New York, USA: 15th January 2010

After arriving in NYC last night we popped out for a quick dinner with our friend Kathleen. Matt used to work with Kathleen at ABN Amro Bank in London, but she moved back to her native New Jersey a few years back and now works in Manhattan. We try to catch up every couple of years.


We hadn’t slept at all on our flight so were pretty knackered but managed a few vinos before turning in. Unfortunately the git who was staying in our hotel room before us left the alarm set for 6.30am, so we were very rudely awakened way too early. This means we’ve only had 6 hours sleep in 48 hours. Ugg!


Despite trying, we couldn’t get back to sleep so decided to go and visit the Statue of Liberty. We’ve been to New York several times before, so have done most of the tourist sites, but this was our first close encounter with the statue, which is very impressive. After Liberty Island we visited Ellis Island, where, between 1896 and 1924, 12 million immigrants entered the USA. There’s a really good exhibition that we both enjoyed.





In the evening we met up with Kathleen again, along with some of her friends. We went to a pub and then on to Mimi’s - a great little bar which had a sort of cabaret/karaoke element, hosted by Hunter, a 70 year old man with a penchant for dressing up. When he heard we were from England he promptly dressed as the Queen and sang us a song about David Beckham’s pecs! We had a great time, and made some new friends, who we may meet up with later in the weekend!