Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Thanksgiving and Black Friday!

Hello all,

today i am talking about Thanksgiving and Black Friday, i know that now you might be thinking why Thanksgiving and Black Friday?? What they have in common?! Yeah, actually there is not a special reason but one brings to the other and  the Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving.

The Thanksgiving was born in 1621, it was a celebration of the Pilgrims from England and the Indians to celebrate the harvest and it happened in the Autumn. With the course of time the Thanksgiving had suffered many modifications, in 1789 the President George Washington proclaimed a National Holiday Day of Thanksgiving, although the following President Thomas Jefferson was opposed the idea and put it down. The Thanksgiving was saved by a Woman who was named Sarah Josepha Hale, a magazine editor. Hale published over 40 years many editorials championing her cause in her Boston Ladies' Magazine. Finally after 40 years of writing editorials and letters to governors and presidents, Hale's obsession became a reality, when in 1863 the President Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday of November as a national day of Thanksgiving! In 1941 the Thanksgiving was sanctioned by Congress as a legal Holiday, from that time on the Americans have been eating Turkey every November 25th! hehe Actually the name Turkey, was used by the Pilgrims to mean a sort of wild fowl, another staple at almost every Thanksgiving table is pumpkin pie!
We don't have this Holiday in Brasil, but what i can see is that Thanksgiving is a really traditional holiday, It is holiday to stay with family and appreciate great food.

Well now let's talk about the Black Friday...The Black Friday as the proper name says is the last day of the week after the Thanksgiving, where all stores put their prices down and everybody gets crazy. For us, i mean Brazilians, it is a big date for shopping in New York, but you have to be prepared because they will gonna fight with you if necessary to get what they want! Why that? Because it's the Black Friday dude, and the prices will be up to 30% off in every electronic store, so if you want to get your APPLE MAC, or whatever you want, be sure of waking up early, i am saying EARLY, like 2:00am because if you wake up at normal time, you will lose it!
The BF is more expected for people to buy electronics, but every store will be on sale. Just make sure that you got a plan, take your weapons and you will be fine! HEHEHE Ahh, don't forget of putting your armor on!



That's it folks. I hope you enjoy it!

Bye.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

The Grand Central Terminal and New York Public Library.

Hello Everybody,

Today I will talk about Grand Central and Public Library, two of the most beautiful places to visit in New York! The Grand Central is one big subway station located on 42th street, it is the most beautiful subway station that i have ever seen. There is a big waiting hall which is surrounded by restaurants and coffees and it is also a famous place for movies that had been shot there! Now, with the Christmas arriving the Grand Central is even more beautiful decorated with the ornaments. There are five restaurants, all of them really charming not so cheap though. So if you come to New York this is certainly a place you have to stop by.

I am posting the link here if you want to know more about it.: http://grandcentralterminal.com/

Well, the Public Library is a beautiful place as well and it was opened in 1910.
This is not the only Library in New York but it is the biggest and most beautiful. It has a beautiful architecture style from the 18th century and  it is a very preserved place. Since i arrived in New York i have spent a long time at the Library studying.
The Library is an amazing place full of story, where you can spend the whole afternoon visiting.
I think that's all, the Library is one more tourist point in New York, and you should not miss it.

Till the next post!


Bye!

Monday, November 22, 2010

The Central Park and Bryant Park!

Hello everybody,

today i am gonna talk about the two nicest parks to me in New York. One of them i am pretty sure that everybody knows is the Central Park!
Well, the Central Park is one of the most famous park around the world and i am not sure if you knew it but, the Central Park was built up! Yes the Central Park was a piece of land with some trees and in 1858 Fredrick Law Olmsted and Calvent Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park. The construction began in the same year and it was completed in 1873.
The Central Park has several attractions where you can visit for instance, some lakes, ponds, extensive walking tracks, bridle paths, two ice-skating rinks so forth.


Central Park is much more than I expected, it is a great place to go during weekends to practice some sports or just to chill out.
Within the most popular attractions it has, the Great Lawn which is a big piece of land with green grass is the most sought, you can play sports, read or simply enjoy the day, Central Park also has the "The Mall" which is a famous aisle where has been had a lot of movies shot,  you also can cross the park from the west side to the east side.
 During the winter time you can visit the ice-skating rinks that are located in the park, they have two and either are nice!
I think that is all about the Central Park, if you wanna know more, you should come to see it with your own eyes!  =)

Now let's talk about the Bryant Park which is much smaller than the Central Park but it is a really nice place to spend your late afternoons and your lunch time. It is located in the middle of  Midtown bounded by Fifth Avenue, Sixth Ave, 40th St and 42St.



With a big green lawn this park is the most occupied park in the world with an attendance of 800 people per acre,the park during the summer is a very popular place where people go to have lunch, to spend a time on the lawn reading, or just stopping by to take a breath or to drink a coffee at the Bryant Park Cafe before keeping your way home. At the winter time they build up a really nice/charming ice-skating rink surrounded by a lot of Kiosks selling souvenirs. The ice-skating rink is free if you have your own skates, but if you don't you will have to rent those.


Summarizing, either Central Park or Bryant Park are really nice place to chill out and to have a good time. Now it is up to you to choose each one you like more!

Well folks, that's all !

Friday, November 19, 2010

Carmine's!

Hello everybody,

here i am again, but today i will talk about some interesting place to eat. Before that, i would like to wish all the best to my Girlfriend because today is her birthday, so baby, Happy Birthday!

Well after the thanks given, i decided to come up with this place because it is a really nice restaurant where you can go to spend a nice time with your friends.

The main idea of this restaurant is to serve  every meal in the style of an Italian American wedding feast, featuring extra large portions of home-style antipasto, pastas, seafood and meat entries served on extra large platters designed for sharing.

This restaurant is really affordable and the food is really good, the plates come in generous portions for sharing between 3 or 4 people, i am sure that you will leave the restaurant fed and satisfied!

Well, this restaurant is located on the Theater District, the address is 200 West 44th street. If you are going by subway Carmine's is two shorts blocks from north Times Square 42th Street, so you can take whatever line that stops at Times Square and taking a short walk.

For the ones who are going by car, there is an ample and convenient parking in the Times Square area. The nearest parking is direct across the street from the restaurant.

That's all folks! Till the next!

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Where to stay and how to use the subway!

Hello everybody, how are you doing?

So, I have so many thinks to share with you and so many photos to post that i don't know from where I should start by. Well, I think I will start by giving some tips about where to stay in New York and how to go from a place to another.

Definitely if you don't wanna spend a lot of money this is not the right season in New York for you, as a matter of fact this is the most expensive one, the Hotels are raising up their values at unimaginable prices and if you are planning to stay in Manhattan you will spend a great amount of money. But off course there is a reason for that, this season is the most beautiful, everything is being decorated for Christmas and the city is getting amazing, so it is up to you if it is worth it?!

If you don't have much money to spend and you are concerned about where to stay in NYC, don't worry, New York has an excellent subway system where it takes you to anywhere! My first time in NYC i stayed at in Holiday Inn on 39th between 9th Ave and 8th Ave, the Hotel was good enough for my needs and they also have breakfast included . The location is called by Hell's Kitchen and you have several subways lines where you can take it and go from top to bottom in Manhattan.
So don't worry about the location just try to avoid the Bronx.

Talking about Subway, if i had to compare the New York's subway with Sao Paulo's subway i would stay with Sao Paulo speaking of cleanness, but speaking of which one takes you in every place 24/7 i am going with the New York's.

They offer 3 options for you buying a METRO CARD, actually if you are not gonna spend more than two weeks here you should buy the option which provides you Unlimited Ride MetroCard. It costs $51.50 and you get 14-Day Unlimited Ride MetroCard. For more option i will provide the link from MTA Service (Metropolitan Transportation Authority) where you can check it out by yourself.

http://www.mta.info/metrocard/mcgtreng.htm#unlimited

The subway is made up by 12 lines which are broke into colors. There are 7 colors Blue (lines A,C and E), Orange (lines B,D,F and M), Green (line G), Brown (lines J and Z), Yellow (lines N,Q and R), Red ( lines 1,2 and 3), Green (lines 4,5 and 6) and last but not least Purple (line 7).

To put it in a nutshell, if you stay in Manhattan you will use only the Green and the Red lines basically, the Green goes through the East Side and the Red goes through the West Side. I am providing the MTA's link for the ones who want more information.

http://www.mta.info/maps/

Well i hope you enjoy it.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

The Start Up!

Hello all,

this is my first time as a "BLOGER" so let's say that I don't have any experience on that but the main objective  of this blog is to practice my English, and it is also a way of sharing what I have been doing here and what the Big  Apple has to offer!
So I will post some pictures from the most beautiful places that i have ever seen and try to describe from my point of view what is to be in New York.
I am also posting about places that I have visited and giving some tips of where to go, what to do, how to get there, what to eat, and so forth.

So if you are thinking to come to New York I might help you in some way!

I hope you enjoy.