Chapter 31 _ El 14 de Septiembre
“It’s so early, five more minutes ,Val.” Juliana said in her morning voice that for the most part was undecipherable.
Valentina laughed because while she was used waking up early, Juliana wasn’t. “Baby… babe… amor… wake up.” Valentina said shaking Juliana gently. “We have a very busy day ahead of us and if we wanna make it to every stop, we gotta get ready now.”
Sitting up and wiping the sleep off her face Juliana opened her eyes and blinked a few times before making the effort of getting out of bed.
They took less than an hour to get ready and headed out to grab a coffee and something to eat on their commute to Ellis Island.
They spent the morning at Ellis Island and by 11:30am the girls made their way to the Poets House. Juliana had been wanting to visit this location since she was in elementary school and her 4th grade teacher told the class all about the place. The girls walked around the place for a while and eventually stopped by the Chapbooks choosing a few to read near a window. Valentina observed Juliana and how in love with the place she was. She loved the smile that had not stopped making an appearance on Juliana’s face.
After an hour of soaking in the quiet the girls headed toward’s Valentina’s stop, B&H. It was nerd central for her. She stopped by to get a few SD cards and another LaCie external hard drive. They walked around a bit but Valentina stopped herself from going any further because it was Juliana’s day and she didn’t wanna take time away from that.
Juliana noticed Valentina eying certain camera lens and she also noticed Valentina hold back so Juliana decided to grab Valentina by the hand and walk her to the lens and ask her questions about them and what they were for. She had picked up on a few of the photography terminology but she was by no means at Valentina’s level. She loved seeing Valentina’s face light up as she talked about what she was most passionate about, photography.
The girls eventually walked out of B&H and continued on their journey. They headed toward’s Juliana’s 3rd stop, BabyCastles. It was only open on Saturdays and Mondays so the girls got lucky. They spent the majority of their afternoon there. It was virtual insanity and the girls loved it. Neither of them had ever experienced anything like it. Valentina had never even heard of it and she’d been to the city countless times.
Around 5pm Juliana asked Valentina if they could go grab a bite which Valentina happily agreed to. They walked down 7th Avenue hand in hand as they made their way to Down The Hatch for some chicken wings. They chose that restaurant to walk by the famous Stonewall Inn. They had both wanted to see the location but they couldn’t stop for long. They still had one more stop to make before they ended their day.
After dinner they walked the rest of the way to their final stop, they Color Factory. They spend 3 hours exploring and taking lots of pictures. By the time they got back to the apartment the two were exhausted. They wanted nothing more than to take a shower and sleep.
The following morning they walked around central park hand in hand until they came across a couples bike they could both ride. They rode around the park until their rent time was up. Valentina bought Juliana flowers from a street vendor on their way back to the apartment. When they arrived at the apartment they ordered food and spent the rest of the day relaxing as their flight time approached.
Once the girls were at the airport and all checked in Juliana called her parents to inform them that they’d be landing at 8pm California time.
Juliana had never flown anywhere but after this trip she knew she could definitely get used to traveling. Flying felt like a rollercoaster and she loved it.
When she got home she went straight to bed and knew the following day she’d have to come return to reality.