Our Trip the United States

On Tuesday, June 30, my wife, Cristina, and I took a late night flight from Guarulhos Airport in São Paulo to JFK Airport in New York, arriving very early on Wednesday morning, July 1st.  After taking a taxi to the Hotel Pennsylvania on Seventh Avenue near 33rd Street, we did a little shopping (AT&T, Whole Foods, Macy’s) until we were able to check in a little before 2 PM.  The highlight of the day was having dinner with my daughter, Rachel, her husband, Mike, and my grandchildren, Nate and Leo.  Mike cooked us a great meal, as usual.

On Thursday, the 2nd, we walked from the hotel to the New York Highline, located west of Tenth Avenue at about 30th Street.  It was our first time there and it is a beautiful above-ground park with a boardwalk.  We walked all the way down the Highline to 13th Street in order to visit the new Whitney Museum, which had a great exhibition of Twentieth-Century American art.  Before entering, we had lunch at Bubby’s restaurant across the street.  That evening we had dinner with our good friend, Joe, at Barbaresco’s on Lexington Avenue.

On Friday, the 3rd, after waiting in a line on the sidewalk, we had breakfast (hot plain bagel with cream cheese, tomato and nova) at the best bagel factory in the world, Ess-A-Bagel, on Third Avenue.  We had dinner at Spark’s Steak House on East 46th Street before walking across town to West 43rd Street’s Stephen Sondheim Theater to see Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, which is about the early career of the singer, songwriter.  We enjoyed hearing many of her wonderful songs such as “Will You Love Me Tomorrow,” “It’s Too Late” and “You’ve Got a Friend.” 

On Saturday, the 4th of July, we had planned to go to the beach with my daughter and her family.  But, as it was not a beach day, the 6 of us instead walked across the Brooklyn Bridge starting from the Manhattan side.  After having lunch in DUMBO, we took the subway back to my daughter’s apartment.  On the way there, Cristina recognized and talked to a Brazilian journalist who had covered the recent earthquake in Nepal for TV Globo.

On Sunday, the 5th, we walked from the hotel to Washington Square Park on Fifth Avenue in the Village.  There, we enjoyed soft ice cream cones and some wonderful music from a live jazz band.  That evening, after locating a corkscrew, we enjoyed some wine in our hotel room while watching the USA women win the World Cup.

On Monday, the 6th, we took a taxi to LaGuardia Airport to fly to Orlando.  After renting a car, we drove to the Ramada in Altamonte Springs, a suburb.  We were pleasantly surprised to discover that their cable package included our favorite TV channel, Turner Classic Movies.  It was on every waking moment we were in the room.  That night, we drove to my son’s, Bret’s, apartment, where we met Katie for the first time.  They have been together for about two years.  They cooked dinner for us, which was salad and a marvelous lasagna.  Afterwards, we drove to an ice cream store for a hot fudge sundae, something not commonly found in Brazil.

On Tuesday, the 7th, the four of us had dinner in a fish restaurant.  Cristina and I enjoyed grilled catfish.  Afterwards, we strolled around a lake at the local park.

On Wednesday, the 8th, after breakfast at a nearby Waffle House, Cristina and I drove to the Mall at Millenia in Orlando.  We were there to have lunch at the Cheesecake Factory with our friends from Lake Placid, Bob and Maria de Deus.  Walking from the car to one of the buildings, we found a middle-aged woman prone on the grass, pleading for help.  She was being attacked by bees.  As we approached, Cristina was stung by one and withdrew.  Unaware of what happened to her, I, with the help of another woman, got the first woman to her feet and then got the hell out of there, only to find an injured Cristina.  In the restaurant we found ice to deal with her pain.  After lunch, the four of us toured the Mall.

On Thursday, the 9th, Cristina and I visited the Orlando International Premium Outlets.  It’s an exceptional shopping experience, especially if you enjoy shopping.  Many of the customers were Brazilians, as attested by the fact that there were signs in Portuguese and many of the sales people spoke Portuguese.  That night, we had dinner again with Bret and Katie at the local Perkins restaurant.

On Friday, the 10th, we flew to Raleigh-Durham Airport in North Carolina.  Here was the low point of our trip, at the Dollar Rent a Car counter.  It took over two hours, waiting patiently in line, to get a car.  Unacceptable!  Apparently, the company had offered a big weekend discount and were flooded with reservations.  They did not have the manpower to handle to overflow of customers.  After finally getting a car, we drove to our hotel in Durham, the Staybridge, and then to Fridays on the Porch at the Carolina Inn in Chapel Hill to meet our friends, Kevin and Connie, for a drink and some live bluegrass music.  Later, we had dinner at the Top of the Hill restaurant.  Before returning to our hotel, we strolled around Franklin Street.

On Saturday, the 11th, Cristina and I shopped at Walmart, Whole Foods, and Southern Season.  We lunched at Whole Foods and had dinner at Panera Bread.

On Sunday, the 12th, we drove to Southpoint Mall.  The first order of business was Barnes and Noble where we bought some books.  We spent many hours walking around the busy mall.  For dinner, we returned to downtown Chapel Hill and the Mediterranean Deli where I ate my favorite sandwich, Falafel Traditional.  Since last year, the restaurant had expanded again, adding a small market where I found dark chocolate covered almonds and halavah.

On Monday, the 13th, Cristina and I celebrated our second wedding anniversary.  We shared a bottle of Spanish sparking wine and a delicious dinner at 411 West Italian Café at 411 West Franklin Street.  After, we walked to McCorkle Park on the UNC campus and sat for a while under the stars.

On Tuesday, the 14th, we drove to Graham, North Carolina, about 25 miles west of Chapel Hill, to visit our friends, Raymond and Belinda, who had recently bought a house there.  We were their first guests for dinner at their new home.

On Wednesday, the 15th, I went to the local North Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles to apply for a renewal of my North Carolina driver license.  I passed the vision and sign tests and should receive my permanent license for another 5 years by the end of July.  We spent the rest of the day at Kohl’s.  We had dinner at City Kitchen at University Mall.

On Thursday, the 16th, we flew from RDU Airport to Miami International Airport, and then after a long wait, flew back to São Paulo.  The first order of business in Miami was to eat an American-stype hot dog with mustard at Nathan’s.  Interestingly, on the second plane we sat next to a man who apparently was being deported from the USA.  I say this because he was escorted to the gate and then chaperoned while there by three uniformed federal policemen.  We arrived at Guarulhos Airport at 9 AM on Friday, July 17th.  Trip is over.  Until next year.