Day 1 - Brooklyn Bridge on 4th July

Day 1 (4th July) - After I reached the hotel, I took some rest and because it was raining there till 3 pm, I stayed inside the hotel. Then I came out and searched for some Indian Food. I was being told that we can get Indian Food quite easily in New York (which is not correct though, especially if you are vegetarian - as per my experience). There were number of people from Bangladesh near that area. I inquired one of them and I was being told to reach 36th Avenue station. On the way, I found a Bangladeshi restaurant named - "Sawad Family Restaurant". The person was quite humble and I ordered Indian Meal with $10. Food was quite ok, but I was contend to find the relevant food.

After coming out from the restaurant, I met another Bangladeshi boy, I told him that I want to see the Independence day celebrations and asked where is the place to head for. He told me one place - of which I didn't get complete idea. He also told me that he would love to come along with me and take me to that place, but he came there for some work and wanted to go back to his home. He was a very nice person I met on this starting day. He told me about weather forecast of next day & wished me "Allah Hafiz".  Back in home, there might be differences between people who follow different religions, but it vanishes out once you move to foreign land where you coordinate and support each other to earn their livelihood. Good learning that was.

My hotel located at Long Island City in New York. Though it was quite far away from my office location (at Times Square), but the good thing was the proximity of subway station. When in hotel, I Googled the places where I can watch the Independence Day celebrations and I got to know about Brooklyn Bridge Firework show. I made my mind to visit this place. From my hotel location, 39th avenue subway station was just a couple of steps away. It was around 5 pm and I took one subway train and got off at a station I was being told. From there it was around 1 kilometer walk to reach to the place from where we can see the Independence Day Fireworks on Brooklyn Bridge.

Here are some snaps from that place:

On the way to Brooklyn Bridge. Check the long building in the background.

Entrance was closed - because of Independence Day arrangements

People were gearing up to book a space to watch the Fireworks at Brooklyn Bridge

People were keep coming in to book their space

To grab the space - with best view

As you can see from last two snaps, the crowd was gearing up for the firework show. I also followed the directions and reached to the place. However, it seems the entire city came there to watch the celebrations. It was around 9.30 PM and still people were keep coming in. I sensed that it will take another 2 hours to start the show. I had the jetlag from last night flight and I was quite tired and hungry. I decided to give this show a miss and I came out from the crowd (there were other groups as well which got frustrated because of delays and BIG crowd, thus decided to leave it) and went on to look for Subway Station to get back to hotel.