Coming to America

Why is it that when you allow time for the M25 to screw up your journey, it lets you through with no problem at all? Which is why, for the third time in a row, I arrived at Heathrow ridiculously early.

But, with Virgin Upper Class tickets, this turned out to be a good thing. Our own customs and immigration area which meant zero queuing - even though I did manage to set off all the whistles and bells again. This time just my perfume and lipstick were suspect.

The Virgin Clubhouse I could have spent all day at. Spa, food, drink, enormous sqidgy chaise longe things in lime green and what looked like a 20 foot TV.

Upper Class pod seats on the plane were pretty awsome, too. Apart from the diagonal arrangement made take off and landing interesting. And the best bit? An actual bar to sit at. Except when the seat belt light came on, which was fairly frequently and resulted in a kind of mile-high musical chairs.

We decided to take a yellow cab into Manhatten from Newark airport and were horrified at the really nasty weather, but the hotel Roxy is gorgeous - more about that later. It really was a case of forcing ourselves to stay awake long enough to enjoy a glass of the world's most expensive wine in the hotel bar. Followed by crashing out in the world's most comfortable bed.

We woke up this morning to find the weather was the polar opposite of last night. It was just gorgeous - bright sunshine, pleasant breeze and just one layer of warm coat. 

We've found a little diner near the hotel for breakfast. I ordered one coffee, two scarmbled eggs and a sausage. What was put in front of me was one bottomless coffee, one sausage, two scrambled eggs, a heap of fried potatoes, and two slices of toast with grape jelly (*burp*).

We decided to explore Central Park and started at the Guggenheim, headed into the park towards the reservoir then down to the Belvedere Castle and the zoo before crossing to the Tavern on the Green.

According to Jill's iphone, we walked 12 kilometres in total. My feet's opinion on the matter is closer to 120 kilometres. Central Park, by the way, is quite hilly. There is also something to see around just about every corner - whether it's a statue of William Shakespeare, or a squirrel burying it's nuts. And the wildlife is remarkably tame - especially starlings, sparrows and sqirrels.

The zoo was kind of different. It's small, but the animals all look healthy enough if a little hyped up - the snow leopards were wrestling, the red pandas patrolling, and the sea lions jumping. It was, perhaps, all due to feeding time being imminent. Apart from the bears who were both snoring. The highlight of the tropical area was the mandarin duck who had bonded with one of the keepers and followed her around.

The subway was just like in the movies - I can totally imagine foot-chases or runaway subway trains, or underground civilisations existing there. It's dark and slightly grimy, with lots of pillars seperating four tracks.

The roads are interesting. When the little green man appears for the pedestrians, it doesn't mean that cars aren't coming through, it just means that pedestrians have priority. Which is a little scary stepping out when a car is coming round the corner at you.

We came back to the hotel for a couple of hours chilling before heading out to dinner. It's a mark of how tired we both are that we spent half an hour trying to find out the scores for Strictly, before working out that today is in fact Friday, and not Saturday.

Also, having ambulances and a fire pump attending an emergency in the building opposite us was surprisingly distracting and possibly an aesthetic bonus.