The Brazilian Invasion - Part II

NEW YORK

Left Orlando at 8am, arrived at Newark at 11:30. The flight was really, really full. I thought that someone would have to sit on the corridor. But at least we had a decent breakfast.

As soon as I left the plane, I met Carla (the airport is smaller than Orlando's). We got my bags and then another battle of the well known war "bags vs. cars" started... :) We managed to put one on the back seat and went to NYC.

You see, it's amazing to finally know a place that you always saw on movies or things like that (especially when it's sooooo far away from home...). New York is a beautiful city, it attracts you in a very special way. You really feel like you're in the *heart* of the world there. Don't ask me why, you just feel it. It's not its size or population (my city is twice as big as NYC), maybe it's the cosmopolitan side of it. Or maybe it's just the *fame*... :)

We went to the hotel in Manhattan, nice and cozy. Wonderful beds... ;) Near to the American Museum of Natural History and the Central Park.

It was cold. Oh my, and how cold! I felt like the wind was cutting my bones. My usual luck: it was the 2 coldest days in the winter there, around 15F. If it weren't for Julie's scarf and Mary's mittens, I would be in serious troubles... my friends saved my life. :) Although it's not easy to smoke wearing mittens... but then it was also hard to light a cigarrette with that wind... oh well.

Don't forget, when I left Brazil it was 110F...

Of course, all I could do was look for something to warm me up... thank God, there was a good Italian restaurant and bar less than one block from the hotel. Those shots of tequila helped more than I can say...

We went to the Museum of Natural History and saw lots of dinossaurs (I love them). Really cool!

We got a taxi (hey mom, I'm in a yellow cab!!! :) ) and tried to find a carriage. But it was too cold and the police doesn't allow carriage rides when it's like that (I completely agree, poor horses...). So I knew part of the Central Park in a taxi.

Next day, we went to the Empire State building. It's wonderful! You can see the whole city and freeze to death at the same time. :) Just kidding... it wasn't that bad... hummm... well, maybe a little. :)

Then I decided to know the Rockfeller (sp?) Center and St. Patrick's cathedral. No, no taxi. Why? I always wanted to walk on the 5th Avenue... Don't ask me how many blocks. LOTS. I didn't think it was so far away... oh my... we had to enter a store almost each block to warm up a little. But it was good because Carla gave me a NY tag with my name. :)

And also, we found a street called "Little Brazil", with lots of stores, restaurants and our banks. Felt a little homesick...

The cathedral is very beautiful but I was astonished to see the American Flag inside! Right on the middle, pending opposite to the Vatican flag. I never saw something like that! In Brazil, we never ever mix religion with politics. No one would allow our flag inside a church.

Unfortunately, it was a very short visit and the weather didn't help much also. I hope I can go there again in the summer and *really* know the city. :)

We went to the bus station at 5pm. Carla, me and the bags. It's a huge station, you have to walk a lot to find everything. I tell you, it was *not* easy to walk with all those bags... especially when my bus' gate was 2 floors downstairs and it was impossible to use the escalators (it was rush time, the station was crowded and we realized that it would be a little dangerous to try them with those bags). So we used the normal stairs. It was cold but I was sweating like crazy when we finally got to the right gate (of course, it had to be the last one...).

On that night, my 36 hours bus trip started...