Rainy NYC

So our joint day off  was a decidedly wet one, but if you think that stopped us from enjoying it, then you obviously have never been to London. We're made of stronger stuff than that.
And so despite only having one umbrella to share (buying umbrellas in a panic stricken rush in foreign countries has become a bit of a thing for me and my partner in crime, it would appear) and thus being absolutely soaked (our bras got wet. Always a bad sign) we persevered up to Brooklyn Bridge. And omg am I glad we did. It's beautiful!
The mighty tower blocks of Brooklyn Heights and Lower Manhattan square up to each other menacingly from opposite shores and seemed to juxtapose entirely with the unstoppable force of nature from where we stood, in the middle of the bridge, hovering in no mans land over the East River, with the rain assaulting our shoes.

We'd started our day in Greenwich Village, on my insistence visiting the house that Carry lives in in Sex and The City, and stopping for mid-morning coffee in one of the many cute cafes which are awash with local charm and, err, locals. Most were in there, still mulling over morning emails and we felt both tres local and cool, but also super smug because we  had a whole day off to explore New York and, yes, they might actually live here so bully for them but they did have to work. HA.

We spent quite a bit of time exploring the gorgeous side streets and beautiful town houses. We saw one for sale and were all like, 'Ooh ohh we could buy it OMG LET'S BUY IT' before realising that we totally could not buy it. Sadness.

We then caught the subway down to Ground Zero, although we couldn't actually go in because you need to buy tickets in advance. There's loads of building work going on there at the moment because they're finishing off the new tower block that will stand where the twin towers stood. It's awful and amazing to see it stand there. It has been shocking to see the way in which 9/11 effected New York City and the lives of everyone who lives there; I had never fully grasped it before. We also stood and gazed at the humble beauty of St Paul's Chapel of Trinity Church which, despite it's proximity to the World Trade Centre, only suffered the loss of one tree on 9/11

We walked from there to Brooklyn Bridge, which lifted our slightly dampened spirits. We kept up a constant rendition of Empire State of Mind, rap and all, with particular relish of the high warbling of 'Brooklyn briiiiiiiiiiiidge' which totes deff 100% did Alysha proud, and I'm sure everyone else enjoyed listening to as much as we enjoyed performing it. Ahem.

That was just the first part of our day. You will be sooooo jel of what we did after that. Hint: it involved chocolate.
Find out what other exciting adventures we got up to in the next instalment folks, try to contain your excitement.