Luckily, we managed to get to Christie’s before the auction began. And it’s a good thing we did, because the drawing we wanted opened with a bid higher than what we had put in since there were many absentee bids, so in the end we decided to skip out and go for another drawing with better provenance. It has been displayed in museums around the world and we think it looks nicer than the one we had in mind initially.

Now we are the proud owners of a 16th century work of art that we got while traveling and working around the world. How unreal is that We surely didn’t expect to buy a piece of Renaissance art when starting our trip, and even on day before yesterday when we first stumbled across Christie’s - by accident; we didn’t expect to get anything while there.

And in case any of you are wondering, we’re not lugging it along with us, we’re shipping it back home where it will be stored safely till we return. Who knows, we might even lend it to a museum if there are any that are interested in Renaissance art.We don’t mind making Christie’s our second home in New York Plus we love how friendly and sprightly the doorman is!

Part of the 15th century drawing we bought

If you want to see more of Fifth Avenue where we went after Christie’s, just watch the video above.

It’s finally starting to feel like we’re in New York. We’re getting lots of work-related meetings we have to go to, we’re rushing around town, riding the subway, passing by Times Square nearly every day, and it’s not as cold as it was when we arrived so it’s easier to walk around!

After our business meeting today we went to Christie’s where Grace placed an absentee bid for a drawing she’s interested in. It’s interesting to see how much money they make off of every piece sold there. They charge up to 25% buyer’s fee on top of the hammer price when you win an auction - that’s on top of any taxes - and they also charge the sellers up to 25% fee. So they can make up to 50% off of items they sell!!! That’s a great margin for any business! Of course as the item goes up in price, the percentage fees go down.

We’re both excited about this and since we can’t be there to bid in person and we had to leave an absentee bid, we’re not sure if we’ll get it or not.

A piece of history, hopefully soon our piece of history

Nasdaq sits right on Times Square, and today we paid it a visit again. And we were not alone, with all the market activity the place was teeming with news vans and newscasters were all over the streets filming for their respective stations. This definitely felt like New York!

Will those tigers near the Nasdaq keep a bear market away?

Since we were starting to feel the New York vibes, we decided to head on down to another truly New York place, the Rockefeller center. On the way we saw Christie’s, the auction house, and we decided to go in and have a look around. Bad idea! Now Grace wants to buy some of the paintings we saw there! Someone help me convince her there are better things to do in New York than be stuck in an auction ;), plus we can’t very well drag a 14th century work of art along with us Besides, I want to spend the time seeing new things in New York, not bidding. I can do that on ebay

Once we left Christie’s, we were just steps away from the Rockefeller center, NBC studios, and the ice skating rink.

We then had coffee with the editor of www.womansday.com, one of the leading women’s magazines here in the US. It was very interesting to meet her and she gave some great ideas about what to do and see around the big apple.

Last night Grace was up trading and monitoring the markets and didn’t get much sleep, so today we decided to stay closer to home and wander around Jersey City. We didn’t get too far and ended up spending most our time in Newport Mall and a few supermarkets around there.But what could be more American than hanging out in a mall, in the country where even a movie - albeit a comedy - called “Mall Rats” was made. Oh yes, one other thing more American would be fast food, and that’s something I decided to skip out on today. I had completely od’d on it over the past weeks since we’ve been here as we’ve been rushing around seeing places without much time for a proper meal, so today I decided to go for Asian fast food

Now, if we were on a holiday, such a mundane day would be considered sacrilege to our spirit of exploration, but this is not a holiday, it’s a lifestyle. We must get our work done wherever we are, and sometimes we must take a holiday from our holiday to get that work done

A cheery sunset reflecting off Manhattan