New York Public Library

I applied for my work permit almost as soon as we had a New York address. It was meant to take 3 months to arrive, but it turned up in my letterbox only 2 weeks after I sent off all my forms. My planned 3-month work-free interlude was rudely interrupted with a shiny new American permit card.

I've hidden the acceptance letter away in my desk and have been doing all I can to avoid updating that CV and looking for a job since then. This means I've become a full-time tourist, and part-time housewife.

So yesterday I grabbed my camera and hopped on the tube subway to Manhattan to explore the New York Public Library.

People sat eating lunch on the sun-drenched steps, or in the shady tables under the trees, and tourists stood at the bottom of the steps snapping away at this imposing marble building which sits so resplendently on 5th avenue.

The long corridors, wide staircases, polished floor and striking lanterns make the building seem more like a palace than a library.

Heavy swinging wooden doors lead to rooms filled with rows and rows of dusty books and historic manuscripts.

The wonderfully overwhelming library smell made me a little nostalgic for those university days spent scribbling away hidden amongst the towers of pages and words. 

Through the ornate windows, New York city bustles on by. The sounds of horns, cars, people, roadworks and construction are shut out by the marble walls, so the researchers, students and academics can really focus, with no distractions apart from the beautiful building that surrounds them.

I'm tempted to go back to school so I can spend my days working away in one of those shut-off rooms reserved for people studying the precious books which the rest of us aren't allowed to touch or see. 

New York Public Library, 5th Ave at 42nd Street, New York, NY 10018.