Day two 6.30pm:

So I have had a pretty productive 24hrs, whilst battling jet lag and hangovers I have managed to achieve quite a lot!

I am staying in Tribeca which is south of Manhattan at Tracy's apartment, its really central and great for sight seeing.

So yesterday I got up and dragged my jet lagged self to a little diner for breakfast, I had to have the classic New York bagel. I then went down to Ground zero, mainly as it's just round the corner from where I'm staying. It's obviously not the happiest of places at the moment especially as its 09th of September so the place is littered with NYPD, camera crews and tourists. It feels very odd that this is now considered a 'tourist attraction' with tour guides and buses routing to the financial district. not sure how I fell about that and wasn't sure if I should take a photo?

I then jumped on a bus tour as it's the quickest (if not the most expensive) way to see a city, plus I really enjoy architecture and history and this is a good way to get a summary.

So I saw all the sites, Central Park (where my sis and brother in law got engaged!!), 5th Avenue, Greenwich village, Soho, Chrysler building etc I jumped off at Times square and pottered / got lost on the way up to the Empire states building (not as exciting as I once remembered). Jumped back on the bus and started the tour back south.

I got back to the apartment and Tracy arrived home from work, she asked what I would like to do in the evening and my brief to her was to "go to a bar a la Sex and the city!' so we went up to the Meat packing district and had a nice dinner and a cocktails in a bar, we also people watched specifically the number of girls who have had Botox in their 20's.

We ended up drinking wine on her balcony till 12pm...Needless to say I have had a hangover today and feel very sorry for Tracy who had a meeting at 9am this morning!

Today was much quieter, I pretty much ate my way through the day as I had a huge breakfast of pancakes and then had the most amazing sushi for lunch (I promise not to spend all my time on my blogs talking about food!). I also managed a bit more site seeing and went to Canal Street to look for knock off sunglasses, it's a bit of a seedy district and I ended up leaving without sunglasses as I felt a bit unnerved with my hangover. I also headed up to see the Staten Island ferry and the Statue of Liberty to complete my tourist things to do!

So I am off to Helen's tomorrow in Atlanta and I'm so looking forward to seeing her, shame I am not staying for longer in NY but it is expensive (I've spent £250 in 2 days, which is quite impressive!)

Main observations of New York

·People are really friendly and helping me with directions

·Its got beautiful buildings

·Too many people have Botox and look like they spend their life at the gym (I couldn't live here)

·Its quite compact but feels uncrowned

Miss you xxx