New House already has some really great North American customers, so after showing at Trade Fairs like Top Drawer and other things, we are happy that we might be moving up one or two gears in the States.
NY people are always meant to be in a huge hurry, but my first experience was of a very lovely lady who explained the NY Subway system to me (insisted on paying my ticket), and later a taxi driver asked 'how much do I want to pay?' These two kind people really won me over. I'm from a tiny English village where you expect curtesy.... but New York??? I beamed at everyone after, most people smiled back and I really enjoyed my visit.
My hotel room overlooked the most famous building site in the world, the 9/11 site. It was very moving looking down on the construction, happy that I wasn't visiting 10 years ago :
I'd forgotten how big American beds were - I know it doesn't look SO big in my photo, but to me this felt like sleeping on top of an aircraft carrier, with miles to walk each morning to reach the alarm clock.
USA can have a very different style to Europe, so I visited some of the great shops like ABC Carpets and home or Anthropologie .
top floor at ABC
Anthropologie
The best cheese sandwich I've ever had came from Beecher's - a micro-cheesery that make fresh cheese on the premises. I've never had a toasted cheese and fig sandwich before - but theirs has got to be up there amongst some of the most memorable gourmet foods I've ever tasted.
Walking the High Line was my most interesting NY experience. It's an old raised level railway that originally served New York with goods, but had fallen into disuse years ago and was mostly demolished. However some of the local residents spotted how plants had taken root on the deserted railway, and campaigned for it to become a park. It's the best bit of urban re-design I've seen in years.
