I woke up to a grey miserable day, but I'm short on weekends now so cannot wait for a sunny day to visit some of the historic houses that only open on weekends. Today I am going up past Harlem to some more little explored historic areas, just to get a feel for the neighbourhoods.

I stop for brunch first on the upper west side as I have heard good things about the food here - and quickly find a buzzing restaurant serving organic fresh food called spring, and I order a breakfast burrito (eggs, Spanish rice, black beans, guacamole and chilli) delicious! Thus fortified, I head back out into the rain and the crowds (there's an aids walk today going through these streets, people turn out here for events with the best attitude) and catch the C subway to Inwood.

I visited the Morris-Jumel mansion, the oldest house in manhattan, which was once commandeered by George Washington as a base for war time operations. It has a shabby chic feel to it, this is what happens to historical homes when the money and love are not kept up. It felt quite southern, it is all white with roman columns and a large portico, but the interior is sparsely furnished, the wall paper is faded and the floors creak badly. I think what was off putting was there was an art exhibition throughout the space that was using corsets in a modern way - but BAD modern interpretive art. The streets surrounding the house are all cobble stoned and edged with historical brownstones and an unusual row of wooden terraces - nice in an area known for its concrete jungle ugliness and black poverty (this is nowhere near the parts of Harlem that are gentrifying.

It's still raining, so I head to the west village, and find another nice pair of shoes in a shop called shoegasm! I go via that amazing place where I bought my china and add two more plates to the set for $25 each - mates rates as they remembered me from a few weeks ago.

I stop for an early dinner at a Thai restaurant that does $5 sangria and $7 duck salad, and then head back to scarsdale to face the laundry pile and to do a test pack to see exactly what kind of additional bag I may need.