Day 1

It's six am at the start of my second day in NY, and the first day of going to the office. A combination of jetlag and temperature/humidity has meant that I've woken up so early and covered in sweat. The hotel room I had for the night has a fan and an air conditioning unit, neither seem to be much use or have any effect. They did, however, provide a complimentary litre bottle of water which helped.

Saying bye bye to the Uk

It was a long day of travel yesterday, waking up at 4am to get to the airport for 5, to get a plane for 7, to get to London for 8 to get my Transatlantic flight for 10. Landing sometime around 1pm (6pm back home).  During my flight, I read Flower's for Algernon for the first time and really enjoyed. I think it'll be a book I return to time and time again.
I also watched a really, really good film called "A Late Quartet" about a string quartet trying to deal with the cello player (Christopher Walken) being diagnosed with Parkinsons. Then, to kill the last two hours, I found that they had the full of Series 5 of Parks and Recreation on the TV, so I managed to get through four episodes of that.

Saying hello to a humid, hazy and warm NYC.

An hour long train ride later (in which I fucked up my travel-card plans) and I was in the centre of Manhattan, lugging a heavy and badly designed suitcase down to the meat packing district to find my hotel, The Jane. 

After checking in to the hotel, and checking in with family back home using the free WiFi, I went for a wee walk around the West Village up to Midtown on 5th Avenue. Starting to get hungry, I found a diner on 8th Avenue, called "The Diner", where I had my first proper Cheeseburger of the trip (and a beer, since I felt that I deserved it).

Bliss

After eating, there's the issue of tipping the waitress to deal with. In this diner, the bill has a section at the bottom saying "10% is this much, 15% this much, 20% this much...".  The waitress had circled the 20% section which at first I thought was a bit presumptive, but then was ok with for a number of reasons: the food was good, the service fast and friendly, and the waitress (who was my first experience of a diner waitress on this trip) reminded me of the ones that Springsteen sings about on the Magic Album. I doubt her name was Shaniqua, and I didn't have coffee, but, if I did, she would have asked "fill?".

At the end the waitress gave me the wrong change, giving me a $20, rather than a $10, which my Scottish gut wouldn't allow me to take and leave - she seemed really shocked that I brought it up. Sorting that out and walking back down to the hotel, I took a trip down to the Hudson (which my hotel overlooks) and saw the NJ skyline to end my day.

New Jersey, from New York

Today is a busy day. First, I need to go to the laboratory that I'm carrying out my Sabbatical at, then head along to Cypress Hills to get keys to my apartment. I really don't know what to expect from the area I have rented a flat in. I asked, through a thread on the Brooklyn sub-reddit, for things to do in and around Brooklyn and was told how sketchy the area could be and that I should reconsider my accommodation plans. Other replies said that it was probably no sketchier than some areas of Glasgow.

Right now though, it's time to check out of the hotel and find some breakfast on my walk to work.

Have some pictures...

Meatpacking District

Heading up to Midtown

Washington Square overlooking One Freedom Tower. 'MURICA!

Walking up 5th Avenue towards Empire State Building

"Going crazy over that New York Scene on 7th Avenue"

One Freedom Tower from the banks of The Hudson, as taken by a 2MP Potato