They're already showing 'back to school' ads

After a lazy day yesterday, I was ready to have a more active day today. I felt my way into Manhattan on the Metro, more by luck than judgement. Honestly, the Metro is incomprehensible to me. All the lines in my area are practically the same colour. There are Express trains and Local trains. If you go down the entrance on the wrong side of the road, you have to exit (and pay again), cross the road and go down a different entrance. I'm sure it will all eventually become scond nature to me, but at the moment it's frustrating bobbins.

Exiting on Grand Street in Chinatown, I had a wander throught the Lower East Side, passing the very-uber New Museum of Contemporary Art, which had this lovely artwork/message on the outside:

I shall have to go back once the weather turns bad again.

I then wandered through the East Village, stopping for lunch at Porchetta. They're famous for their pulled pork sandwiches, and it really was delicious. I shall have to get used to eating at the counter. I went looking for a hat (my fair-skinned face and dark hair are suffering in the heat) and found the US equivalent of Primark, Century 21. It has a similar clientele to Primark as well, but I got a necklace for $1.50, so I shouldn't complain. For curiousity's sake I stuck my head into Topshop, staying long enough only to note that it was even more overpriced and arrogant than it is at home.

I stopped in Madison Square to try the Shake Shack shake. According to the guidebooks, Shake Shack has become an institution in New York for their burgers. I didn't try one, still being full of pork, but had a frozen custard chocolate milkshake instead. It was brilliant and worth every calorie. Lots more walking (and sweating) later - I hopped confidently onto the Metro, only to find that I had got on an Express train and ended up 30 blocks further south than my house. Balls. Foiled again.

Tomorrow it looks like I am hitting the beach with Judy the flatmate, then Sunday brings brunch with Dara, a good friend of Jenn's who used to live in the area. Nice to have some plans that involve other people. I realise these will come more and more as I get settled, but at the moment it's all looking a bit, well, solitary. Still, mustn't grumble.