I love New York. The city has a really visceral effect on me whenever I visit, as if however at home I feel in DC and however fond I am of the city, it can't match the deep love I have for New York or the excitement I feel when I'm there and the sheer feeling of being at home in a place.
We went up on the 'DC Deluxe' bus on Friday night, which mercifully didn't show movies, like the DC2NY bus we took last time. We were able to gobble up loads of episodes of 'Entourage' on our laptop, which passed the time spent in Friday night traffic just nicely.
As if the heavy traffic in DC wasn't trying enough, there was a chap on the bus who asked us where in Philadelphia we stopped. I wasn't aware we went via Philly and started to panic that the journey was going to be even longer than the 5 hours we were bracing ourselves for, before someone put the man straight and explained he was on the wrong bus. But then the bus driver drove all over DC, trying to find a coach that would take the mook to Philadelphia!
The subway was disrupted when we got to Penn Station, around 11pm, so we had to find a cab to take us to Williamsburg in Brooklyn, where we met Max's college friends (and, I'd like to think, my friends too) Mat, Grace and Mark.
Williamsburg is a hip suburb of Brooklyn that is a lot like East London - it used to be run down and industrial but is now its scuzziness is a badge of honour for the boho types who've moved in to make it a cool place to be. As befits the area, the bar we met everyone in had no name or sign outside. And it was really really cool inside - I loved it. And it was great to see Mat, Grace and Mark again - they always make New York so fun and it's nice to be around good friends.
It was really sad that Jo wasn't there, and we really felt her absence, but Grace was able to let us know how she's doing and we all drank to Jo and her Mum and brother.
We stayed in Mat's flat around the corner and managed to walk in on his flatmate sleeping, while Mat was giving us the tour!
Mat had loads of marking to do yesterday (he's a PhD student), so we took ourselves off for breakfast in a cool cafe around the corner, then wandered around Williamsburg. It was a 
beautiful day and I was in sensory overload with the cool buildings, graffiti and baths on the pavement, so poor Max had to stand by while I took a bajillion photos.
It was such a sunny day that we decided to walk into Manhattan, and headed to Soho to buy some trainers, because DC is inexplicably bereft of any decent sneaker stores. Much like in DC, the sales were crazy and I had to be physically restrained from buying a whole new wardrobe of shoes. I limited myself to two pairs of Converse and was distressed to find them cheaper at nearly every shop we subsequently visited, but they were still bargainous.
By the time we got to the north end of Broadway in Soho, we were pooped, having walked many many miles. So we got the subway up to Rockefeller Plaza to Radio City, where we watched the Christmas Spectacular that Anne's Dad had recommended to us months ago and which served as our pantomime this year.
Radio City is an amazing old-school building with gigantic chandeliers and sweeping staircases. I hurriedly changed into a dress and my kickass new green suede shoes in the loos, for the first time using the huge mirrored powder room, which one would usually dash through, and got back to Max in the theatre just in time for the start of the show.
It certainly was spectacular! It kicked off with a cool 3-D cartoon of Father Christmas whizzing over rooftops, for which we needed 3-D glasses, then there were lots of little song and dance numbers. Max says that the 12-year old him would've been really bored, but we both really enjoyed it and the Rockettes were an extraordinary feat of mathematics, if nothing else! The way they pivoted round in one long line of high-kicking legs was a sight to see and they did this cool Nutcracker skit, where they were standing in single file and then all slowly fell backwards one by one, like dominos.
For some reason, I expected the Rockettes to be old! Because I associate them with the 50s, I suppose I thought maybe they'd all be people who performed back then. But of course that would make them more like the Roly Polys than a troupe of dancers who perform five shows a day!
There was a very cute baby sitting next to me, who randomly grabbed my finger whilst jigging along to the music, which was sweet. Then the show ended with a live nativity, with a real life camel on stage and everything!
Feeling thoroughly festive, we hopped skipped and jumped up town to meet Max's second cousin once removed (or something), Rachel. Her Mum and Dad are Jim and Elaine, who we visited in Marblehead, Massachusetts and Jim is Max's Dad's cousin. So you work out how they're related.
Max and Rachel hung out quite a lot when they were younger, including going travelling together in Morocco, so it was really nice for them to see each other again and for us to meet Rachel's boyfriend. Rachel is an ER doctor in the toughest hospital in New York, which deals with lots of prisoners and uninsured people and sounds like the most full-on job you could possibly have - I was in awe of how she retains her sanity!
Handily - and coincidentally - enough, the restaurant was just a couple of blocks away from our next engagement, which was Anne's family's tree-trimming party. We were so touched to be invited to the annual tradition and the one-bed apartment was packed with people when we got there.
It seemed to be mostly friends of Anne's parents there, but there were some people our age and everyone was very friendly. I'm terrible with names - really awful - when I meet someone new, I tend to concentrate so hard on shaking their hand right that I don't register the name I'm being told. So I was thrilled to meet two nice people called Marina and Bambi, because there was no way I'd forget the names they shared with my sister and sister-in-law, so stuck with them all night!
Anne showed us around the tiny flat, including where she and her sister used to sleep as children, which was the minute study, which was just about as long as a single bed, but only just. Above the desk area, there was an L-shaped bed built in, just below the ceiling, which Anne and Susan shared, despite the fact that the person on the short end of the 'L' (Anne) no way would've been able to stretch out. They were still sleeping there as teenagers! It's crazy! Though Anne seemed a bit upset when I joked that it verged on abuse...
I was thrilled when the party turned to carol singing and we all huddled into the sitting room with songbooks and sang lots of traditional carols. Though many had the 'wrong' tune. But it created a lovely festive atmosphere and I'm so pleased we went.
We left the party really late, after getting chatting to Anne's sister-in-law and Dad. It took ages to get back to Mat's place on the subway, but I was struck that everyone on the subway platform at 1.30am was around our age. It's kind of cool, to feel part of an age-group. I can't really explain it.
Fortunately this morning was nice and slow and we just hung out with Mat, before heading to the Lower East Side to meet Grace and Mark for brunch (they always know the best brunch places). Mat told us about one of the papers he was marking yesterday, in which he detected plagiarism. But not only had the dude copied stuff directly out of a book without changing it, the book he'd copied from was by Mat's supervisor and had been proof-read by Mat before going to the printers!! I made Mat act out with me how he was going to deal with the culprit and I have to say, I pity the poor plagiariser - Mat's quiet and calm approach to discipline is frankly menacing! It's amazing though - the cheat will just lose a mark on that paper, he won't get disciplined or anything.
We mooched around the Lower East Side after brunch, making our way slowly up town to the cafe at the Neue Gallery, where we were meeting a friend of mine from school who I haven't seen since we left, 12 years ago. I didn't know the Lower East Side before, but really really like it - it's a very cool area.
I was a bit nervous about seeing Alex again, as she was always very cool at school, but also really friendly and super-clever, so all-in-all a bit intimidating. We had such nice chats, though, and it was really nice to see her. My account of what I've been up to since we last saw each other was painfully lame, compared to her tales of modelling, addiction, abandoned degrees and living in a rock star's mansion in LA. I joked that someone should make a film of her life, and she said that someone is! Her time in LA is being immortalised in a new movie called Freeloaders. She now lives in Manhattan and works as a costume designer on movies, which is very cool. She's currently working on a Natalie Portman film and next is working for Disney on the live-action Sorcerer's Apprentice.
Feeling a little inadequate, we left and made our way to Anne's flat (again, handily up the road), where we got a lift back to DC with her and her Dad. It was really late and we'd had a packed weekend, so I mostly slept. Zzzzzzzzz.
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