorful frames, chucks or muscle shirt, mostly with the boys.

Together with decoration and the music it was great night to travel back a decade!

Get more impressions with my pics at:

http://gerryg.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album37

New York Clubbing weekend

The idea about this weekend started off so harmless: Mona and Tim suggested to go for another clubbing weekend in New York as we already did it in December. This time, the M2 Ultra Lounge was hostuing Swedish House Mafia.
Once Mona posted the event on our internal internpage for all the interns, a good bunch of people signed in. In the end, we were 12 people heading to New York after work. We all stayed at the same hotel close to times square and got ready for the party night there.

We had tickets for Friday night and I have to say location wise that the Ultra Lounge is much nicer than the Pacha. The club was full but not crowded and everybody was excited to hear the Mafia. Additionally, we had another event coming up: It was Miri's birthday at midnight and so we could celebrate her in a special way that night. Finally, the DJ's made it to the turntables and rocked the house. It was an incredible atmosphere! Just the combination of music and light together with all the people dancing and freaking out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nED8DuGnEwU&feature=related

We partied all night until 4 am when we felt tired and wanted to leave. It took ages to get our jackets and our whole group was divided because there was huge crowd messing around in front of the cloakroom. I ended up 1,5 later outside the club, totally tired and just one thing in mind: Getting to the hotel, as soon and convenient as possible! We wanted to grab a taxi but we couldn't get one. I was so desperate and exhausted that I didn't really care, when Martin opened the door of a black stretch limosine for me. I jumped in and told the driver that we stay at the Marriott close to Times Square. Both of us didn't have the correct address but we thought it might not be that difficult to find the Marriott where we stayed - I had no idea that there a some many Marriott hotels close by Times Square. Everytimethe driver stopped in front of the hotel we checked and then resumed: "Noooooooo that's not the right one.... maybe the next one..." That way, we just a little city tour through Manhatten in the limosine. For me, more and more the question was arising who would pay for that thing as I told Martin about 20 times that this not the taxi I would have takena and that I would pay for. But Martin, this funny, cool Bavarian-Korean mixed dude just assured everytime that all is fine and that he made a deal with the driver and that we would just pay the amount we would have paid for a taxi....Why did that still made me feeling comfortable??? Martin was talking to the driver as they were old friends and I just decided to enjoy the limo ride....After the 3rd Marriott hotel, the driver actually got the address of our hotel and head off there. As I realized that we really got closer to the hotel, I made Martin just clarifying once again with the driver the question about payment: "Sir... did I tell you I don't have any money left?" I think the driver didn't really like it, stopped by and let us step out of the vehicle just a few blocks away from the hotel. As I was sitting in the large back, I went out there without paying attention if or how much Martin was paying the guy. As Martin got out and the limo went off, I asked him how much he paid finally and he answered in his funny way: "I didn't pay him anything, he just threw us out of the limo...." Uh, what a surprise!!! Well, in the end, both of us got a free 30 min limo ride through Manhattan, riding from one Marriott to the other. I think, we arrived like 5.30am or something like that at the hotel. The others came in as well roughly about that time.

The last men (and ladies) standing met in our room to relax, calm down and exchange the stories of getting home. As we were all hungry, we decided to stay awake until 7am and get breakfast at the hotel. So at 7am, we went down, got some food and afterwards fell into our bed.

It doesn't make sense to make big plans for a group of 12 people in a city like New York. Therefore, everyone was doing what the felt like. Some people went to the museums, some explored the city and our room (Mona, Tim, Miri and I) just decided to sleep in, take our time, walk around Times Square, get a good coffee and chill out.
Actually, my plan was to go back to Philly by bus that night, as I had other plans for Sunday. I even had already bought the bus ticket a week in advance. But my whole plan didn't work out....Maybe some of you heard about that heavy snowstorm at the US east coast on that weekend...?? Actually, it was soooo bad that there were no buses running to or out of New York all day. The result was that I would stay for another night with the guys. The rest of the group planned initially to stay until Sunday anyway. And I have to say, even though I wasn't happy about that development first, it was definitely one of the best party night or better say, party weekends.

Saturday evening we went to a Thai restaurant to celebrate Miri's b'day again and then we decided to got to Nikki Beach Club. Some of the guys have been there before and recommended to go there. This club is awesome!!!! It is a small club but very loungy and fantastic music. I can just recommend to everyone who is up to a cool club night in a trendy atmosphere, should go there!

We partied all night and left as one of the last ones. This time all of us just jumped in the taxi's and arrived at the hotel without any disturbances.
The Sunday brought nothing special for us. We slept in, checked out of the hotel, made our way to the car in Jersey City and then head home.

I think you get the best impression about this entire weekend, when you watch the pictures at my photoalbum:

http://gerryg.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album36