New York

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----------------------------------------------------------------------- Here is the story of our short visit to New York in September 2005. The story is still incomplete, but we'll try to add to it as soon as we can. If you need more information you can send us an email, enjoy the read!!!.

5 September 2005

Here we are for a new adventure across the ocean, and then across two oceans. But let's take it one step at a time.

We got married on Saturday 3 September, an insignificant thing for you who are reading, but very important for us. Honeymoon? New York first and the Hawaiian Islands after. Let's start with New York. We leave on the morning of Monday 5 September, a Continental Airlines flight from Milan to Newark; the flight is calm and the 8 hours of crossing pass quietly. At Newark we manage to grab the right shuttle (Supershuttle) and in a few minutes (and with few dollars, unusual given the cost of taxis in NY) we reach our Hotel, the Edison, a stone's throw from Times Square. The hotel isn't up to much, but at least it's clean and its central location makes it an ideal base for our NYC wanderings. The view of the New York skyline from the airport is striking, growing bigger as we get closer.

Our first outing takes us all the way along 47th eastwards to Fifth Avenue to see Saint Patrick's Cathedral and the famous Waldorf-Astoria (the one from "The Prince Seeks a Wife", remember?). We wander all afternoon, then dinner with a 12-ounce steak and the intention of a bit of nightlife. Unfortunately jet lag gets the better of us and after dinner we head back to the hotel to recharge our batteries.....

6 September 2005

By six we already have our eyes wide open like two globes. Breakfast at Starbucks (big coffee and muffin, it had been a year since we'd eaten like that, burp!!). Today the first stop is the biggest camera shop in the world: B&H Photovideo, where we buy a wide-angle lens for our old F65. The shop is a real feast for photography lovers and photographic gear: Hasselblad, Nikon, Canon, and then some. The owners of the shop are Jewish and all the staff have the typical look of the observant Jew: long beard, curly hair and the rest. To see Manhattan better we decided to see the whole city on foot: we walk for hours, cover the whole of Broadway and get as far as Washington Square, where the University and the Memorial Arch are.

On Broadway, in Soho, we throw ourselves into shopping and in a flash our backpacks are full; all the same we don't give up and press on undeterred on our long walk towards City Hall Park, then Fulton Street and then Water Street where we stop to eat (it's one o'clock by now). We then continue to Wall Street with the ritual stop at the Stock Exchange; we even ask whether we can watch the trading, but the (many!) police officers on guard tell us that visits have been suspended indefinitely since the events of 11 September. From Wall Street to Ground Zero is a short step. The "hole" is truly striking, especially thinking of what was there before.

The visit then continues towards Battery Park, which we walk right along until we reach Castle Clinton, where we take a Circle Line ferry that lets us see the whole of South Manhattan from the sea, as well as the Statue of Liberty, Jersey City and Staten Island. Once the ferry trip is over we head back, and we return to the hotel dead tired: today we've walked for almost eleven hours!!

7 September 2005

After the usual hearty breakfast we set off for the Museum of Modern Art, the MoMA. After a ten-minute queue (if only it were like that in Italy too!) we go into the museum; there's everything: design objects, prints, photographs, drawings, paintings and sculptures of every kind. On the top floor we also find the special exhibition of Cezanne and Pizarro.

Once the MoMA visit is over we go to see the Empire State Building, walking, of course, the whole of Broadway as far as 34th Street. Despite the hour there aren't many tourists and we queue very little. The lift up costs 14 dollars, a real rip-off. The lift going up is so fast (87 floors in 1 minute) that your eardrums rebel. The view from the observatory on the 87th floor, though, is beautiful: a 360-degree view over the whole city. A shame we can't stay until evening to see the lights of New York from above. The wind blows hard and you can clearly feel the skyscraper swaying.

Once the visit is over we shop at Macy's and have dinner in Times Square at the Roxy Bar. After dinner we do the night tour: we retrace downtown Manhattan: the Empire State Building, Broadway, Soho, Little Italy (now reduced to Tiny Italy because it's shrunk to little more than a block). We then take the bridge and go to Brooklyn, from where we admire the famous skyline we're used to seeing on postcards — a shame we didn't bring the tripod!

8 September 2005

We spend the morning of 8 September visiting uptown Manhattan on a guided tour: a visit to Central Park, to Harlem, and we pass by Columbia University and the Guggenheim Museum. In the evening a musical on Broadway: we see The Lion King at the New Amsterdam theatre: The theatre is very beautiful (even if a little too baroque). The musical is wonderful: the actors have splendid voices and the stage sets are incredible.