USA 2017

This year's trip to the USA started on American Airlines flight #950 on Wednesday, June 21, which departed Guarulhos Airport at approximately 9:30 PM. Cristina and I arrived at JFK Airport the following morning at 6 AM. After having our passports checked and finding our luggage, we were approached by a Brazilian Uber driver who took us to our hotel (Pennsylvania) on Seventh Avenue. After dropping off our luggage, we secured a US telephone number at a nearby AT&T store.  Our plan had unlimited domestic calls plus 1,000 minutes of free calls to Brazil.

While Cristina spent the next several hours at Macy's, I had lunch at the Andrews Coffee Shop with my friend, Scott, whom I have know since freshman year at Penn.  After checking in at the hotel at about 2:00 PM, we rested until we went to my daughter's, Rachel's, and her family's new home on East 78th Street, a two-family brownstone.  My son-in-law, Mike, cooked delicious hamburgers on the bar-b-que on the patio.  My grandsons, Nate and Leo, played pitcher and batter in the backyard.

On Friday morning, the 23rd, Cristina and I made our annual trip to Ess-a-Bagel on Third Avenue for the usual bagel with Nova Scotia smoked salmon, cream cheese and tomato.  Like always, it was great, and like always, there was a line out the door.  I was surprised that even tourists who had never been there before waited.  I talked to first-time customers from Virginia and Texas.

That night, we had dinner with our friends, Joe and Ruth, at Bricchino's Italian Restaurant on West 29th Street.  Ruth and I discovered that one of each of our respective grandparents had emigrated to the USA in 1904 from Minsk, in what is today Belarus.  Were they on the same ship?  Did they know each other?

On Saturday morning, the 24th, I was sitting in a salad bar near the hotel waiting for Cristina, when a woman asked in Portuguese if her family could sit at my table.  It was a lucky break for these Brazilians that they ran into an American who could understand their language.  Talking to them was a good way to kill a half-hour until Cristina returned.

Later, we went back to visit Rachel, Mike and Leo (Nate left for camp). We lunched at San Matteo Pizzeria e Cucina.  Afterwards, we went to a Modell's Sporting Goods where another customer commented on my NC (University of North Carolina) t-shirt and ND (University of Notre Dame) cap.  Couldn't I make up my mind?  
For dinner, Cristina and I went to Keen's Steakhouse on West 36th Street.  We discovered this place while watching a scene in the Netflix series, Billions, starring Paul Giamatti and Toby Leonard Moore.  Cristina and I wanted to sit at the same table as the actors did.  The best we could do is sit at an adjacent table, eating the same as they did, mutton, and with the same portrait of a tiger looking over us.  We had a wonderful night.

On Sunday, the 25th, we returned to Rachel's.  On our way to buy some food, Leo, not yet seven-years-old, asked if I wanted to see an "inappropriate picture."  It was a painting of naked angels in an art store on their street.  I understood his meaning.  We bought some typical Jewish food (salmon salad, rugelach, and potato knish at Sable's) for lunch on their patio. Leo struck me out playing pitcher and batter in the backyard.

In the evening, we went back to Macy's for more shopping.  We had dinner at Just Salad on the fourth floor, where we convinced a couple from the UK it was a good place to eat.

On Monday, the 26th, we took a taxi to JFK driven by an immigrant from Ghana who lives in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.  We flew on American Airlines flight #4641 to Raleigh-Durham Airport (RDU) in central North Carolina.  From there we took a taxi to the Staybridge Hotel in Durham.  Our taxi driver, Said, was an immigrant from Palestine.  After a pleasant ride, I wished him, "Salaam alaykum."

On Tuesday, the 27th, Cristina and I lunched at our favorite supermarket, Whole Foods on Elliot Road in Chapel Hill.  While there we bought a few items: Paul Newman salad dressing, peanut butter, cherries, peaches, and a slice of apple pie.  

On Wednesday, the 28th, we ate soup and salad for lunch at Panera Bread.  We had dinner in Durham at the house of our friends, Kevin and Connie and their Standard Poodle, Fender. Connie did a wonderful job with chicken and grits plus blueberry cobbler for dessert.  By coincidence, we brought a blueberry pie from Kroger's.

On Thursday, the 29th, we shopped at CVS Pharmacy in Chapel Hill and lunched again at Whole Foods.

On Friday, the 30th, Cristina and I went to Walmart in Durham where we bought 12 boxes of Jello pudding, 4 boxes of angel hair pasta, and some toothpaste.  We lunched at the Subway sandwich shop inside. At 5 PM, we took a bus to the Carolina Inn in downtown Chapel Hill for their Fridays on the Front Porch. Unfortunately, it was cancelled because the bluegrass band that was supposed to perform outdoors was fearful of inclement weather and didn't show up. While in Chapel Hill, we had dinner at Vespa on West Franklin Street. Afterwards, I bought dark chocolate covered almonds at a nearby market.   

On Saturday, July 1, Kevin and Connie invited us to a bar-b-que at the home of his step-mother.  Kevin did a great job on the chicken. We met more of Kevin's delightful family, including a brother, a sister, and a sister-in-law whose family members from Arkansas are friends of former President Bill Clinton, and an impressive nephew, Jacob, whom we discovered has the same birthday as I do.

On Sunday, July 2, our friends, Belinda and Raymond invited us to their home in nearby Graham, North Carolina.  Raymond cooked delicious frogs legs.  It was a first time for me, but it was a dish that my father liked very much.

On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, July 3-5, Cristina and I relaxed in our hotel suite, which was very comfortable.  It was like a second home to us.

On Thursday, July 6, we had dinner with Kevin and Connie at Kipo's, a Greek restaurant on West Franklin Street in Chapel Hill.

On Friday, July 7, while Cristina was shopping at Kohl's, I went to Barnes & Noble where I bought Jonathan Franzen's book, The Corrections.  At 5 PM, we again took a bus into Chapel Hill to enjoy Fridays on the Front Porch.  The weather, the live bluegrass music, and the beer were very enjoyable.  We had traditional falafel sandwiches at the Med Deli and ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery. 

While waiting for a bus for the return trip to our hotel in Durham, I was approached by a strange looking woman who said she wanted to use my cell phone to call her son.  Fearing I would never get my phone back, I politely said I didn't have one.  She then began to publicly chastise me.  She said she didn't really want to use my phone, that it was only a test of my humanity, which I failed.  She accused me of being an "asshole from New York."  She continued her diatribe for several minutes while I ignored her.  Later, after she was gone, two adolescent boys approached me asking if I was okay after being verbally assaulted by a "crazy woman."  I was.

On Saturday, July 8th, we had lunch with Raymond and Belinda at the nearby Outback Steakhouse.  In the evening, we ordered pizza from Papa John's.

On Sunday, July 9th, we had lunch at the Stoney River Steakhouse located at the University Mall in Chapel Hill.  Afterwards, also at the mall, we saw the movie, Beatriz at Dinner, with Salma Hayek and John Lithgow. I thought it a good movie, but with a strange ending.   Coincidentally, the two actors were my choices for Rita and Ben in the screenplay version of my Best of Intentions, which is currently being serialized in my blog.  Chapter 13 will be published next Sunday.

On Monday, July 10th, Cristina and I took Delta flight #3768 from RDU to Orlando International Airport, arriving at around 3:30 PM. My son, Bret, and my future daughter-in-law, Katie, were supposed to pick us up.  However, Bret was delayed in returning home from work in Indiana and Katie injured her knee.  My first inclination was to rent a car which I did at Dollar Rental.  While standing in line, I over heard a mid-west couple extol President Trump to a couple from the UK.  The man said, "We need to get rid of those liberal democrats."  I responded, "Where should I go?"  He ignored me.  

While walking to the rental car, I saw it was raining heavily.  I decided driving wasn't a good idea.  I cancelled the rental and took an Uber to the La Quinta hotel in Lake Mary, Florida.  It was the first time I used the Uber app on my cell phone.  It worked great.  

On Tuesday, July 11th, we had dinner at Duffy's, a nearby sports bar, with Katie, her mom, Peggy, and her sister, Danielle.

On Wednesday, July 12th, Cristina and I went to the Seminole Town Center Mall in Sanford, Florida.  While waiting for Cristina outside J. C. Penney's, I was approached by the "Latin from Manhattan," a 74 year-old retiree living in Orlando, who was also waiting for his wife.  He told me the story of his life, a former marine, a former court officer in New York City, and a former body guard for the family of the Shah of Iran while in exile in the USA.

On Thursday, July 13th, Bret finally arrived home.  He and Katie brought us there where we visited with their dog, Mia, a Rottweiler. Later, the four of us had dinner at Pacino's, an Italian restaurant in Kissimmee, where will be the rehearsal dinner next February 16, the night before Bret and Katie's wedding.  We can't wait.  After dinner, they took us to the Embassy Suites by Hilton, our hotel next February.  Very impressive!

On Friday, July 14th, we had breakfast with Bret and Katie at Crepevine in Altamonte Springs.  Then they drove us to the airport. We first took American Airlines flight #278 back to JFK for the second half of our round trip.  When we arrived in New York, we had to retrieve our luggage, re-check them and then go through security again.  At our age, two flights in one day is one too many. Never again!  

As our flight from JFK to Sao Paulo was not scheduled to leave before 11:30 PM Brazil time, I decided to eat something earlier.  I went to McDonald's (in Terminal 8) alone as Cristina was not interested. While there, a female airport employee asked if she could sit at my table as the restaurant was very crowded.  After making small talk, she noticed my wedding band and asked, "Where's your wife?" Only a woman would ask such a question.

We boarded the plane, American Airlines Flight #951, about 40 minutes before departure and it left on time.  After sleeping a couple of hours, I awoke and couldn't fall back to sleep.  I killed a couple of hours by watching the film, Rudy, which I had seen several times before. However, it was the first time I had seen it since our visit to the University of Notre Dame last year.  I recognized parts of the beautiful campus, especially the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes.  The plane touched down in Sao Paulo at about 8:40 AM on Saturday, July 15th.  Our trip was over.  We enjoyed it. We'll be back next February.