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Italiano (Italian)
After the 3 nights in Chicago, using my United voucher, I went to enjoy my Christmas in New York. To be precise, it was the days following Christmas, but the atmosphere was intact.
Like in the movies, I too at Christmas in New York.
I went back to the places I remembered most fondly from the previous trip also to see if and how much I recognized them or felt the differences.
Ground zero on my first trip was a construction site, perhaps even more poignant than the monument they made there now.
Compared to the previous time I lingered more in Brooklyn. Also I went to Coney Island which I really wanted to see closed and abandoned making me remember a bit the places of certain horror movies (which I don’t watch) and especially the Night Warriors.
I treated myself to a Bubba Gump, the (very expensive) U.S. chain of restaurants specializing in fish and seafood, inspired by the movie Forrest Gump.
But especially in Fraunces Tavern, the oldest bar in New York City that is practically a museum as well.
I know women in New York
On the second night I had a date with a girl I had contacted months earlier on a dating site. She took me out for Mexican food at a rather fancy restaurant where we spent a lot of money. Not much chemistry was born, but it was very interesting to talk about her condition.
She had been in the Big Apple for only a few years and had not fit in as much. It is not easy in such a city where everyone is running around all the time. Her theory, also confirmed by those we met later, was that when you get there, you either make a bang for your buck or after a few years you run away and leave.
As an Italian American, she was very fascinated by our country, which she would have loved to visit and of which, for generations, only her last name remained.
We were friends on Facebook for a few years, until after one of his comments about the danger of Oman (where I was traveling), after my reply saying that because of the news we think Arabs are all terrorists, he took offense and took it away from me.
The NY party
Going back to that New York evening, my new friend after dinner asked me if I wanted to go to a party that was in a private home, I eagerly accepted. The party was no big deal, she had never been to such a place either, but it was cool to ring the doorbell and take the elevator up to that high-rise building.
Interestingly enough, it was at a NY party that I met a Russian woman. She was very pretty and was there alone. Not only did she speak Italian but she had even lived in Pinarella di Cervia (locality in the town where I grew up) and had been engaged to someone I knew by sight.
All 3 of us left together early and took me to see the tree in front of Rockefeller Centre and the store windows around there. Going through all the places that represent the classic New York Christmas.
I had only that night and gambled by putting all my cards on the Russian. While the other had gone to the bathroom I asked her if she would like to end the evening with me.
The Russian, on the other hand, had taken a liking to the American and even said to me: but how are you not with her!
As happens in these cases I didn’t get anywhere with either of them, but overall it was a great evening.
Home travel Traveling in the USA in the winter
Previous stop Chicago in winter, performs best in cold weather
Next stop New York City with snow, but terrible accommodations
Trips taken, travel stories divided by continent
Anecdotes, divided by type in travel narratives
Countries visited in my travel stories
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