So...i'm in New York! Actually i'm staying in Mamaroneck, which is about 35 minutes (on the train) outside of the city, but whatever. I arrived here yesterday evening and later i went to the cinema to see 'The Diving Bell and the Butterly', which is an amazing film that everyone should go see.

Today i went into NYC and as soon as i stepped off the train into Grand Central Station (GCS), i was amazed! i mean literally my jaw dropped and i was whirling around, just trying to take in this enormous, beautiful place. I probably looked light a right idiot...a proper tourist!

Anyway, i left GCS and headed to Fifth Avenue and the New York Public Library, which really is more like a museum than a library. There was a great exhibition on Jack Kerouac and 'On The Road', which i am actually yet to read - so yeh that was really interesting. After that i went to the International Center of Photography which was cool - some really great photos depicting various subjects.

Then i head to Times Square! it was exactly how i had imagined it, basically its exactly as you see in it movies. i felt like Hiro (from 'Heroes') when he transported himself there! it was amazing...all billboards and yellow taxis and lights. really cool. i went to a couple of shops - the huge Toys R Us, just for a laugh, and then to M&M's world which was crazy - i stocked up on practically every colour M&M you can imagine! Also, in the Times Square Studios, they had all the Oscars on display (the actual award) - that was pretty cool too.

Then i had to buy a new CF card for my camera cos mine isn't working - i think i probably paid a little too much for it but i couldn't work out how much it would have been had i bought it in england but oh well, i needed it and i don't think it was really that expensive.

After Times Square i headed towards (what i thought was) the Empire State Building but it turned out i was actually going in the wrong direction - it takes a bit of getting used to, the whole, East/West grid system thing. Anyway, after looking at my map i discovered i was walking toward the MOMA (Museum of Modern Art) so i decided i'd just go there instead. Great decision - it turned out that Friday evenings are FREE!!!!!! woohoooo! so yeah i walked round there for about an hour and a half, saw everything, the paintings, drawings, photography etc. there was even an exhibition of Lucian Freud's etchings, which was really cool cos i love his work! some of the stuff i didn't really like, but i sometimes think i don't 'get' modern art...with all the colours and shapes and stuff, i mean what's the point to it? just my opinion. anyway, so i left there feeling very cultured and headed to the Rockefeller Center - i didn't go inside but sort of wandered around the Plaza outside, watched people ice skating etc.. i did go into the NBC shop tho, which was quite amusing, all ER and HEROES and FRIENDS. and you know how i love my TV shows!

Then i walked back down Fifth Avenue to GCS and got the train back to Mamaroneck, where i was picked up and we went out for supper.

Tomorrow i think i'm going to go to the Empire State Building and maybe do a bit of shopping in Soho and some (window) shopping along Fifth Avenue. I'm here for quite a while so i've got to try and space it all out a bit...altho there's still loads that i want to do!