Sixteen years ago, Nina and I took our first trip together. We had just met and had no idea how important that trip would be. We didn’t know that from then on, every journey in our lives would be together. In December 2008, with a carefree spirit and a certain amount of ignored awareness, we set off for New York!
It was the holiday season. Airbnb had just been born and was nothing more than a simple online list of private apartments available for rent—no pictures, just addresses and descriptions. With my usual dose of “madness,” I booked a studio apartment in Manhattan with a sofa bed and two inflatable mattresses. Along with Nina and me were my sister Claudia and Letizia, her lifelong best friend!
That’s how it all began, how we were certain we were in love—by enduring ten days sleeping on a leaky inflatable mattress that we had to wake up and inflate halfway through the night.
Sixteen years have passed since the last time I walked the streets of the Big Apple—far too many for my liking. Finally, last Christmas, we decided to return to New York, and it was just as magical as I imagined! When you walk through the streets, you always feel like you know every corner of this city that you’ve seen in thousands of movies: the steaming manholes, the yellow taxis, the traffic lights at every intersection, the skyscrapers, the subway, the sirens of the red-and-white fire trucks. Somehow, it always feels like a place you know, even when it’s not.
It’s Monday, and our flight back to Italy leaves at 7:00 PM. But Carol, her dad Sami, and her mom Diana have tickets for the 1:00 PM show of the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall. Will we manage to see it without missing the flight? Sami, as always, organizes everything. We take a bus into the city, walk to Radio City, and drop our luggage off at a friend of Sami’s. He makes jewelry. We go up to the sixth floor and visit his workshop, where million-dollar jewels are carefully crafted and assembled. Then we leave our bags in what I consider the safest place in the entire city. We thank him warmly and dive back into the streets of New York. We take a picture of the Christmas tree in front of Rockefeller Center while searching for a pizza slice shop—yes, you heard right! Eating a one-dollar slice of pizza is definitely one of the quintessential Manhattan experiences. It’s raining, and we’re soaking wet because I hate umbrellas—maybe I should learn to love them a bit more. We step into a pizza shop, starving, and each grab a massive slice. It’s not as good as Italian pizza, but it doesn’t need to be—it’s New York pizza, and that’s what makes it great! We eat and head back out into the New York rain, making our way to Radio City Music Hall.
I’ve seen it many times from the outside but never been inside. Once in the foyer, I can’t help but look up at the majestic crystal chandelier hanging from the towering ceiling. There are thousands of people, yet I feel alone. The red velvet, the warm-colored carpets, the lights that seem to come from another era—it’s truly breathtaking. It’s time to enter the main hall and find our seats. I never imagined it could be so vast. It’s enormous—really, really enormous! We sit down and wait for the show to begin. Honestly, I’m not sure what to expect.
The lights go down, and the magic begins. The choreography unfolds one after the other, and my jaw drops a little more each time. The music, the lighting effects, the set design—everything is incredibly perfect. Time flies by, and I almost forget we have a flight to catch! I blink a few times—we have to leave before the show ends, while the crowd is still manageable and we can make a run for it.
We retrieve our luggage from the vault where we left it and dash to the subway. Carol, Sami, and Diana ride with us for part of the way. After a couple of stops, we have to say a quick goodbye, but it was absolutely worth it. They gave us one of the most unforgettable experiences of our lives! We have about an hour-long trip to JFK, and thankfully, everything seems to be going smoothly. Though we’re a little later than I would’ve liked, we make it to the airport.
It won’t be another 16 years—this I know for sure. I won’t let New York change at lightning speed, as it usually does, without me knowing. I won’t let my sneakers stay away from my favorite city in the world for another 16 years!
Thank you, Carol, Sami, Diana, and New York, for giving us all this in such a short amount of time. We’ll never forget it!
