Bloody hell, New York is the most stressful place I’ve ever been. I’m wandering round, my eyes wide open, camera poised, looking up at the sky and everyone is so busy and so tiring and now it is only 4pm but I could sleep for a week.
The train journey from Montreal to New York was amazing and I am progressing quite nicely with Ulysses, though in this situation quite nicely means I have managed about 25 more pages. I’m finding it tough. I enjoy it while I’m reading it and get completely enthralled by it and wrapped up in it but the second I put it down I can’t bear the idea of picking it up. I left it in the hostel today as I had Mrs Dalloway with me to work on my essay. Lugging it and my laptop around yesterday made my back hurt.
Yesterday we went to Central Park and then we went to the Metropolitan Museum, which was amazing (I have to go back next week for an exhibition about superheroes) and Central Park is SO big. The Met has some Jeff Koons installation on the roof and I am very pleased with a picture of me and the giant yellow dog. Giant things are always good.
Today we walked from Madison Sq Gardens down through Chelsea, Greenwich Village, Tribeca and went to Ground Zero, then I walked back via Union Square and walked miles along Broadway past some very posh shops and walked all the way across to the cafe I am in now which is I think somewhere in Chelsea.
I went to Shakespeare and Co and bought The Theory of the Novel by Georg Lukacs. I am sat in a cafe on 23rd st at 10th ave (I am guaranteed to have got those numbers in the wrong order and written them in a way that is totally not Manhattan, woo). I am going to read my book and try to write this damned essay.
Posted by Hattie 