New York (Trip No 5) Dec 4–8

_The fun goes on, and Joby (daughter) and Pam (wife) benefited from the travel prize (and Roger’s generosity) by spending a few days in New York in December. It was magical. We stayed in Greenwich Village in a cosy little guesthouse with friendly management and eccentric electrics. We made a few forays uptown – to visit the Metropolitan Museum, to walk in Central Park – beautiful with a crisp dusting of snow – to watch the skaters at the Rockefeller Center and lunge, briefly, into the madness that is Macy’s at Christmas. We took a trip on the Staten Island ferry, too, and almost froze. And Joby ran beside the Hudson every morning, while Pam didn't.

But mostly we walked around Greenwich Village, Soho and Little Italy, checking out the shops, galleries, markets and restaurants, and diving into warm cafés for coffee when we needed to thaw out. There were Christmas trees for sale on every other corner, coloured lights in the streets and a cheerful atmosphere that belied the reputation New Yorkers have for being abrupt. We had Sunday brunch in one of dozens of cafés heaving with people, discovered a dim, book-lined cigar bar that was exempt from the strictly observed no smoking ban, and listened to some great jazz in the Blue Note club. New York, as the song says, is a wonderful town.