En route: memoirs from New York, part I

Finally, here it is. Travel diaries from the last place visited in the States, back in the summer of 2010. And what an ending. I took so many photographs in New York that I've segregated the chosen ones into three parts. Moreover, the holiday season feels just like a right time to go back to this place, to celebrate its splendour once again. So here we go.

With a friend of mine, we were hosted 10 days in a Brooklyn apartment by a young musician. Falling asleep to the melodies he was recording for ad campaigns or hanging out on the roof of the building made that memory quite unforgettable.

Without any particular plan, just with a MTA card, I started that exciting exploration from the southern part of Manhattan, at the intersection of Broadway and Wall Street in the Financial District. Escaping the crowds, I found myself on board of the Staten Island Ferry. I cruised back and forth, among other fellow tourists taking snaps of the tiny and distant Statue of Liberty. After dark, I dashed towards Midtown, to the iconic but overcrowded Times Square, the glamorous 5th Avenue and 30 Rockefeller Plaza, the home to my beloved 30 Rock.

The next day was spent mostly hanging out in the Midtown Manhattan again. From the Grand Central Terminal to the Empire State Building. As a domain of Woody Allen, the heart of Manhattan is just the right place to be.

In the morning of the third day, I went to Greenwich Village. From the Washington Square area, where people play cello and practice yoga, throughout the Gay Street to Chelsea, it is heartily my favourite place on Earth. It was a must to go and see the Friends building, at the crossing of the Grove and Bedford streets. Even the coffee house downstairs recalled somehow the Central Perk and moved my nostalgia. And if you love falafels as much as I do, Greenwich Village is the place.

Hungry for a city map, I began the following day in the Visitor Center at Times Square. If you want your secret dream to become famous, go there, write down your wish on a piece of confetti and pin it up to the Hopes & Dreams Wishing Wall. It will be released on an upcoming New Year's Eve down to the streets of the City.

1901 by Phoenix