Arrival at The Bowery

The Bowery Hotel is in a 'gritty', but trendy part of NYC - half-way between 'Downtown' proper and Midtown - and sandwiched at the intersection of NOHO, Greenwich Village, East Village and Lower East Side. Inside, it's dark and exotic - with a kind-of turn-of-the-century art-nouveau feel in the Bar. Which, when I arrived (at about 6pm NYC time) was full of very trendy folk - all, I think, quite impressed by my own cutting-edge style (i.e several jackets, pants hanging out of every pocket, etc). The staff also have style - with aggressively emo'd hairdoes. My bedroom's on the twelfth floor - and yes, I do get vertigo if I get up close to my window and look down at the street below. So I concentrate on looking straight ahead at the skyline: no landmarks but a nice New York-y mix of loft-apartments and mini-skyscrapers, dotted with what look like water-towers (but I'm not sure). Lots of sirens and car-horns when the window's open - but it's all part of the background, so I had no trouble falling asleep.

But sleep came only after (a) checking out the mini-bar: wardrobe-sized - and tasty cashew nuts; (b) a wander up Broadway to Union Square and back down via First Avenue - to sniff the territory in the cold. Took twenty minutes to work out how to turn off the lights next to the bed. The TV has over 700 channels. There was nothing worth watching. I know you won't believe me, Morgan, but it's true!