The Gipsy Twin

I often log in with the intention of writing again.

I like to realize that even if it has been seven months since I wrote my last article, people still enjoys reading my blog.

So I click on “new article”, and feel like I am ready to start writing…then on the right there s a list of bizarre articles names, which I barely recognize as mine.

It feels so far away from that, I feel so different already and then concentration disappear. I say: next time.I prefer reading my funny stories and thoughts of my 90 days backpacking.

Even if I stopped writing on the 25th February,  my way to Rio keeps going on. And I keep traveling quite a lot.

After my return to Naples in January, I passed through Barcelona for a dinner with my friends at Por Venir, visited Switzerland and its quiet lakes and mountains, cooked in Portofino for 150 people with a friend , topped up my oyster card in London just to feel like I was living there again, sung in an underground karaoke in Rome for one of my best friends birthday,  played the hajje in istanbul in order to enter in one of the most famous mosques in the world,  gained arabic residency and driving license for a new, fantastic job opportunity; Swum in crystal clear waters in Formentera and partied a teenager in Ibiza; I was kicked out from a governmental office for having my legs not  covered enough, stood at the foot of the tallest building in Dubai and –  last but not least – during a security inspection of a check control in Iraq I run out from the car because of a grasshopper. I imagined the day after local newspaper mentioning of an  italian woman  in Iraq for business purposes, shot as believed to want to escape from the Iraqi check control.  That’s so me.

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Nyc is just fascinating, when you walk those streets looks like all the songs come to your head and want to go through the mouth and shout them loud. I might sound weird but i walked and i suddenly wanted to dance, and sing, and  – talking about dancing-  i saw a pub a sign on the wall that said: no dancing allowed. No, it is not a Joke ! is it not too funny? i though bout Sandrine, my partner in crime, who with i love to dance. i couldn’t imagine to be there in that pub and not be able to dance.

And i have seen things i had never seen before in any other city. The smoke coming out from the ground in the middle of manhattan sounded quite weird to me

This city spreads out smokes and energy in such different ways, and probably this is one of those.

New york is pure energy, flavours, cultures, surprise, life, music, movies, but it has also somehow disappointed me as i found it quite dirty, specially the subway even if I really like the silver color and the shiny American flag on it. On NYC subway passengers have to guess at what time it will come the next train and guess which is the next station unless you don’t want to go very close to the small indication or listen to a crazy subway driver who shouts which is the next stop. One day it was really bizarre, he kind of started to sing when we arrived at times square, everybody started to laugh of course.

That is nice in new york, people interacts, smiles if you look at them, helps you if you need them. That is something i don’t often find in london, but i dont like to generalize nor criticise, probably i have been just lucky to find 99% of the people extremely friendly.

You just ask for a street direction and they start a conversation, no matter if banal or not. There is a lot of contact in ny, physical and mental. I love it.
My first morning in NYC has been really nice, and the waking up funny. Maurizio was wearing a freeze blue mask which he believes is a good anti hangover. Its therapy remedy doesn’t really convinces me, but at least makes me laugh. Plus, with the mask he decided to imitate the statue of liberty just on the window with all the buildings behind. This guy is so funny. I laughed again. Around noon, me and Maurizio joined Jo Anne in the west village and we walk through that area that i really liked a lot. On the street there was a funny photo shooting with a girl crossing with a bizarre pink flower hat and with a fake dog . It might be ordinary in this area but I found it quite funny. We went for a brunch at Tartine, a nice french bistrot on 253 W11th  between 4th St. and Waverly place . I asked  – as usual for brunch for eggs Benedict since they are my favourites.

We walked all the popular streets with important griffes and labels, the Trump tower, Tiffany& co, Bergdorf godman and I enjoyed the Apple store a lot, especially the entrance, its stairs and elevator.

Central park is another place i had imagined quite a lot. I liked the contrast of the green tall trees and the silver super tall skyscrapers in the background. We sat down for a while  and then I said them good-bye and  did what i was dreaming of doing a lot lately… walking on my own through the streets and avenues of new york, discovering some new corners and getting a little bit lost.
I walked down the 57th and didn’t even look at map, i decided to follow the road i liked most and i walked right and left and then… And then there was Times Square in front of me. This place symbol of the big apple, icon of the most advertised squares in the world..it was breath-taking, i don’t know why. Then I kept walking towards 34th street and Penn station, did some shopping and  realized it was time to hurry up and join Maurizio and Chris for dinner.

In the tube i bumped into a guy with a 80’s style jeans jacket with white wool inside. I dont know if it was made by him. But on the back there was a picture of a young and quite beautiful lady with the following sentence: ” r.i.p. mum” with the date of born and death.

Now,with all respect, i don’t know if it is more bizarre if the guy made it himself to commemorate his mum, or if he bought it and it is one of the many fashion bizarre trends.

Maurizio was already at his friend’s flat, he had promised her to cook pasta. I arrived there around 9 pm and there was already a lovely smell of a lovely handmade pesto sauce. While Maurizio with the help of Chris was in charge of the pasta, I had a nice chat with April and her two friends. I talked about my trip and as everybody so far, were so excited for me and encouraged and support the choice by giving me tips and energy for my trip.

That upper east side penthouse was really amazing, with an incredible roof terrace with stunning views. I remained on my own up there looking at the high ends of the buildings. I love this city. It makes my heart beat.
Although people looked very friendly, they had all early night plans, and so i decide to join  Ivan on my own.  We had planned to meet for some drinks. Ivan is a school mate i probably had not seen for 12 years. It was nice to update each other with the little news we respectively had about the rest of the school mates. I felt a little bit old remembering teenager moments with him that looked so far away. I joined him and some friends at Pravda, a subterranean Russian speak easy/caviar bar in Soho, at 281 LaFayette street;  You can taste over 70 different Vodkas in this place but I had one of the few ones I really like, the cranberry one.

After few drinks at Pravda we headed to Boom-Boom Room, on the rooftop of the Standard Hotel in Meatpacking.

Stunning views, a quite bad Sambuca and nice environment. Ivan left pretty early, and so did the others, but I decided to stay.

It was my last night in New York and didnt want to go back home, so I stayed.  As I was fancying a cigarette, I went to the top and i passed through a crowded place full of very young excited and drunk people, and when i finally got upstairs i had my cigarette and talked to different people, a guy from chile, a girl from Sweden, another from Latvia and some people from Ny. It is nice to talk to strangers, have a chat and just leave it there. It was so freezing and windy at some point so I decided to leave and go to sleep.

I love NY at night, there is people everywhere at all times,  it is so true that it never sleeps!