06.11.2008 / Quiet and broken hearted
When I saw Manhattan for the first time, I have to confess, my eyes teared up. As the Puerto Rican shuttle driver brought us out of the Lincoln Tunnel, I pinched myself. The wait was over, my heart was racing: what had been a lifetime long-distance romance was now a real love affair. Silly, I know.
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20.10.2008 / Business as usual
Back in Lisbon, in front of my mac, after spending two wonderful weeks exploring New York on my own, attending Wordcamp NY and the amazing Shift conference. Phew! So much to tell you all about!
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05.10.2008 / The tackiest place on earth
After four crazy days in Manhattan, walking up and down like a lunatic, and a Friday night of comedy and booze, Saturday was begging me to slow down and do something more relaxed. Managing to escape the touristic frenzy that the weekend would probably add to the city, I hopped on a train to Brooklyn and went… to the beach.
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03.10.2008 / Can’t stop!
There are no words to express how tired I feel right now. Exhausted doesn’t even begin to describe it, I’m totally knocked out, aching all over, falling apart. I feel like two weeks of this may be enough to kill me.
What’s the rush, I keep asking myself, why the eagerness, why the impatience? I don’t know, it’s stronger than me. New York is out there, it’s spectacularly huge, and although I’m here for two weeks, the clock is ticking loudly in my head and doesn’t allow me to waste time. Walk, walk, walk!
Greenwich Village and SoHo are adorable and quirky. Much more relaxed than the big avenues, as people seem to slow down and enjoy life in a different way. It’s so interesting to see the different moods of this city.
The system of fast and slow trains on the subway seems confusing, but it’s not that hard to get used to it. New Yorkers don’t drive much. And as the cabs and limos get stuck in the gridlocked traffic, the subway really is the fastest way to move around. That’s why you find every kind of people down there, even the high powered suited executives.
Everything needs to be fast around here. Including the food, of course. But that’s a whole other story!
02.10.2008 / First Impressions

After watching so many films and tv shows set in New York, being here for the first time has this wonderful and weird feeling of familiarity. Two days passed and I still feel like I’m dreaming.
New York city is beautiful, as expected, but I’m also loving the New Yorkers I keep meeting and the way the city keeps changing from block to block. If you go down Broadway, from the Upper West Side to Times Square, you have the feeling you’re shrinking as the buildings get taller and taller, and the crowd gets bigger, and the lights get sronger.
Central Park is a cliche on it’s own. There are incredible numbers of joggers, some left at the entry of the park by their limo drivers, dark skinned nannies prancing around the rich blond babies they look after, professional dog walkers, with a cloud of different dogs on leashes - how I wonder how they keep war from starting with such a crowd!
I still haven’t been south of 34th Street - except for the ferry ride to Staten Island - and I feel like I have walked more in these 2 days than I have in the rest of the year! I’ve been wandering around with no purpose, just going where I feel like at a given moment, and it’s a worderful thing to bump unexpectedly into landmarks: hey, look, it’s the Rockefeller building!
I still have plenty of time to explore, I know. Still, I feel like I can’t lose a second, like New York will slip right through my fingers if I don’t grasp it all. So, off I go, lower Manhattan is waiting!
29.09.2008 / Rua do Crucifixo
Mesmo depois de lá ter passado uma vez ou outra, eu não sabia onde era a Rua do Crucifixo até ao dia em que abriu a estação da Baixa / Chiado. É assim que certas ruas ganham notoriedade. Da placa de mármore discreta, no topo de uma esquina, vêem de repente o seu nome figurar numa daquelas placas coloridas e proeminentes que indicam as saídas nas estações do Metro.
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23.09.2008 / Ready to be served!
Is it just me, or is Cookie an appropriate name for a cat who likes to sit in places like this?