New York - day one

I´m having some trouble uploading my photos so I´ll just have to make do with text for now...

Leaving London Heathrow to fly to New York was difficult for me (and for anyone around me)and I am very grateful to my lovely freind Claire for putting me on the plane despite my kicking and screaming.

I finally got to my hostel in New York after some help and hinderence from a sweet couple from Conneticut. I thought my hostel (called Chelsea Centre East) was in Chelsea, but no, it was in the lower east side. That´s not as bad as harlem but it´s not greenwich village either. My hostel didn´t even have a sign, it was above a korean bakery and after some time wondering where the hell it was I saw a buzzer with a little pen scribbled note saying Chelsea Centre. I got up there and it was totally empty. The German proprieter was very....German so didn´t exactly put me at my ease as put me in an empty room with no windows and say "can you pay now please".

I was not a happy bunny and there may have been a tearful phonecall to poor Mr Kandekore at this point.

Later more people came and it didn´t seem so cold anymore. In fact it was a nice place and clean too.

I went out for a wander on my first night and walked past a bar on the next block which had a sign outside saying "white trash wednesdays". "Brilliant" I thought, I´ve come half way round the world to encounter mulitculuralism and an eclectic mixture of tastes, sights and sounds and I get NYs equivalent of the limelight!

There was something to be said for staying a bit off the tourist trail though, I did feel like I had a sense of more day-to-day life there and also MONSTER sandwiches from the local deli....insert Homer Simpson sound for yummy here.