New York in pictures

So...finally back home and have the photos uploaded.  As I said before, New York was great but felt very different this time.  There seemed to be a lot more homeless people on the streets and many of them clearly immigrants.  We wondered to ourselves what kind of appalling experiences they had at home which made it better to become a homeless beggar in America?  Probably the same sorts of things that drive people to the UK as well.  I bought a poster from a street vendor who spoke virtually no English.  She had trouble with the currency and gave me back too much change.  When I tried to hand her back the $3 extra she had given me, at first she didn't understand and seemed afraid of me.  When I finally managed to explain, she became almost tearful and couldn't thank me enough, putting her hands together and bowing repeatedly.  It was profoundly depressing.

But it wasn't all doom and gloom - far from it...here are some of the good bits:-

42nd Street

The bendy Grace building

We met Uncle Sam:-

This cat sat outside outside our hotel every day.  He had been shorn because of the heat so he looked like a lion, although his name was (ironically) Tiger.

We discovered Bryant Park which provided some respite from the relentless heat and which featured an open-air 'Reading Room'...

as well as the opportunity to play Ping Pong out in the open...

We shopped until we dropped, although the prices were not as low as they used to be - far from it!

Louis Vuitton's weird and wonderful window display.  The daughter and I went in here just for a laugh.  It was quite scary - there was an almost cathedral-like hush.  She picked up a handbag - "Look Mum - this one's $360!"  I was about to grab my credit card and dig deep..."No hang on, wait a minute - it's $3600!"  And this is the child who got an A in her iGCSE Maths!  We made our excuses and left.

This one needs no introduction...

The Shah had to be dragged away from here...(and then I woke up)

And then there was the 7th circle of hell, aka the M & M store... 

 We called in here to try and get some personalised M & M's for the daughter's friends back home.  We couldn't find any staff to help us as they were all too busy showing off and dancing the 'Cha Cha Slide'.  When we eventually found the personalisation bit, it turned out they cost $20 for a small cup of sweets.  I needed that brown paper bag again and no, we didn't buy any.

 Despite it being hot and crowded and pricey, I still love New York - we all do and the daughter is determined to live and work here one day.  The buzz and the atmosphere makes it unlike anywhere else on earth.

More next time...