The End of the World Tour '12: The land of the free, part 1

I am making a longer stop in the US so as to rest a bit and get back in shape, and also spend Christmas. Oh, and wait for the end of the world, of course. I haven't posted recently because it's a slow process and the rewards will only be reaped after some time. Here's a quick account of what I did there, mostly illustrated with low-quality pictures I took from my phone, as the only common point between those experiences is that I had forgotten my camera home.

New York

I wanted to stay a bit longer in Brazil and I delayed my flight. This turned out to be the smartest move of the trip, as Hurricane Sandy and myself should have landed on the same day. So while I was enjoying more Feijoadas, all hell broke loose in New York. A week later, I arrived in a scarred city. After enjoying the Brazilian sun, it was difficult for me to adjust to the cold weather and I bought the first hat I saw.

Of all the garments I chose at random, this hat is the one that suits me the best.

I arrived on election day and started visiting right away, and I found myself in the Rockfeller center, where people had gathered to celebrate Obama's victory (NY is a Democrat stronghold). NBC had installed a fake news studio on Democracy Plaza and offered people to play the part of the news anchor. So I tried it, as I got convinced when the guy told me that many untalented people tried, especially the French. Yes, I have the video and no, you can't see it.

The Rockfeller center on election night

In New York I stayed with David and John, who moved to New York from Amsterdam last June and are now settled by Washington square. It was really nice to meet them again, and I was very happy to have so many interesting conversations with them. David is very knowledgeable on a lot of current political issues; for someone like me who's been living in blissful ignorance of the rest of the world, I found his insights very useful.

The weather made sure I wouldn't miss the party too much and still sent me a snow storm that broke while I was visiting Wall street.

Downtown Manhattan as the snow storm starts

In an instant, I couldn't see the end of the street, traffic halted and I couldn't use my hands without gloves. Within moments, I found myself alone in the street, and it was eerie.

In the following days, I kept visiting all the classic landmarks that were still available. Unfortunately, because of Sandy, the Statue of Liberty and Ellis island were closed.

View of lower Manhattan from the Empire State building

Grand central, with a beautiful rendition of the night sky.

La liberté éclaire le monde, still the best symbol of freedom out there.

Construction for the new World Trade Center progresses fast

The Brooklyn bridge

I also had a look at Staten island, that has really been hit by the storm. Pieces of the coast have been carried away by the storm and a lot of junk has been washed off since.

The remains of a pontoon destroyed by the storm, with a view of Manhattan.

On the week-end, we went to visit more and sat in the park on Washington square to have a look at people playing Jazz. And this is my last view of New York, as unfortunately I left after a wonderful week spent with amazing people. I can understand the fascination that the city has: a multinational, multilingual city weathering climatic storm after terrorist storm, and still keeping its glamour, its artsy edge and its role as the symbol of the American dream.

Chicago

After staying a month in San Francisco (more on that later), I have been to Chicago to meet my friend Pascal to study the possibility of creating a website for world travelers like us. Chicago has been the first US city I ever visited and unfortunately, I had forgotten all about it. It was pleasant re-discovering it, even if I spent more time working than visiting. The cold in the Midwest wasn't as pleasant to hook up back with.

Two ducks navigating Lake Michigan

It was a long dream of mine to see Second City, the mecca of Improv. Unfortunately it didn't turn out to be the out-of-body experience that I hoped, however their reputation is well deserved and I had a great deal of fun.

Yup, McDonald's is from around here

One baffling about the Midwest is that people are really nice. I was cycling one day, as I used to in Amsterdam, and my chain came off, as it used to in Amsterdam. So I started putting it back in and as expected my hands were black with grease. That's when someone saw me and came out of his car to offer a rag to wipe my hands with. Imagine that happening in Amsterdam...

A view of Chicago from the Hancock tower

The beginning of Route 66.

Another great thing about Chicago is that it's where they shot the Dark Knight and the city center looks exactly like Gotham city (or the other way around), so much that I wouldn't have been surprised to see a batmobile show up. Very scenic.