Manhattan project

We set off on Friday lunchtime, the Girl and I, with friend J and her daughter. J drove us in her hybrid car, all the way into Manhattan. We were staying in her good friend's apartment on the Upper West Side - and since he happens to be a millionaire it was a very nice apartment, not big but beautifully furnished and very handy for Central Park.

As far as the girls were concerned, the sole purpose of the trip was to visit the American Girl Place, an emporium of dolls and doll-gear. So that's where we went first and my English Girl indulged in a spending frenzy (she'd been saving up her pocket money since Christmas for this).

We also had formal tea in the cafe, a fancy affair of tiny sandwiches and cakes and an endless supply of pink lemonade. Accompanying dolls had their own chairs and miniature cups. OK, I know it might not appeal to everyone, but for certain girls at just the right age it was all very special.

Over the course of our day and a half in NYC we took in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Little Italy, Central Park and the Museum of the City of New York. Also a diner round the corner from the apartment, where the girls raced in ahead of us, sat themselves at the counter and announced 'We're not with them, they're just gonna pay'. The Mexican waiters seemed to find them adorable, and J and I got to eat a civilised meal together, so it was an ideal arrangement for everyone.

It was just a fleeting visit to New York, New York - but enough to remind me that NYC is its own planet and that there's a reason Albany is known to Manhattanites as 'Smallbany'.