Christopher Rath in New York: June 2007

Tennis in New Jersey

With Wimbledon in full swing and a tennis loving William Tempest for a friend nothing could be more timely than a jaunt up to North Bergen (in NJ) for a game of tennis. A tough doubles match was played with a hardworked victory going to Kim and Will, while Cat and I had to settle for second place. Bring on the rematch...

British Consulate-General

During the week I spend 8 hours a day in the wonder of the BCG. Nothing could be more fun than protecting our nation's borders aka processing UK visas! Check out the fun at www.britainusa.com/visas - oh yes!

845 Third Avenue

The office

Chris, Jenny, Peter, Bejal, Jasmine, Lenny, Julia, Anjali, Me, Annette, Anita and Ruwani

The first and best UK football team

Mets suck!

When living in New York there is a major dilemma that almost everyone faces. Does your heart lie in the Bronx or in Queens? This being such a big baseball town you have the choice of watching the team that pay the most money in wages or the team that pay the third highest in the major leagues.

Well, on Tuesday I had my second taste of a game at Shea Stadium, home to the New York Mets. (That makes it two games to both them and the Yankees). They bombed! A 9-zip defeat to the Minnesota Twins.

So, did that make my mind up? Do I really want to support at team that fail to perform when I make all that effort to go and watch? Well, the tickets were free, so no matter! Thanks to Kev for the invite and thanks to the lady serving the beer and food who forgot to charge me for my $8 Bud - nice.

An ice cold beer at Shea

Pete and Kev enjoy their chicken and fries - yumm!

Let's go Yankees, er..I mean Mets. Scrap that...

(Ambiguous) Let's go New York

Williamsburg

And today unhungover (yay!) I went on a little adventure to Brooklyn. Williamsburg is a 'bohemian' neighbourhood with lots of cool bars, restaurants, shops and home to one of New York's largest art communities.

As the sun was out I decided to forgo all those available indoor activities and explore the streets of 'Billyburg' on foot. It was a nice walk before the rain came and I had to take refuge with some tasty falafel!

The only problem was that I was supposed to be shopping for clothes for my trip to Hawaii in two weeks. Never mind...

Some funky pics of Williamsburg!!!

Party!

Arguably, no year as a Mountbatten intern would be complete without hosting a party in your apartment. Last night we hosted a 'wee mini' party to add to the Friday night banter!

There was plenty to drinks (unsurprisingly) and thankfully no major mishaps. There was even a special guest appearance by my BCG buddy Jenna! There are more photos of this joyous event on Facebook.

Buddies!

Franz Ferdinand

On Wednesay after a brief trip to Chinatown for dinner my housemate, Laura, and I made our way to the Bowery Ballroom to watch Franz Ferdinand play a 'secret' gig.

Laura loves Wo Hop!

"Well here we are at the transmission party...

...I love your friends they're all so arty, oh yeah"

The Empire State Building

I can see it from my bedroom window morning, noon and night. More precisely...

At 7.30am

At 6.00pm

At 8.15pm

At 9.30pm

Same Old, Same Old

Largely I've used this blog to talk about the exciting things that I get up to in New York - things that are perhaps a little extraordinary. But I've come to realise that what seems same old, same old to me is most likely quite interesting for you to know. So prepare yourself to hear about whatever!

Coming Soon...

And sooner than you can eat a big apple there will be some Edinburgh visitors coming to see the sights in NYC!

Aren't they pretty?

An Edinburgh Week

My first proper escape from the hustle and bustle of the Big Apple came in the form of a week long trip back to Edinburgh. Scotland's capital was my host as I caught up with as many people as I could - sorry if I missed you - and enjoyed a lot the tea drinking, alcohol consuming and general quality banter!

Some of the highlights, in pictorial format, included my being carried from Drouthy Neebors like a returning prodigal son, the cool Pixar exhibit at the National Museum, a nice wee walk up The Crags, my 'birthday' at Khublai Khan, a morning in sunny Glasgow and drinking in The Penthouse!

Love you guys!

Put me down!