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So today, more of the same with the housework and the crying, so why don't I carry on with the New York story.

Monday morning found us at the knishery once again. This time I had a cheese knish and a cherry soda, the kind they make right there from soda water and flavour syrup. Then we went for a big walk down through Chinatown and all around. We stopped at an Italian cafe called Caffe Dante and I had a decaf cappuccino and a cannoli, which I am mildly embarrassed to admit I ordered because that's what they get on The Sopranos. I did have the decency to mention that to the waitress so she would have something to snigger about behind the scenes. Sometimes there's just no point in trying to pretend you're not a tourist.

In the evening we went to Queens to see Sascha and Leontine and retrieve my wallet. (I was so pleased with us because we left Manhattan.) We went to Pizzaria Uno with them and Sascha's best friend Jamie, because they wanted comfort food after weeks and weeks of working on getting married. It was so tasty, deep dish Chicago-style. I don't know how authentic Pizzaria Uno is, but I wouldn't cry if one opened in Toronto.

Back at the hotel again and we ate heaps and heaps of delightful wedding cake that Sascha had sent us home with.

If it doesn't sound like we did much on Monday, it's because we didn't. I bought into the hype of "you don't have to do anything in New York, just walk the streets and you will be thrilled and stimulated at every turn", so I totally underplanned the whole trip, which turned out badly in the end.

On Tuesday our big activity was to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. I had been advised the we should go to some particular pizza place, Garibaldi's or Grimaldi's or something, but I wasn't sure whether it was on the Brooklyn side or the Manhattan side. I wanted to walk across the bridge in the morning and then have pizza for lunch, so it was crucial to walk in the correct direction in order to be on the correct side for lunch. I guessed that the pizza place was in Manhattan, so we took the subway to Brooklyn and walked across.

Lo and behold, I was wrong; the pizza place is in Brooklyn. Not only was I wrong but I had forgotten the guide book so we ended up going to a bookstore and looking in their guide books to establish that I was wrong. I was already having some "I'm dragging Blake around on my boring activities" angst (because I was the one making the plans and wasn't sure that he was really into them) and so then I got "not only are my activities boring but they're badly planned" angst. Nice.

So we wandered uptown a little bit until we got to the Little Italy-Chinatown hybrid area, at which point it started raining so we made a sudden decision to go into a particular restaurant. Our guide book said not to go to any Italian restaurants in Little Italy because they're all tourist traps, but I didn't read that until after, so I didn't know I was being trapped. I had really nice pasta marinara, and Blake had the most divine, fluffy gnocchi, like little clouds. So good. Mr Guide Book was wrong.

Then I think we just went back to the hotel, because it was raining. We spent quite a lot of afternoon hours in the hotel, because we'd be tired from our morning activities, and Del would need feeding and changing and a nap. Watched some Dr Phil. Kind of an odd way to spend a vacation, but there you are.

Later that day we met up with Jason and Lindsay (we went to their wedding in Chicago last summer) at Starbucks. I think we might have gone back to their apartment, but that might have been another day; it's all starting to blend together. Anyway, Jason works for a computer network support company, and one of their clients is on the 61st storey of the Chrysler Building. Jason has a key to the office, so at 8:00 that night he took us up there to look around and take pictures. The 61st floor is the floor where the eagles are, so that office has a balcony you can go out on. Astonishing view, astonishing luck. Well, Jason's astonishing luck rubbing off on us.

After the beauty of the Chrysler building, Jason took us around Grand Central Station which I must say is looking really good these days. I find it hard to believe that the city of New York ever let it get as dirty and rundown as Jason says it used to be, but it's lovely now, a very clean, beautiful, safe-feeling public space.

So that was Monday and Tuesday, and I'll tell you about the rest of the trip tomorrow.