New York in 48 hours

Is there anything I can write about New York that hasn’t been said before?

My two days here have been barely enough to scratch the surface, and I really only planned them to make sure I wouldn’t be jetlagged when I start the study programme on Monday morning. As it panned out I’ve not suffered at all so far from the time difference and I’ve had the chance to walk lots and gawp at things.

My hotel in the lower East Side just off Bowery is really very nice for a cheapish place. Sandwiched between Chinatown and Little Italy I’ve been spoiled for choice of food, and the area’s fascinating to walk around.

Outside of those two distinctive zones it’s a real mix. I began to feel that I was in familiar surroundings, only with the intensity that a huge city brings. It was Govanhill and Garnethill, Ashton Lane and Saltmarket, Buchanan St and the Barras, all squeezed into a single block and repeated a thousand times over. With traffic to match.

In these two days I’ve managed to walk round East Village, Central Park and a little of the Upper West Side, ride lots of subway trains without getting lost, go shopping in the ‘Garment District’, run to the Williamsburg Bridge and up the East River Park, and spend all together too long trying to sort out voltage converters and sim cards and the like. (A mobile phone shop is much the same dispiriting place to be in, regardless of the city)

Shortly I’ll be heading to Washington for the first working part of the trip. I have a ticket in my pocket for the Chinatown bus, and I’m not afraid to use it. Well not much…