Carlos, Brazil

My name is Carlos and I am 42 years old. I come from Sao Paulo in Brazil. I came for business to New York and I stayed 7 more days for vacations after instead of going back to my country. I usually travel inside Brazil, but I already went to Argentina, Germany, Switzerland, France and many other countries. I like going abroad to practice my English and my Spanish.

I went to the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building and to Soho for now. I also went on a night tour with a guide who was very funny, so it was very nice to visit New York that way. Now, I am planning to visit Brooklyn, Uptown, and the Metropolitan Museum. My dream is to go to Central Park because you can see this Park in a lot of movies, and this represents very well New York for me! I also would like to see the Phantom of the Opera: I have heard so much about the Broadway show! What I like to do in New York is to walk in the streets and to watch people. You can feel the environment and watch everybody interacting. Then you can compare with your own country, your own culture, and this is very interesting. For me, New York is the place where you can be uncommon.

I have also a good Indian restaurant that I would like to recommend: Pongal. It is located on Lexington Avenue, between 27th and 28th Streets. The food is very good and people are really nice!

To go from one place to the other, don’t rent a car: it is impossible to drive here because there to much traffic! And the subway is very useful, even if it was almost a challenge to understand it: it is very complex and you have to pay attention to colors, numbers… so you get lost very easily!

I think the city is very exciting, it is full of energy, people are always in a rush, they even eat while walking! It is also a model of diversity with lots of citizenships and religions all mixed together! I will definitely come back in one or two years.

Here is my little tips for all tourists in New York: always take a sweater or a coat with you, even if the weather is nice. The AC is on everywhere and you can get a cold easily!