Emily (my friend from uni) and her friend Sian came to visit me today. they have recently been backpacker around America after working in a summer camp in Masachuchets (cant spell it..). It was really good seeing some familiar faces and also having someone to do touristy things with. I think the girls lack some of my optomism and energy but nevertheless allowed themselves to be dragged around manhattan (thanks girls!). We took a tour of downtown and saw wall street and the stock exchange which is unfortunately no longer open to visitors. we also saw ground zero which was pretty morbid, especially as the fifth anniversary was only days away. (btw, i tok a load of photos of the NY skyline on the evening of the 11th - they had the 'towers of light' in place of the WTC and one of the skyscrapers was lit up in red white and blue - if anyone fancies it they should be able to assemble the images into a montage) i continued my trend of finding the supposedly 'best' food places and we ate at John's Pizzeria, supposedly the best pizza place in the world. am still waiting on a copy of emily's photos but will add them when i get them. for those that care - i've become addicted to harry potter and have read nearly four of them in about a week..... does anyone care.....?