9 Jan

No photos so far. I just tried to upload and realised that I brought the cable to attach an external hard drive to my computer instead of the one that attaches my camera. They look very similar and I must have just grabbed for the wrong one. So, we'll get a new lead tomorrow hopefully, and then there will be pictures. Shame, seeing as I probably took about 15 pictures today as we were super-touristy.

The day began in a somewhat cooler fashion, however. On Jackie's recommendation, we went to the very tiny, but lovely 'Ino for breakfast. No sooner had we ordered our coffee and breakfast (BLT for James, truffled egg toast for me) than who should amble in and sit down just across from us but PATTI SMITH! Now, I don't normally approve of capital letters for emphasis, but it was PATTI FREAKING SMITH! Thank goodness I was sitting in a prime viewing position (James, who was less excited, had his back to her), seeing as it would have been very uncool to actually fall at her feet and start babbling. Besides, which makes for a worse opening gambit: 'hey, I named one of the tables at my wedding at the weekend after you!' or 'oh, hi... I'm writing some of my PhD about you'...? It's a close call. Anyway, after I'd totally ignored everything James said for half an hour because I was so excited (she was actually sitting there WRITING. She's just like you imagine she would be but think she probably isn't really. She is!), we finally left to start our day proper.

We wandered through Washington Square Park and then up Fifth Avenue by way of a few shops. I bought a pretty dress at 75% off in the sale at Anthropologie and some Bare Escentuals make up in Sephora. James was almost seduced by a 1960s leather motorbike jacket in a huge vintage clothing store, but managed to resist. I got a hat, which is really cute, and wore it for the rest of the day (so you will see when the photos finally appear). We gawped at the Flatiron building, and the Empire State Building (from the ground), and mocked Trump Towers for its cheesy decor and rubbish name. Fun in FAO Schwarz (huge toy store) where I had my picture taken next to the Barbie Catwalk (dear God) and we saw giant dinosaur soft toys.

Took a left to walk past the bottom of Central Park and into the Time Warner building on Columbus Circle, which has quite the view. Feeling a little hungry, we decided to walk back through Hell's Kitchen on a search for pizza. Finally found some in the form of Nizza, where I ate the La Mia pizza and James had the Piccante. Both very nice, and a little red wine did wonders to warm us up for the walk ahead. 

Walked through Chelsea. Sadly too full to have anything from Murray's Bagels, which I remember fondly, but perhaps we'll go there hungry at some point this week. Did take a slight detour so I could show James the Chelsea Hotel. I think it's impossible to even see it without humming the Leonard Cohen song of the same name, but if anyone's managed it, do speak up. We got back to the apartment by way of the deli (for a few supplies) and a pharmacy (for the US version of Lemsip and throat sweets for me. Don't worry - I simply refuse to be ill - it's not that I woke up with hardly any voice this morning... more that I was precognitively dumbstruck about seeing Patti Smith. Ho hum, perhaps it will all be gone tomorrow).

After a couple of minutes in the apartment to pick up glasses and check cinema locations, we headed out to the movies at Union Square to see 'Rachel Getting Married'. I thought it was an excellent film, and Anne Hathaway's performance particularly special. I highly recommend it. It doesn't mean much to call it my film of the year so far, but I think it will have some tough competition this week as we rush to see as many of the Oscar buzz films as possible. 'The Wrestler', 'Benjamin Button', and 'Doubt' are all on the 'to see' list. 

Anyway, we must have walked at least a million miles today, and it feels very good to be warm and still right now. And we've already made it up later than we did last night, so an extra gold star there. Keep your fingers crossed that tomorrow I wake up plague-free. We're going to have a quiet weekend in the Village, I think. Coffee, newspapers, backgammon, wine and food. And maybe some music on Sunday night. And apparently, it's going to snow. Hurrah!