Magical New York

Taken from The first impact with the city was a pleasant sensation; being in these places, almost familiar, seen so many times at the cinema, living inside them even if only for a few days, made me feel like the protagonist of "my" film. Here everything has a particular charm, from the subway to the Rockefeller Center, Brooklyn, the Met, Broadway, Madison Square, ending with the many fire escapes attached to the buildings. For me it was always inevitable to associate them with scenes from various films. Fifth Avenue, or Fifth Avenue as they say in NYC, is always crowded with cars and yellow taxis, the sidewalks full of people, but this ordered "chaos" doesn't bother you. Eyes and nose are up to the sky and the skyscrapers because everything around us is really tall.

The city is young, modern, brisk - It's wonderful - First stop Times Square; the illuminated signs and the billboards are enormous, the traffic is intense, I don't dare think what this square will be like on New Year's Eve, I'll see it on the news. A must, unfortunately a very sad one, is the stop at Ground Zero. In fact there is nothing to see here, but the feelings you experience are indescribable. A commemorative plaque says not to forget, and a large tree is adorned with many small photos; the grief of that day is in the air, you spontaneously whisper a prayer. You can't miss the stop at the kingdom of finance, Wall Street, with the inevitable photo in front of the golden bull, a snack with a hot dog, and here we are at Battery Park. The great (not too great) Statue of Liberty is in front of us.

A walk along the coast with the sea and the statue accompanying us as far as Brooklyn Bridge, then continuing the walk on the bridge and crossing it. The camera shutter button is boiling hot, Ugo keeps clicking, the different views of Manhattan from every side of the bridge deserve to be captured. It's pleasant to wander inside the natural setting of Central Park with the squirrels that timidly approach and then run from one tree to another. At Café Lalo (the one from "You've Got Mail") in Manhattan's Upper West Side you can enjoy an excellent chocolate fondue with fresh fruit, as a substitute for lunch or dinner.. The proximity of Chinatown and Little Italy is astonishing; you go from lots of Chinese writing and shops with everything inside to restaurants with signs reading "Ravioli alla bolognese" or "Pizza Napoli".

A brief stop in front of the large triangular building, the Flatiron building, then up the 86 floors of the Empire Building. King Kong at the entrance is fake, but the emotion of seeing the city's panorama from this height is all real. The charm of the NY Public Library (it's inevitable to think of the film "Ghostbusters") with its ancient halls, the quantity of volumes and the contrast with the modern computers available on the many desks, amazes you. At the bus bar "Empire diner" in Chelsea you must try the real American breakfast: eggs, ham or bacon with potatoes, mushrooms, beans and bread, truly energetic; and at the American Museum of Natural History, unlike the film, everything is motionless, even the big dinosaur, but everything is very interesting. Last stop - Harlem - the church "The Abyssinian Baptist Church" for the gospel mass.

The staging and the involvement are very solemn, the music and the singing fill the church, people take part singing and clapping in time, the atmosphere is festive and deeply felt. At the end, on the subway, a surprise!! Impossible to enter, the access stairway was closed with the sadly famous yellow tape - crime scene -; New York is also this. We spent five intense days, trying to make the most of the time available; it was a taste of the "big apple" and...........the appetite comes with eating.