The last week has seen Emma and I in New York, her for a conference at (of all places) the Bronx Zoo, and me the lucky recipient of a free hotel room. For some reason we were booked in at a small town 45min out of the city, Tarrytown, on the banks of the Hudson. Not even in the town but out in the hotel part, a 5min taxi into town. But in the end this turned out to be a great place to stay as it was very green, beautiful and cute.

Just a short walk from Tarrytown is the town of Sleepy Hollow. Yes it is from the book, being the place that the story of the headless horseman is set. It's a nice little place now, and has a couple of cool things to do, like the graveyard and church, the oldest in America. The Philips Manor was interesting to see, kept up as a "working" example of what life was like back in the 17th century. But for me the highlight was the Rockefeller Estate built as a summer retreat by the famous family. While the family still lives there it is open to the public for tours and has an amazing collection of modern art well placed amoung the rooms, grounds and golf course. I'm not much of an appreciator (it took me a year to visit the Louvre) but I loved this place. I think that mixture of art placed in nature made it special for me.

The US Open was on while we were in town and while Emma was busy doing her conference stuff I managed a day at the Arthur Ashe stadium, watching some of the best strut their stuff. 3 games in a day was worth the $60 and as they all went to max I really got the best. Being only the first round I didn't get to see great match-ups, but still got to see Jancovich-Halpa, Djokovich-Troicki and Sharapova-Groth. And man it was hot!

At the end of the week, once Emma had finshed her work we were able to move into NY city and have a good look around. I couldn't get over the size of the place, just so big and tall. All the buildings tower above. It was pretty cool to wander around a city that we see so much of on the TV and in movies, to go past ground-zero, to take the ferry across to Staten Island, past the Statue. So many places and experiences that we know of, to visit was so much fun. Although I must say I was dissapointed a little by Central Park. Too many people I guess, but I thought that the park in Munich was much nicer.

All in all I was very lucky to have the chance to visit. Thank you Consumer Goods Forum!!