Okay, so we aren’t really going all the way round the world, but it feels that way.

1. From Paris to New York…

Our arrival in New York got off to a bumpy start when my boyfriend got held up at customs because we had failed to fill out a form called ESTA prior to our arrival in the States. As it was his first visit to the US, and I come in and out of the country on an American passport, we had no idea that this formality existed. After threatening to put him on an airplane and send him right back to France, the grumpy border control agent grudgingly completed the form for us and sent us on our way. But we quickly forgot our rocky start as the frenetic glories of The Big Apple more than made up for the trouble.  We had a whirlwind 2 days in which we packed in 1 week’s worth of sightseeing, grâce à my sister’s mad driving skills and gracious and patient tour giving…

We saw three museums:

the Guggenheim (my all-time favorite museum)

the Met

and the MoMA.

The Guitar and The Guitarist

We went on a musical tour of New York to see the old haunts of Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan and John Lennon.

Cafe Wha, Jimi’s old hangout

The Dakota Building, where John Lennon lived and died.

We ate at oh so many delicious restaurants, including my favorite: Ippudo NY for Ramen

We walked the high line (my favorite thing to do in New York) at sunset. If you didn’t know, then you’re about to…New York has some seriously righteous sunsets.

We saw the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

We walked through Central Park.

We perused the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

We drove all over Manhattan, including Times Square (hell).

The new World Trade Center

Oh, and  just to push us over the edge into extreme exhaustion…on our last night we went to a Deer Hunter Concert (epic).

But more important than all the monuments and museums of NYC combined…I saw my family and 2 of my best friends.

But all too soon, it was off to JFK for the next leg of our big American adventure…