The bells! The bells!!

Time I guess to tell you a bit about our hotel. We opted for the Affinia hotel in Manhattan because, although a tad expensive it seemed to offer a suite. Sure enough we got a very large room with a little kitchen in one corner, two queen beds, a large bathroom and more than enough storage space. It was directly opposite Madison Square Gardens and just a few blocks away from Times Square - which, for the uninitiated is not a square at all! Just a road junction really. A road junction with lots of bright lights and adverts.

But most definitely not a square.

Anyway, back to the hotel. What they didn't mention was that next door was a fire station. And the street it was in was a one-way street. Past our hotel. Or - past our window to be more exact. You would be surprised just how many times those things were called out - with a wailing siren as far as the intersection - crossroads to you and me - and then a proper honking horn type siren from that point on.

Three to four times a night on average.

And opposite that fire station was the Catholic church which provided the thoughtful aid of giving not just the street but the whole effing neighbourhood an alarm call at effing seven o'clock every effing morning with their effing church bells.

On top of that our room had one of those air-condition units which sits in a window. And lets all the noise through. As did the windows which didn't quite fully close.

Other than that it was a great hotel.

Tonight we have finally found the solution to the incessant noise every night. We've flown to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania! Amazingly our hotel here is within the airport but we can sit and watch planes land on the runway just a couple of hundred yards from us with no noise at all. Bliss!

This has come at some personal cost, though, to poor Tania. As I've already said she is no fan of flying. The flight here was in a Bombardier 400, which, if you check it out is a propellor jobbie. We were just reaching the height where it levelled out when I looked across at Tania and saw she was wiping the tears away. Turns out she was really scared from the moment we left the ground. She won't thank me for sharing that with you, I know. But I have to acknowledge the lady is prepared to go through real torment to make this holiday what we want it to be. And she has to do it again on Saturday to get back to New York.

Since I last wrote my birthday continued with an evening at the theatre to see Jersey Boys - or Joyzee Boyz as they say here! Great, great show. Good story and brilliant songs. The actor who played Frankie Valli had the voice off to a tee. And now I know where the great songs came from - who actually wrote them.

Recommend that show absolutely - an excellent night out.

Next morning, against our previous decisions, we decided to go to yet another art gallery. Two of the three had been disappointing thus far so we thought a gallery of modern American art ought to fit the bill just nicely.

"Have you come to see any particular artist?" asked the girl at the desk.

"Roy Lichtenstein" said Tania,

"Andy Warhol" said I.

"Oh! Neither of those are on display at the moment - but we have other great artists - Edward Hopper, etc."

The jinx continues.

Well - having arrived in Pittsburgh and a bit earlier than expected we shot off to see the Andy Warhol Museum this afternoon. And - guess what?? They did have Warhol's on display. Who'd have thought it? Some I've already seen, some were new to me. Visiting there was the original starting point for this trip which was my third attempt to get here. Nice to have finally made it.

Here's a Warhol painting the museum didn't have!

All of that has given us a free day tomorrow. Tempted to hire a car and drive off into the countryside. What we saw as we were flying in looked really cool, really autumnal.

Be a shame to waste a day wouldn't it?