New York City, simply.... A week into the Big Apple, United States

Text by Anna Marchisio (anna_mrcs@yahoo.it)
Photo of Mark Jupiter / Anna Marchisio

A few days ago my friend told me "I found a travel plan to spend a day in New York, what do you think?". I told her to quit because New York is a city where 'a hit and run' may be fine. New York is magical, unique, compelling and deserves to be not only visited but lived and for this particular need more time to a miserable day, a quick taxi ride from one monument to another. New York has to run quietly, you have to walk the streets, come in its stores, stop for a drink in his coffee, looking out from its skyscrapers, and relax in its parks. Short, you must first live it to appreciate it all the way to feel alive and to feel part of her!

Of all the goals we had in this program was not there. I always tend to prefer destinations, so to speak, with a cut just a little more natural. So for a city the likes of New York on our list there was no place even in the bottom of the list and even photos of friends and magazine articles have never aroused in us a special interest in this destination.
What happened? Nothing special ... a beautiful September day I get the usual mailing list of Air France: selling tickets to some destinations, including New York at an advantageous price. Enter two dates and with about 470 euro per person, taxes included, we can fly from Turin to New York via Paris, of course. We said why not ... ... And so was born our curiosity about this city.
Within a few days so we are organizing our trip to coincide with my birthday (no point in asking those who are not so much I can tell!) And our eighth wedding anniversary. Oh yes ... a special city deserves a special occasion!

Write a diary that speaks of New York is not easy, as you rightly said Corrado Augias "New York is the city is told from the literature that the American cinema, two media and in our years are the most powerful and widespread, both instruments on which we build the common sense of the world. All have seen New York without having ever set foot, we all watched and closed in memory such and so many images that it can be really <> would be needed, more than any other city, strip wear, forget the books and the films viewed, their pages and their images, characters and scenarios applicants, tic. "..." No European, and never really surprised by what they see coming because he has already read or seen everything without ever having left home . The average European knows the profile of the city, knows that on the roofs of older houses, there are some strange wooden tanks very photogenic, you know that in winter they rise from manholes puffs of steam with a very cinematic and indeed many films, know the habits and customs of New York, attended his cocktail, has seen opening exhibition, people die murdered in the streets, destitute elderly languish in the heat of sweltering summers, young people playing frisbee on the lawns mangy Washington Square, drunk lost dispose the eternal drunk in a gutter, beautiful elegant women and men get very rich in large hotels shining through doors, has experienced aggressive prostitutes and other criminals as generous as sisters, knows how to respond and what he fears a taxi driver, he knows that At times it is not prudent to run Harlem and Central Park at night should be avoided because it could turn into a nightmare. The Europeans are aware that there is a New York where the forms do not exist and everything is allowed until it becomes a crime. But he also knows that there is a New York where the forms are mandatory and binding. In short, New York can afford a lot of things because most of what is, for better or for worse, has already been seen and treated as such and wonder every time hath been dissolved by the custom. "
What to say? I agree, walking through its streets, its streets, I returned to mind images of films, descriptions of books and hours of television when there are pictures of New York we sometimes find ourselves saying 'look .. there we were, we passed well we '! New York is too!

How to build so this diary? What to tell? Places and places or just feelings and emotions? Perhaps it is right that there is a little 'one a bit' of the other without going too much into your itinerary, feel free to list things seen or done because as you rightly said Augias all know this city needs no presentations or introductions.

Bibliography
New York City - 5th Edition 2007 - EDT
New York City Book - 2005 RCS Newspapers SpA - Arnoldo Mondadori Editore
Corrado Augias - The Secrets of New York - 2000 Oscar Mondadori

 

We leave our house which is still the night to arrive in New York that are roughly the 16 a Saturday afternoon any. The flight was comfortable despite the beginning was not the most promising. Ready to take off on runway has returned to the gate to 'fix' a wheel.
Entry Procedures are always boring and long! While we were in queue for customs we noticed that the infamous sheet to be filled exists in Italian, but .. In the queue we see also a mother of color with her baby on 3-4 years and blissful quiet strolls around the room. It looks like a miniature little man, dressed in a white shirt, pinstripe trousers with classic cut and a small vest. Complete this little man in the dress of a miniature pair of black patent leather loafers. It 'so funny how adorable!
From the airport to the center of Manhattan, you can choose from a wide range of media, much like in many Italian airports where you can just choose your drive. However you may choose to use one of those yellow cabs that increasingly rely on film, a bus or a combination of train and subway. We opt for the latter. The line connecting the nine terminals at Kennedy, the AirTrain, leading to the station and Howard Beach to Sutphin Blvd, from both stations you can then take the subway. We choose the Howard Beach station, from which to predict the A line to get at the heart of Manhattan. The train that links the terminal is free if you use it to move from one terminal to another while you pay if you go to one of its stations, the payment is made on exit, when you leave the station. You may pay in cash or by credit card using an automated system, always with this system you can also buy the Metrocard. A kind of prepaid card to be used every time you take the subway. Each step of the Metrocard decrements the balance of $ 2 (cost of each course.) When it runs out of credit can be recharged or you can buy a new one. The course of the train instead of $ 5.

Our subway stop is located on the 23rd street, one block before that of our hotel: The Leo House (The Leo House - 332 W. 23rd St - New York - Tel 001-212-929-1010 -- Fax 001-212-366-6801), where we booked some time ago by fax. The property is run by Catholic nuns and the religious character can be seen already in the hall. We chose this hotel because it looked like a very peaceful and quiet, just what do we seek in a hotel. I hate places too noisy and too big! Our little one room but there's all that we can serve, including the bathroom in the room.
Stowed our stuff we decided to go for a ride around the beginning so our discovery of this magnificent city and shopping!
The cold is biting in the winter but we knew that New York's climate is rather rigid. On street corners are some piles of frozen snow. We ran around a bit 'for the area, peering into the shop windows and watch the passers move quickly on busy sidewalks. At one corner of a street we see one of those shops that sell flowers and food that often appear in movies. One of those shops open almost all night, with a sort of veranda that expands on the sidewalk. There are lots of New York, with their baskets of fruit and buckets full of colorful flowers.

A few blocks from our hotel are a supermarket, one of those who belong to a chain of organic foods (Whole Foods), or so I read. Even America is raising awareness to the culture of food, fat-free foods, natural, organic burgers and fries even though something is moving. Among the fruit as big as grapefruits glimpses of melons. And thank goodness that are organic as big as watermelons otherwise would!
Their system of queue management of the box I enjoy a lot. Eh si .. be fun ... there are about twenty cases but there are only three queues, leading to each of them a display depicting a vegetable or a fruit when it's the turn of its tail shows the number of fund allocated. Truly a delight! And if the queues are getting longer too much of a supermarket employee moves to offer biscuits to people in line. I wonder what would happen to this system in a small-town reality where the buyers have long passed the retirement age was already considered the ATM something alien and too modern.

Among the things we set out to do in New York was to go to hear the Gospel choir in a church in Harlem: the black neighborhood of the city.
So since today is Sunday morning we take the subway to Harlem, either because it is a holiday or because they have a few minutes past eight, but the trains are pretty empty.
The origins date back to the Harlem twenties and since then has always been the hub of African culture in this city.
Out of the subway walk around a bit 'its streets deserted and silent until they reach the Abyssinian Baptist Church. Like many other tourists we decided that the guide defines the church with the best gospel choir, so there is a queue to get scary! We put in the queue and the time passes very slowly. The tail is long over a block and proceeds slowly. It's Sunday morning and in the neighborhood of Harlem seems to be dozing. The streets only a few cars and some families who hastens elegantly dressed for the ceremony.

While there is a warm sun waiting in the queue seemed endless, it's cold and my poor feet begin to freeze. The tail is as long as one block and I wonder what sense this. At one point, tired of this queue, this expectation we say 'to hell I'm gospel choir, let's find another somewhere else' and so to the amazement of the French behind us, we leave our place in the queue and We walked along Seventh Avenue. There are many other churches, but some enter the ceremonies have not yet begun. In one you are in a very intimate ceremony, there are a dozen people and the pastor, there are no choruses or otherwise, even if we invite you to stay the ceremony seems a bit 'too close to sneak out or join. The church is very beautiful, especially behind the altar, many waving colorful flags.
She walked and landed at Canaan Baptist Church. From the outside does not even look like a church, it seems the entrance to a lobby of a hotel. The reception welcoming us kindly, the ceremony has just begun. Deliver our backpacks at the reception we climb a ladder that leads into the pit, the area for visitors. Another officer welcomes us, gives us a booklet with the songs and the program function and assign it two niches in the second row. E 'being a song in the church echoes the wonderful voices of the chorus and clapping of the faithful, some of them occupy the front row of the stalls.

When we decided to dedicate a half hour to this type of visit we hurt our accounts. It's hard to describe but the ceremony with his songs, his speeches, his choreography, its colors and its moments of joy, understanding and celebration is something that takes, even if it involves is a part of this congregation, to this world. Their way of celebrating the joy of their songs, the beauty of these moments will not only capture but you right in this world can not remain indifferent spectators or simply impossible not to take part. Nearly everyone in the audience were visitors, but all alike were involved and absorbed by this ceremony. I appreciated their ability not to feel, all of us curious, only just visitors, but part of this ritual of this ceremony. Excellent chorus, fantastic the ceremony. Truly a unique experience!
When we left, more than half an hour after we entered, Mark, who was most skeptical of them to go to see this ceremony I say 'Too bad there is no tomorrow!'

Since we are in the area we travel to visit the Cathedral Church of St John the Divine. In theory, if ever, will end, will be the largest church in not only New York but across the United States and the world's third largest in size but ... it's not over yet despite its construction began in 1892. Inside is a booklet distributed at describing the interior of the church exists for a corner dedicated to the great American poets and writers such as Mark Twain, Edgar Allan Poe, Ernest Hemingway and others.

Leaving the cathedral with its huge domestic we went to see the area of Columbia University, one of the oldest universities in the United States known for its courses in law, journalism and medicine. When it was founded in 1754 was in the area of the World Trade Center, was moved to its current site in 1897. His students also included Isaac Asimov.
The enormous rectangular square overlooked by the university buildings was the scene of many student demonstrations.
A guy with goals and eastern serious camera trying to photograph a red tailed hawk, a bird of prey, perched on the edge of the Low Library, which maintains the library's name only because currently is home to offices. A photograph of the prey tries but then the prey, the Marco flies to the chapel of Saint Paul.
Central Park, not far from here, so we take this direction. It is an immense park, a green corner of peace and silence in the midst of a metropolis. There are roads and trails, miles of trails.
Central Park, more than 340 hectares with the beauty of 93 miles of trails is a green paradise in the middle of the city. In certain corners of the city noise even feel the silence, the peacefulness, the quiet slumber of nature in winter make this park a place of immense charm.
Remember Marco that there is no self-respecting mystery movie without a corpse in Central Park! We will find one too?
There are many artificial lakes, bridges, baseball fields, paths and trails. There is even a climbing wall in winter, when snow cover is skiers skiing. With the snow, I say, should not be bad ...
The waters of Jacquiline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir some quiet little duck swims in the background you see the skyscrapers.
Then leave Central Park stroll through the streets of Upper East Side.
Passing by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and I remember the romance of S. Kinsella "I Love New York" when the protagonist, Becky Bloomwood, just visit the museum shop trying to convince everyone to have visited the entire museum. Very funny! The modern facade of the museum is partially under renovation, inside one of the finest collections of modern and contemporary art that the world can boast.
Continuing beyond came to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, founded in 1870 it is one of the largest museums in New York, with its collections of works of art from around the world and its hordes of tourists hungry for culture, or simply wishing to to saying "I have been there."
To visit the museums and not go bankrupt, you can make a sort of pass providing entry to some museums and attractions at a high price advantage, otherwise it does not make sense, compared to the sum of individual tickets .

This evening the Empire State Building is lit with three colors, the tip is blue, then white and then follow the red. Enchanting! It is with this last image that gives us this city that we enter into our hotel and we go to sleep.

This morning, the sky is overcast and perhaps why the temperatures seem to be less rigid.
In the midst of tall skyscrapers the sun can not penetrate to the street and always blows a gentle breeze that so often turns into the icy wind.
Walking in the midst of all these skyscrapers, looking up toward that patch of blue (or gray) that you see up there, look around in this vast portrait makes a certain effect, you feel small children in front of all this riot of modernity and technology .

The day's program expects to get back to Central Park, passing through the neighborhoods of Chelsea, the Theater District Midtown el'Upper, names that even if there has ever been known, because there are movies, TV programs and books that have always helped us to know, to locate them and make them our own.
We walk on foot, past the headquarters of the central post office in New York, an austere building at Madison Square Garden, the world's most famous stadium. We go to go for the information of sporting events that are planned for this week. Madison you can visit but why go to visit him empty when you can go to watch a game? That's exactly .. might as well go to the game. I'd like to see hockey games but there are days when we are in town, while there is a basketball game Wednesday night between university teams. Perfect .. return Wednesday night! For the record, within it are not only hosted sporting events but also concerts and shows.

The verb to stroll in English means' walk 'and is a bit' what we do in this city, walk, wander the streets enjoying the atmosphere of this place. Walking brings us to what is called the Theater District and famous Broadway: with its theaters, its neon signs, huge posters and its vibrant colors. There are these wide sidewalks, so people running busy businessmen in dark suits, women in suits, people talking on the phone (too many) kids with the iPods and the ever-present earbuds in your ears, dogs (and Cagnoni) leash, people going and people who come, tourists who wander in short, a mess. Times Square, where Broadway and Seventh Avenue meet is a place 'real life'.
Moving down the street, wandering, aimlessly, but maybe only one direction and almost a way to feel part of this world, some of this city, this place.
Arriving at Grand Central Terminal on Park Avenue we enter into his vast atrium princiapale. It 'the first time you enter into this station but we have been so many other times to catch a train, chasing a friend who was leaving, we saw several times its row of ticket counters, the clock instead above the information office and the grand staircase leading to the trains. It was built in 1913 and still an icon of this city.
You could make a list of buildings that we have seen, photographed, one could speak of the verticality of these skyscrapers, their shapes, sometimes details of their height, their uniqueness, we could say many things, the Chrysler Building, with its exquisite made of real gold car and its tip is seen from afar, the Chanin Building, and many many more ...
We get up at the headquarters of the United Nations were founded in 1945 shortly after the Second World War with the aim of safeguarding world peace, for which there is still much needed. Currently, 188 nations have joined the United Nations. On auctions does not fly any flag, shame!
The sky, now blue, with some white clouds convinces us that it is the right day for a beautiful view of the city from above. So we head towards the Rockefeller Center, which some have called "the heart of New York." Although it is a private complex you can get on its panoramic terrace and enjoy the view of Manhattan from above. At the hotel we found a pamphlet with which to get a little 'off the ticket, why not take advantage.
And here we are in one of those other places where every year at Christmas are catapulted without leaving our chair. The skating rink of Rockefeller Center is teeming with them in front of us skaters with music that fills the air.
Bought our tickets for "Top of the Rock", the panoramic terrace of the Rockefeller Center and walk to the elevator. What a sight! Sale to an impressive speed. The roof of the lift is transparent and the entire elevator shaft is dotted with bright lights. The climb in the lift is impressive but the view from his balcony is spectacular. Although it is slightly shorter than the Empire State Building, the view offered from its three terraces placed on three different levels is spectacular. It's a little 'less crowded than the wicked and for this perhaps more livable and valuable. It captures the vastness of Central Park, the roads with cars, taxis and small little yellow people on the sidewalks that seem industrious ants. In the distance, the Brooklyn Bridge and the Statue of Liberty. Manhattan flows under our eyes.

In anything, the sky is again overcast. At one corner we buy one of those rings of bread coated with grains of salt. What to say? We ate better.
We pass without coming Thiffany but, sigh, no breakfast and snacks from less Thiffany! Then came to the Plaza Hotel and Central Park. Aligned on the road are the carriages ready for the tourists roam the streets of Central Park.
We just have time to look for a ledge and open our umbrella microscopic starting at the flood. More than a winter rain looks like a summer storm, a real shower with nothing so much water that soaks into everything and everyone.

How did the storm ends, thankfully, and the city resume moving.
Although the trails are wet and dripping trees of Central Park is not a great invitation and walk to the Ring Wollman, another ice skating rink. Nestled in the green and the trees of Central Park and the skyscrapers in the background makes this a delightful landscape. Wander a bit 'for the park, we stop to see the Diary to guide where a group of teenagers playing at the stars, a girl wearing a dress a bit' too much summer and while diva attitude, others take pictures of giggles and squeals as teenagers. New York is also this, a place where people can give numbers without being locked in a madhouse.
The lawns are fenced to prevent people during the 'winter trample lawns dozing in the spring will return to the grass grow green in summer will host thousands of New Yorkers who will enjoy a fresh angle to a city hot and sultry.

Today there are clouds in the sky but a nice breeze that helps considerably to keep temperatures low. In the street a few puddles on the edge of the pavement is completely frozen. Brrr it's cold!
Today's program provides again a lot 'of steps to go. Visit the area around Herald Square and then move to the Gramercy District walks and walks up to Little Italy and China Town through the East Village, then we'll have a nice walk on the Brooklyn Bridge, a little 'shopping and go back Subway, everything has a limit!

First we head towards the Empire State Building. It is the tallest building in the city from its summit you can enjoy a beautiful 360-degree views over the city. Construction began shortly before the crisis of 1929 and ended in 1931, he was undergoing economic crisis for which rent the property inside was almost as difficult for someone renamed the skyscraper Empty (blank) State Building. It is precisely the existence of its two terraces to make the fortune and then one of the landmarks. Controls at the entrance are a reminder of 'too much control at the airport
From the terrace the view is superb and the wind is terrible. Cold wind blows!
I can think of at least two films where the protagonists had gathered on the Empire State Building, of course two films 'kissing'. The first "Love Affair" with Warren and Annette Beattu Benin, this is the remake of an old movie ( "An Affair to Remember"), where they fall in love elsewhere, and have an appointment sull'Empire after a while 'of time just enough time to fix their lives. Bad luck or a twist of fate (or the writer) wants while he is waiting on the terrace, she ran across the street and ends up under a car ... zot missing the match. Sure sure, there is no need to go further and tell the ending of the film. The other that comes to mind is "Sleepless in Seattle" with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, also met on the terrace of the wicked.
At one point, a peregrine falcon circling gay central axis of the tip, but since no one except Mark worthy of consideration after a while 'is tired of wheeling and goes his own way.
You can get by paying an extra ticket, the observatory at 102 ° plane but are more than satisfied with the view from 86 ° for which we take the elevator down.
There is a foot race, called the Empire State Run-Up "which provides that the competitors climb the 1575 (sigh!) Steps up to 86 th floor of the race, obviously wins takes less time. It seems that the best runners employ 10 minutes .. bah ... if you forgot something in you can always ask them to take andarvelo!
The most famous cinematic reference that sees the Empire is immortalized on film King Kong, the huge gorilla who was writhing on the tip. Today there is a bit 'too much wind, if there had been we would have noticed that fluttered like a flag on a pole. Poor King Kong!

Dropped from the Empire we move towards the area of Madison Square. We have also been a slight misunderstanding because there is a sporting goods store where we wanted to put the nose. What a difference seeing the same area in the sunlight. In the evening, with its insignia and its shops was another effect, even the people seemed to hang out but now they all seem busy and direct it somewhere.
Photograph as the Flatiron Building with its strange-shaped slice of cheese, was built in 1903 and was then the tallest building. Then walk along the piece of Broadway that was called Ladies Mile because it was just a very trendy area full of shops where the ladies could go shopping.

We move on Gramercy Park and then cross the East Village and walking and walking we come to Little Italy and China Town, the two small worlds are almost superimposed. Little Italy, once inhabited by thousands of Italian immigrants and now occupies several blocks and is clearly recognizable for the writing and the names of restaurants that are a sequence through the streets. Known characteristic of a pile colored with the Italian tricolor and one of those connections for fire extinguishers or fire hydrants, always tricolor. As annoying are the waiters who want at all costs get you in the room for lunch.
China Town but it looks like a piece of China took and implanted in Manhattan. Written in Chinese, or Mandarin or whatever is so unable to read, traditional workshops with the colors and flavors of the Orient, shops, fruit and vegetables with vegetables from the forms and unknown perfumes, icons, objects typical of this land, such as dragons and colorful silk robes.

Today it's really cold, and having well-warmed and rested for lunch we continue our tour. We pass the austere buildings of the court of the United States and New York to get to City Hall Park in front of the tiny town hall in the city.
The city hall, a huge building, but then the city is enormous, was built in 1914, its facade still reads the name of New Amsterdam, a name that in 1625 the Dutch West India Company gave the setting that founded in this area (lower Manhattan). Before that here there were only forests and settlements of the Algonquian Indians. The Indian Algonquins were thus the first inhabitants of New York and perhaps the first evicted.
So much for that matter Broadway stems from the Dutch name Breede Wegh and follows what was once the path of a runway Indian Weekquaesgeek the trail. Luckily they preferred to choose a name slightly more pronounced otherwise today we would say "Today I'm going to do some 'shopping on Weekquaesgeek" that is not quite the same thing as saying "Today I'm going to do some' shopping on the Broadway, "which in fact is an entirely different music!
Just to know, the business of the Dutch did not go too well so they abandoned the city in 1664 the English that obviously changed the name to New York soon, just to put down a marker i.
After this dive back in history to the present day and since it is exactly in front of us we can not pretend nothing and turned away! So despite the strong wind we allow ourselves a trip down the city's most famous bridge, the Brooklyn Bridge.
The bridge is equipped with a wide pedestrian walkway, with its lane for cyclists, which offers a beautiful view of Manhattan and Brooklyn. The building was completed in 1883 and was a true example of engineering, was in fact not only the first bridge built in steel but the largest suspension bridge ever made until then. It took 16 years to build and was designed by a German, a certain John A. Roebling but was wounded shortly before the commencement of work and died. Took his place his son, but did not play a lot better because as a result of an accident and was paralyzed. The work then continued under the supervision of his wife, which I point I hope has died of old age! If not for this family was better to go to another!
What a view from the bridge and cold! What a wind! But we endure stoically and reached the other side of Brooklyn, as was easily understood. Apart enjoy the view of Manhattan we go to visit Brooklyn, will be for another time, time is short and shopping there

Today is my birthday and it is also our wedding anniversary. Eh si .. I was lenient with my hubby, so he has only a date to remember! It is the second time celebrating my birthday and our anniversary so far from home. The first time was 2002 and we were in New Zealand, that day I remember we went to a beach where the penguins nest and that was the first time I saw these cute birds.
So, now New York to be the height of New Zealand has to give me something unique, great ... ... I doubt we'll see on the street to meet a penguin ... but .. knows ..

The day's program is rich enough, we'll go on the subway up to what is called Lower Manhattan, the tip of the island, then we go to visit the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, before returning to Lower Manhattan to wander a bit 'in Wall Street area. End the night at Medison Square Garden.

Immediately take the subway to reach the pier where ferries. Arrive with sufficient time before the time of shipment for which we grant you a peaceful tour of the bay. The ferry tickets and passes to get inside the Statue of Liberty we had purchased directly from the Internet from home. The ferry ticket can be purchased directly at the counter, just before the start while the pass which entitles entry into the Statue of Liberty is sold in limited entry, your best bet is to book in advance (www.nps.gov/ stli) ..
The ticket for the ferry is at the center of Castle Clinton, a fort built in 1811, only to be closed a few years later. Was used as a reception center for immigrants in 1855 ahead as Ellis Island. It currently houses the visitor center at the National Park Service.
Get on the ferry is a bit 'as going by plane, minuziosissimi checks of backpacks and backpacks, absolute prohibition of bringing sharp objects, like metal detectors at the airport and no end.
The trip by ferry, despite the strong wind is nice, as you move away from the view of Manhattan Island is getting more interesting, the skyscrapers make up a landscape uniform and even if it is a wonder of nature is something unique.
The ferry runs around the statue to go to land, and as you approach the statue stands in all its majesty. We have seen thousands of times on television, in newspapers, on the books but not the same thing. It does everything in front of them another effect is like seeing her for the first time, in all its splendor while overlooking the entire bay of New York.
The Statue of Liberty was a gift of the French to the American people. It is the work of French sculptor Bartholdi who conceived this work as a monument, a hymn to freedom, hoping that this does not ever die. How to give him wrong.
Construction, transport and then the next assembly in America was certainly not a trivial matter, the beauty of the statue is 93 meters (including the base). Was inaugurated in 1886. Throughout its history it has been more renovations and in 1986 a beautiful gold-plated torch replaced the original torch is now on display at the museum of the statue.
Before 11 September 2001 it was possible to climb to the crown of the statue, have since visited only plus pedestals. And, very likely, since the inputs to the statue became real purges. All these controls are not there for the safety of people, too, but it is mainly for her, for the statue to protect a monument that not only the icon of this city but the symbol of Liberty, New World, the foundation of a culture.
From its pedestal one can enjoy a beautiful view, you can see Manhattan, New Jersey, Ellis Island. Too bad for the strong wind! We had brought two sandwiches to eat in the park around the statue but the cold and the wind preventing us from staying outdoors more than they should so we go to lunch at the diner.
Later we take the ferry in the direction of Ellis Island. It is said that half the American people can say that his forefathers have gone from here. From 1892 to 1954 all ships visiting these immigrants as a reception area, where immigrants were recorded, monitored, visited, and in some cases returned to sender. Today is an interesting museum of national immigration, there are numbers, statistics, data, memories and objects that belonged to this not long ago. There are photographs that depict the life of this place, which immortalized the faces of these people just arrived. The museum is really interesting and worth the visit.

Back in Manhattan we take a city tour. Walking in the streets of Wall Street between austere buildings and men in suits that move busy with the inevitable paper cup of coffee. We pass the bag that is no longer visited since 11 September, before the little Trinity Church with its cemetery are buried many famous names. It looks like a ghost cemetery with its headstones, sometimes slightly tilted.
Behind, just off the site of the World Trade Center. The perimeter is completely fenced in and guarded, now called Ground Zero is all that remains of what once was the site that housed the Twin Towers, the two tallest buildings in the city. I do not think there's much to say, the dramatic events that marked these places, whose images of death and terror has been spread all over the world, speak for themselves. The site is now a large construction site.
Facing the World Financial Center, a huge complex of offices, shops and restaurants inside the Winter Garden. A real garden, with palms true indoors. A small orchestra plays the music live jazz.

Let the Lower Manhattan in the direction of Madison Square Garden but we get about two hours before the game.

After shopping finally comes time for the game. Entrance to provide us with a nice cap of the home team, striped red and white to cheer. On the field there are already players that are doing the heating.
Madison slowly begins to fill, is not an event to sell out but to be a lot of university teams is half filled.
Caper that evening! This too is something to be redone ... He may have been a game but the university folklore, the organization and approach was worthy of a major league game. At first a girl singing the U.S. national anthem, the speaker, the music, the cheerleaders who appeared at every stop, typhoid, and everything was really nice and funny. For up Marco was caught typhus and was angry when the wrong free throws. A need to know, the home team, the Saint John, lost! Patience ...

This evening the Empire State Building is illuminated in white. There is a bit 'of fog that sometimes obscures the point, giving a something mysterious and fascinating.
I read that during the Columbus Day, the day when we celebrate the discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus, the Empire State Building is illuminated with the colors of the flag.

The program includes a visit this morning in Greenwich Village before returning to the Upper Midtown to visit some churches and then ... we will come back to crowd the sidewalks of Broadway and Fifth Avenue. If I like these streets with all those people who goes and who comes, with all those colors, the neon signs!

New Yorkers call the Greenwich Village, just "Village" was originally a village where the inhabitants of the then fled the city during the yellow fever epidemic of 1820. Its streets are a tangle of streets and houses, not at all reflect the checkerboard pattern of the rest of the city, Lower Manhattan excluded. Previously he was the district of residence of writers and artists and then becoming around 40 years, the neighborhood playground of the city's homosexual community.
Strolling through its narrow streets, the sidewalk is a succession of houses, alleys and courtyards. There are no huge skyscrapers or buildings, but houses in different styles of a few floors that overlook these streets, shops and small cafes.
We get up in Sheridan Square where seven streets meet. Is such a tangle of streets that someone named 'mousetrap'.
Again, this is New York, a New York romantic, charming and quiet. Walking through the alleys of the Village meets few people, some passers-by, some cars, the sounds of the city seems far away and the birds singing in the trees rather reminiscent of the campaign.
And for the umpteenth time in recent days the thousand faces of New York are showing.
We continue our walk coming up to Washington Square, where they are in the course of work of reclaiming the park. This square has been a while 'macabre: the end of the eighteenth century this area was used as a cemetery, when in fact they began the refurbishment of the park lots of skeletons were exhumed. But while many were lucky they died a natural death, others died in this very park. Until 1819 in this square were held public hangings! It appears that the elm tree used for this terrible task is still there. Brrrrr .... There's nothing the least bit happy to remember this place?

In the afternoon they strolled on the Upper midtown the other day we were a bit 'too caught the skyscrapers that we have neglected some religious buildings. Visit so Barholomew Saint's Church in the Byzantine style and the Cathedral of Saint Patrick, I read that it is the largest Catholic cathedral in the United States. In both churches we notice the presence of many homeless, or homeless people, among the pews. Today is very cold, perhaps the coldest since we are in town. Life for those who have nothing, by choice or by fate, in a city so alive, so immense and with a climate so hard not to be simple. A few streets from these churches, there are boutiques, glittering shops, women in fur accompanied by their microscopic little dogs with the finest pedigry who spend dollars to buy a dress, men with the ultra mobile technology in the hands that drop from luxury cars while this church there are people wrapped in an old coat worn and dirty that no other place to go to survive the cold in this city. Again, this is New York these people are part of this city, the many facets of this great metropolis.
We also pass in front of the Central Synagogue is closed but we can not go to visit. Its doors are not open it for us tourists, and even less for the poor homeless cold.

Leafing through the guide we realize how many corners we still have to see, how many areas have yet to be known, but our time is not much anymore.

We walked wandering through the shops, where consumption is truly led to excess. Clothes shops, electronics, jewelry, souvenirs, candy and toys.
We go to Macy's also one of the largest department stores in the world, we run into some plans and then resume the main street.
We pass one of the many shops toysrus toys that would make the happiness of all children and the desperation of parents. We decide to enter, so, as rightly pointed me 'there's nothing here that we can buy', so we can get quiet! Inside the shop there is even a ferris wheel that takes up three floors, not a toy is a long queue of children waiting for their turn to take a stroll.
Then there are buildings with Legos that seem real works of art: the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building with King Kong and even move their head and hand and the characteristic of ice-cream cart. In another wing of the store house, dedicated to girls, even with the balcony from which look out on the shelves many Barby dolls and colored.
And while vague about the shop impressed by the amount of toys in this shop on my eyes meet his. It is a moment, a moment but our eyes met to not let go. He was there, motionless, in the midst of others like him and me there, caught out in the hallway, when I least expected it. What to do? I approach, reaches his arm and take the most beautiful penguin plush I've ever seen. E 'about 50 centimeters high, soft and adorable. Mark ride! I hold tight my penguin, but then we do? Not quite as small as we fit them in our luggage, considering everything that we have bought? I think a little 'and the end even if reluctantly put my penguin on the shelf, I welcome it and I set out in the hallway.
No, no ... I can not go away and leave it there. You would not believe but he calls me, loves me, I can not let them ... A few steps and grabbed my penguin and I head to the cashier without a second thought! "Somehow we will," I say to Mark, who amused laugh. Did you know that we will not let them!
Want to know how I could take him home? Airports ... mica could not leave him alone and helpless in bags!

For dinner tonight I want to taste a dish that I saw many people eating in a restaurant and I was very intrigued. Pork chops are covered with a brown sauce, a dish the waiter told me, typical of the southern United States. The dish is not bad even if it is spicy and piccane as to suck! At first bite I almost burned the tongue! Fortunately that is served with potatoes and with a strange piece of cake, not sweet I can not remember the name.

Snowing !!!!!!!
Last night, when we returned the sky was starry but it is morning when I move the window curtains of the surprise is great. Rooftops and the street about twenty centimeters of snow had already fallen and it was still falling. Fantastic, we could also enjoy beautiful New York under the snow! There could be, by the city, best greeting that because this evening we will leave this city.

The Museum of Nature is our goal, but we arrive too early because we're going to tread a bit 'of snow in Central Park. How wonderful to walk along the snowy trails, with snow falling thick, the fog that glimpse of the skyline and the sounds of the city covered by snow. We go to a pond, there are the geese and duck moving in the lake by opening a hole in the snow as if they were icebreakers. Is it because of the snow, it will be for bad weather but there are lots of colorful birds, including a beautiful red cardinal.
We stop under a pergola with a lovely view over the lake and the skyscrapers in the background, even though today the view is a bit 'blurred by the fog. At one point a lady comes and asks us if we were there for the wedding. We answer no and onlookers wonder if there would be a marriage. The lady politely replied that she was the minister and he was waiting for the newlyweds to celebrate the wedding. They chose a good day .. but do not know that on Friday, do not buy the house and you are not married? He says a popular saying!

The American Museum of Natural History is simply wonderful, it is also the largest museum of natural history there is in the world. It was inaugurated in 1877. Despite the visitors affollino the endless halls of the museum visit seems endless. You can see reconstructions of old people, scenes that look like real stuffed animals. Dinosaur halls are crowded by hordes of delighted children. There is even a simulation of the big bang. In short, we spent the whole morning and most of the afternoon wandering through its many rooms. Truly a beautiful museum!
Exiting the museum there remains much to do, few hours our plane will leave. We walk along the road passing through eighth Columbus Circle for a completely whitewashed. The snow stopped falling so we decided to make her walk to 23rd Street where we will grab our luggage and, alas at the airport. One last walk in the heart of this city.

The guy in the hotel when we returned our luggage had once commented that Americans come to Europe they go shopping, but today, with the Euro, it's us Europeans to go shopping in America ... as they say ... a po 'everyone! Now it's our turn ...

It is past 22 and our plane finally takes off and the window you see only so many distant lights. We are leaving this magical city, unique, we are going back to our lives as always to our house.
We had not planned to fall in love with this city, its life, its streets, its colors and its many contrasts, we did not anticipate that starting a bit 'of our hearts would have remained trapped in the streets of Manhattan, who wanted to would return infected too. Also because of things to see, shopping in hand, and do, there are still many magical ... Goodbye New York!