New Year's Eve in New York

Arrival in the snow...

We left Rome at 5:30 for New York JFK via Lyon, landing at 13:00 local time. We were greeted by a thick and spectacular snowfall. For the first night we had booked the Ramada near the airport, since it was impossible to stay in Manhattan for less than Euro 500... After very little rest, the first encounter with New York. The taxi dropped us on 5th Avenue in front of the Rockefeller Center. Music, sounds, lights and the famous Christmas Tree. Everything as you expect it, like in a movie. But just raise your eyes to the sky...and then you realize that you could never have imagined it like this. The sky is truly high in New York!! On arrival in Manhattan we toast to "our midnight" left behind and continue trying to get closer to Times Square, but the only access is from Columbus Circle. The crowd is incredible and the number of police at the checkpoints and controls even more incredible.

It's beautiful, even with a temperature of -13° and the jet lag starting to be felt. It is impossible to reach Times Square. We discover that the accesses are reserved for invitees and/or guests of the luxurious hotels on Broadway..too bad. It was still worth it.

Finally rested, we moved to the hotel we'd booked for the remaining days. It was a small and really lovely hotel (La quinta Inn) located on Queens Blv, just three subway stops from Grand Central. Great value for money, spotlessly clean and with an abundant breakfast! We spend the afternoon on our first long walk along 5th avenue, from Grand Central to Central Park. We visit the park and continue along broadway all the way to the much-desired Times square!! I have the same impression again that Los Angeles had given me...it's like being in a film. For better or worse there's no other city like it.

Once we'd recovered from the tiredness, early in the morning we take the metro to Battery Park. The temperature, the freezing wind and the endless queue force us to give up the visit to the Statue of Liberty! (We'll see it later...). We begin our daily tour that takes us to Wall Street, Trinity Church, Ground Zero..here we stop and look inside that enormous excavation. It gives you the chills to see its size and to relive in your mind the images that none of us will forget. We move on. We continue with a quick stop in chinatown and little italy, then soho and again along 5th all the way to the empire state building. The cold has knocked us out, we end the day at macy's department store!

The day is gorgeous, even if freezing cold, so we take the opportunity to do the circle line cruise. IT'S REALLY WORTH IT. We dedicate the rest of the day to shopping in the city centre!

We begin the day with a visit to the missing neighbourhoods. Washington Square and Greenwich Village. Here we're a bit disappointed, everything is silent and closed while we were expecting to find bars and venues full of life..we realise we're out of season to best "experience" the village. We continue on to Chelsea and Madison Square Garden. In the early afternoon we go up the Empire State Building. Despite the freezing wind we stayed more than an hour admiring the city from above and the spectacle of the low sun over south manhattan and the Statue of Liberty. Not to be missed. We take 5th avenue once again and head towards the upper east side for a quick visit to the Metropolitan Museum and the Guggenheim Museum.

Last morning in New York. We reach the Harlem neighborhood and the contrast with the nearby Upper East Side is obvious. Yet even here it's nice to take a walk to breathe in even more the cosmopolitanism and variety that lend even more charm to New York and, in my experience, to the whole USA. After a last walk on Broadway we say goodbye to the Big Apple and take a taxi to La Guardia airport......the journey continues for a taste of Canada.