Day#2

We end up waking up at 3.30 with much of our disdain. I could solve to sleep more, but my father, slightly unrespectful of other's sleep, keeps on talking and complaining about why he can't sleep and blah blah blah. My tireness saves me and I immediately fall back asleep for about two hours more.

I go out for breakfast. That should really sound weird, but I confess I never drank a coffee from those big plastic glasses, so, why don't try it out?
I ask for a cappuccino and a croissant (way too easy, except for the fact that we say "brioche") and start drink..hey, I can't understand how to drink from it!
No holes, no pressure points, nothing. And all the people around me drinks as it was the most natural thing to do. Well, not for me maybe!


So I just remove the cap and drink it as it was a coke. For sure that's NOT a cappuccino. Please come to Italy and I'll let you drink what IS a cappuccino. You won't forget. A whole different story.

I have a walk before meeting back my father and, out of my will, I find myself at Times Square. Wow, that's impressive. I mean, that's really nothing in reality. Buildings, lights, shops and people. Nothing having more than 80 years, but stunning anyway. Maybe we saw it on tv too many times, making it a "must see" place. Who knows. I enjoy anyway my walk there. I like cities for this reason, though.

My father joined the others of the Terramia group (the one we joined to come here) for a brief "briefing" and warm up in Central Park. Now, the group, leaded not by an unknown guy, but the one who, 25 years ago won the Marathon a couple of times (him) calls a "warm up" what, for a normal person, with a normal training as my father is a running for their lives. So, as soon as they say "let's go!", they rushes away as they had some mad dog chasing their heels. And my father has just to keep on running at his rhythm.
Plus, it's not really a good idea to go for a jog without eating nothing than a slice of bread with marmalade. As consequence, he feel weak and sick, overtalkative (I heard him saying "I don't know if I will run on Sunday", to which I promptly replied "WHAAATTT????", this makes him immediately change his thinking) and sleepy.


Before going back to hotel we have to go to Jacob Javits Center to pick up the number and other marathon things. We're pretty lucky cause not many people decided to do this key operation. The woman at the desk call my father "Albert" when checking his passport. He laughts at her.

Then we decide to take a look at the Empire State Building.
Now, call me ignorant and you'll be right, but I ALWAYS thought that the ESB was what actually was the Chrysler Building. It looked so familiar.
Anyway. There's a long queue just to get into the building. A queue that lasts just for 10 minutes.
"oh good" we think, unaware of what's waiting for us inside there. Queues, queues and queues.
Queue before the security control. Queue before the tickets. Queue for the picture (heavily photoshopped, we didn't buy it). Queue to get into the elevator. But just to 80th floor!
We then decide to open a door and go by the stairs on the remaining six floors. Then we reach the top!

What a sight! And what a lot of people there. It looked like the time we went over the chapel in Rome. So many people that it's hard even to look outside. But when we do it, the sight deserves the two hours of waiting. Camera out and pictures to every direction. Far away there's the Statue of Liberty (that we're visiting tomorrow).
So Cristian put his butt over Empire State Building too. Oh Oh.

I decide then to leave my father at the hotel and take a look around. Camera-freem hands in pocket and mp3 overloaded with Death Metal, I go around by myself, thinking that:

a) I never get lost
b) the guide-guy told us "if you're lost, just ask a cop, they're friendly with tourists".


The first shop I get in is something I actually looked for on the internet before leaving: A guitar shop.
Oh my.
Oh MY!
The heaven of Fender basses. Oh My..
Too bad I'm not there for a Fender. I'd like something different, since I need more strings for my equipment, but the sight is really stunning. I'd stay hours just looking those pieces of art.

Anyway, I get out of there and head to a shop that many people suggested me: B&H.
It's not that common here to see a Jewish dressed like a...Jewish, you know, the little hat, long beard, glasses (it seems ALL of them has some sight problem) and those two long hair on their head side. But here, here is totally another story. I never saw so many of them in a row.
I wonder, why they all look the same? Really, they all look the same. Same hair colour, same clothes (but this must be due their religion..) same beard-type. If it wasn't for the badge saying their names I could think I talked to the same person all the time. Weird.


Anyway, that's a preview visit, since my ideas about what I need are still not clear, so I leave and go back at the hotel where my father surely recovered from his sport-coma.

He did. Looking a human being and not as he wrecked from the Titanic like a couple of hours before.
We decide to have dinner. A friend of mine suggested a place called Friday's. Now, I thought it was ONE place. Not a whole chain of restaurants. But that's another story.
This place looks really nice and the people there is friendly and speaking a slow-enough english.
My father choose french fries and nothing more. He's not hungry yet. This jet-lag is playing bad tricks. I have two hamburgers with onion rings. Ok, I can't kiss any girls tonight but that's ok.

A brief walk after dinner along Times Square and we go back at the hotel.


TV is quite strange in America. Really. I thought that Italian TV is really bad. And still think that. But American tv goes really close.
Take in example the election day.
There were several spots about New Jersey candidates (Christie and Corzine) and those for NYC new major. Bloomberg, Thomson and Daggett.
Well, they all said THE SAME THINGS.
"More jobs, less taxes, less waste". Everybody could have said that, cause everybody SAID that.

Plus, and this is the biggest difference between American TV with the Italian one, they really mudded their opponents without any morality.
In example.
Christie said "Corzine had the highest unemployement rate, raised the taxes and wasted one million dollar". Could you figure out what Corzine said in his spots?
Exactly the same.
And the same happened for Daggett, Bloomberg and Thompson.


Here's different. Berlusconi says that the left-wing are communists and want to enstablish the reign of Evil with him as saviour of our beloved motherland. Maybe we're more surrealistic.

On tv there's baseball. A sport that, along with football, I never understood. But we soon get quite touched by Yankees Vs Philly (I think my father secretely supports Yankees) but, after an hour asking each other "why he had to go out?" we both fall asleep as dead pigs, waiting for our visit to the Statue of Liberty.

And tomorrow is another day.

Yes! I'm back!
I wouldn't say "finally", since I enjoyed my trip very much and liked all the things I saw.
I'm still a bit confused about eating, sleeping and all the things usually connected to jetlag. I'm writing a full "story" and still have to join all the pictures I took (about 700..I think).

All I can say in advance is that New York (I won't talk about USA for obvious reasons) is somehow something I expected when talking about sighseeing and that famous "skyline", but when talking about people, habits and "clichès" that becomes a different story.

I knew that was an impressive concentration of lives and words and somehow made me change my thinking about a big city like that.

Anyway, I need to re-organize my thoughts, clothes and (mostly) pictures. It will take a long while.

It's nice to be back, though.