We take Manhattan part 2...

Yikes - I am already forgetting what we have been doing! It has been harder than I'd hoped to make wireless connections, so I am in Starbucks on 96th and Madison. It is 8pm. For once we got the little people to bed before dark after yummy pasta primavera cooked by moi.

So, after day 1:

• Day 2 had fabulous hair experience down in soho at John Masters Organics - the whole thing was fab - nice hairdresser, great colour, great smells, head massage and a cut that really goes with my curls au naturel - no hairdryers for me this trip. So my curly hair is free! Sadly the exchange rate has now plummeted since our arrival so things are getting more expensive by the day. Damn - if only we had pre-bought lots of cash at .81c. Ah well.
• Had a fabulous afternoon wandering round Greenwich Village and Soho with my old friend Freddy who came down from Boston. He gave the kids Boston (Redsocks) T-shirts, which they put on immediately and braved the wrath of the city. Amazingly someone gave them a seat on the subway home and said" Who says New Yorkers aren't nice people!?!" (ie despite their disloyal t-shirts) - a nice moment. Things seem more friendly here than I remember.
• Friday we walked through/across the park to the Museum of Natural History - Hen was v. excited. Entry is hellishly expensive by Te Papa standards - $23 US for adults, $15 or so for a child. Eek! We have decided that in future Hen and Conrad will go in and Belly and I will do something else sometimes as we didn't see much before she fell asleep. Good afternoon.
• Saturday we went out to Astoria in Queens for Eileen's son's all american birthday party. It was a lovely day, happy children running around playing ball and whacking pinatas while we drank beer. Nice. We got amazing photos from Eileen's friend Bruce who is a photographer - he gave us a folder of 8 by 10s, some of which we will scan in. They are the best photos we've ever had of us - a wonderful surprise!
• Sunday we met up with Eileen and her lovely children Justin (7) and Charlotte (11) and headed downtown through the Chelsea Markets to a blues, brews and BBQs event which was v overrated - we didn't stay long and it started to rain so we headed back out to theirs for a nice home cooked meal before Bob drove us back into the city. We realised this weekend that the children, especially Hen, need to be with other children at least every few days - they have been so happy this weekend bumbling around with people more at their eye level and pace. Playgrounds of the world he we come...
• Today (Monday here) we had a long meander down through the park to the Central Park Zoo. Spotted two stars - Sigourney Weaver (whom I also saw 15 years ago in a London park!) and Howard Stern - shock jock I remember from when I was here in the 90s. The Park is such and amazing space, peaceful, many playgrounds, much grass and just a reviving place to be. Hen walked for hours, squirrels are a great distraction.

Will and Peggy have been in the Hamptons since Friday/Thursday, so we are looking forward to seeing them again this week. The apartment is so lovely and elegant yet comfortable, and a fantastic location - 2 blocks from Central Park, 1 block from the subway and surrounded by handy little shops (and many v expensive and not handy ones...).I will try to sort out the photo thing and post some soon. Time to leave the Starbucks zone. Night! x W