Apples of various sizes

The way from Washington to New York was studded with trees of all colours. They were truly spectacular. And in fact, when we arrived the unusually warm weather we had encountered in Washington persisted. The bus pulled into a station which spat us out in the heart of Manhattan - it was like being suddenly clobbered over the head by the big city. Giant skyscrapers, mile-high advertising screens, people everywhere. We made our way to the New York Public Library where Zarya (uni flatmate of mine)'s dad John was waiting for us. He's a librarian there and managed to get us and our snail-shells of baggage past the 'no luggage' signs, before giving us a little tour. It's such a stunning library - probably one of my favourite parts of New York - and (compared to the National Library of Scotland) so convenient and accessible to the public.

Paul and I spent the afternoon there, before going home with John when he finished work. Chez Rathé is another thing I love about New York. The flat is a kind of elegant chaos, stuffed with books, beautiful furniture, and sculptures all over the place. Judy and John welcomed us with some New York pizza and apple cider (not alcoholic) - it's apple season after all!

The next day we ventured onto the Subway and into Manhattan (Z's family live in the Bronx - the posh bit, mind). We had a wander around Times Square and Broadway, being dazzled by the bright lights and mental M&Ms shop, before meeting Neil Pearlman, who'd been at Edinburgh for a semester. He took us round some of the sights, and indulged Paul's desire to find as many Ghostbuster movie sites as possible. We had lunch at a place which came highly recommended by Z's sister Anuta - Shake Shack. It was well worth it - the burgers were amazing and the shakes were pretty good too! Look it up if you're ever in New York.

We went through Central Park and saw teams setting up for Saturday's Hallowe'en extravaganza. It was Friday and Hallowe'en was 2 days away, but there were still people just casually walking around town in costume. I suppose if you've got yourself a costume you might as well wear it for as long as possible, right? Neil also took us to have a look at his university, and as he left us, pointed us in the direction of what he described as a 'cool cathedral'. It was pretty cool, actually. We went in to find the place decked out with giant creepy Hallowe'en decorations (which I'd never expect to find in a church) - big ghost, and a puppet ghoul being controlled to sinister organ music. They were preparing for a concert that evening. At the edges were pieces of modern art, and in one of the side chapels, an art installation from Bristol involving a table with a dinner party projected onto it.

Saturday Paul and I went to have a look at Greenwich Village (where Paul was thrilled to find the Friends apartment building) and took a stroll through China Town and Little Italy. (We also 'accidentally stumbled across' the Ghostbusters fire station.) We went on a long bagel pilgrimage to where we were told we could find New York's best bagels (H&H Bagels, if you're interested). I never knew the main cooking method for bagels was boiling them. I always wondered why they tasted different from bread rolls! We drifted into Central Park where the Hallowe'en madness had really set in. Everywhere was swamped with families - parents dressing up their kids and household pets to spend the day at the 'Pumpkin Festival'. The best costume I saw was this poor little dog blissfully ignorant of the irony of its hot-dog costume. The dogs' costumes were often just as elaborate as the children's ones.

It looked like a great event - I was particularly envious of not being able to go to the haunted house (I know that sentence doesn't make grammatical sense but I can't be bothered to change it). Americans don't do Hallowe'en by halves! We made a last tourist trip into Zabar's, which has been described a like grocery shopping in Harrods. It was good for free samples, and had one of the best cheese selections I've seen in a while! Later Paul settled down to carving his pumpkin, and it joined John's to scare the trick-or-treaters the next day.

On Sunday John had the day off, so he took us on a drive into the countryside around New York. The freakish warm weather was long gone by this point and it was properly autumn in every way. We drove up a hill for a view of the whole area, and round picturesque New England towns. That afternoon Judy had arranged with a friend for Paul to play in an Irish session happening at An Beál Bocht Café nearby. The bar itself was completely taken over for Hallowe'en and there were small children and their parents in costumes everywhere. Judy and John got individually stolen by one particularly assertive little girl at various points. The atmosphere was great, and at one point a whole group of tinies gathered round the musicians to bounce up and down. (Toddlers the world over seem to have developed the same dance.)

After the session, it was back on the subway to Greenwich Village for the Hallowe'en parade. As soon as we got on the subway, the most fantastic costumes began popping up. Many were shop-bought ready-mades, but my favourites were the ones imaginatively compiled. The closer we got to the Village, the more stuffed the train got until we got to our chosen station to find it jam-packed with people - costumed and otherwise. We'd already seen the kids all trick-or-treating round the Rathé house - the adults were something else. The crowds were a little bit terrifying, especially as we emerged above-ground and found ourselves trapped behind a barrier. The crowd pressed on slowly, and it felt like we were never going to escape the barrier - especially as the parade was just starting.

Finally we found a spot (though we couldn't see much). Luckily a lot of the first processors were carrying huge puppets which floated above them so all could get a look. It had a real Mardi Gras feel to it, the atmosphere electric. It felt like the whole of New York had turned out to have fun. The parade seemed never-ending, and as people at the front got bored and moved on, we managed to get a good view. Loads of fun to watch costume after costume - some better than others, some exactly the same as others. The inevitable Thriller dance too. We got back to the flat to find Judy, Anuta, and her boyfriend Alejandro devouring trick-or-treat spoils and watching the pilot of a zombie series. We joined in. So many different variations of Reeses peanut butter sweets to try!

John had another day off on Monday, so he took us downtown to see the Statue of Liberty. We queued for what felt like the whole morning, before going through some airport-style security and getting on the boat. The wind was fierce and it was bitterly cold. But there she was, emerging ahead of us. The boat landed at Liberty Island, but we didn't get off. No point going up the statue (climbing in a huge queue 1 step at a time) when you can get the same view from the boat! We went on to Ellis Island, where the immigrants of old were processed before they could arrive properly. The museum was really good and gave a good picture of a century or so of immigration. When we got back to Manhattan we visited Ground Zero to see how the new World Trade Centre was progressing (not very far it seemed) and had a look at Wall Street. We had a pint (proving once again that Americans do actually know how to make ale) by the shore and returned home.

Tuesday (also election day, incidentally), was one of these beautiful crisp blue-skied autumn days which make all cities look amazing. We walked through the mansion bit of Riverdale (Rathé's part of the Bronx) to meet Judy at the school she teaches music at. We were going to subject some of her students to a Scottish fiddle workshop. The first class seemed mortified, especially when an art class turned up to sketch them. But they soon settled into it. Paul led a crash course in Strathspey, getting everyone to learn a bit of stepdancing before they even began to learn the tune. The second group involved all the band kids too - I don't think we were quite prepared for all the noisy brass, but we adapted! Then a nice calm group of older students who picked up the tune pretty well. All in all, I think it went down well!

After that we headed into town to get us some skyscraper. We'd been debating whether to go up the Empire State Building, or follow local advice and try 'the Top of the Rock' at the Rockefeller Centre. Local advice won out in the end -they were both about the same price, and while the Empire State is higher, the queues are astronomical and you get a view of the Empire State from the Top of the Rock. There was almost no queue at all at the Rockefeller Centre, and as a result we made it to the top just as the sun was setting (incidentally, the lift on the way up had a clear ceiling and shone with coloured lights and projected film - very cool). It was a perfect clear evening - sunset got ever more orange, the view was breathtaking, it was all entirely beautiful. We stayed up until it was dark to appreciate the full range of light, then headed back down for some NY street food we'd seen so much of. Our poison of choice was lamb gyro, which was kebab-style stuff wrapped in a soft flatbread (the gyro). So yummy. So welcome. Then we found doughtnuts. Oh yes. Fat us.

Wednesday was a similarly beautiful day. We went and did another workshop for Judy, which was loads of fun, and then met John at the library for lunch. We were an hour early so we wandered round an exhibition there of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. It showed that they're basically all the same religion with a few disagreements over prophets and messiahs. Some lovely old books (works of art) and it was all well displayed and explained. Perhaps exhibitions like that will do their part to help solve these religious conflicts a bit. Maybe. Maybe not.

John took us to my new favourite pub in New York - The Ginger Man (if you're going, it's off 5th Avenue not far from the Library. Go at lunch time - in the evening you won't be able to move). The back of the bar was entirely made up of different beer taps. Forget how many now - over 70 different beers on tap or something? They have a whole selection of bottled beers too - many of these really fantastic ales. John ordered us 2 flights with 8 different ales to try (a flight is 4 small taster glasses - the only way to cope with this kind of selection really) and we also got Ginger Man hot dogs - cheese, bacon, sauce, and beef sausage (they're the default here, not pork). We spent lunch chatting about ales and whiskies. A perfect afternoon. Afterwards he took us to the 7th(?) Avenue Liquor store - which had some pretty pricey whiskies. Luckily John has some good ones of his own he was good enough to share with us.

To finish up our final day in New York, Paul and I visited the toy shop with the giant piano (as seen in the film Big). Thanks for that suggestion, Fiona! Even more exciting was that you could get your own muppet made, for the reduced bargain price of $99.99. Oo err. In the evening John and Judy enlisted our skills in helping their neighbours plan a trip to Scotland - I'm beginning to wonder if we should be getting commission from the Scottish tourist board!

It was really sad to say goodbye to clan Rathé this morning, and I'm gutted that Zarya's is yet another wedding we're being forced to miss (having been absent already for Carmen and Andrei's, and Eilidh and Iain's). We've had a fantastic time with them and really hope we'll catch up with them again soon! Spending a whole week in New York was really good, and Paul says this is the place he's felt most at home so far. It looks like (along with Tromso) it may be appearing on our list of places we hope to live one day.