Homestead

After an uneventful flight (apart from one woman saying loudly that they don't usually announce emergency procedures during landing, causing great worry among the other passengers), we arrived in JFK and contacted our landlord for directions and where to meet the keyholder.
We were renting a fancy penthouse in Brooklyn and really looking forward to it. After being sent to the wrong place, and a couple of phonecalls to the landlord, we arrived at our destination. The cabby was p*ssed to say the least, but we didn't care, we had more to worry about!
The lady at the airport said that the neighbourhood was dangerous and very segregated, boy, she was not wrong! Walking down the street we were like beacons...we definitely were standing out in this neighbourhood. The 'super' arrived to give us our key...he looked like an extra from the Wire and wore his hoody up the whole time, even when we were inside the apartment! He also told us to order in, that there were no restaurants open (at 7pm), which didn't fill us with too much confidence.
The apartment was great though, and we survived a trip to the corner shop and the chinese, so, so far so good.
In the morning our trip to the subway confirmed the fact that we were a novelty in the area and there was lots of this....

...and the accompanying whistling sounding out in the nightime...cosy :)

We practised our most relaxed/bored faces and got the subway like pro's hoping not to draw attention but understanding all the while that that would be impossible...but we arrived safely in the lovely neighbourhood of Chelsea. We got a massive american breakfast in Malibu diner, contemplated life outside the Chelsea Hotel, where some of the best minds have contemplated life, and ended our day of touring with a delicious pizza in Lombardis in Little Italy, the oldest pizza place in the USA.

The first time I visited NYC my dad was with us, today would be his birthday and it is our first one without him, so I just wanted to say happy birthday dad, we miss you every day xxx