Pick of the week

"My week beats your year," Lou Reed is once alleged to have said.

I couldn't possibly make a similar claim but last week was a lot more fun than I expected.

It began in Greenwich, Connecticut, took in New York (for the Global Tobacco and Nicotine Forum), and ended in Bath where we celebrated my aunt's 80th birthday.

I'll write about the business end of GTNF in my next post. Thankfully however there's more to life (and work) than keynote speeches and plenary discussions.

But first, a quick recap.

I flew to JFK on Friday (September 8) where I met my old friend Gary (above) who had also flown in from London but on a different flight.

We've known each other since we were at university together in the late Seventies. His father worked for IBM and for three years, after the whole family moved to America, he attended Greenwich High School.

A few weeks ago he received an invitation to attend the Class of 77's 40th reunion dinner. Knowing I was going to be in New York the following week he suggested I join him for the weekend.

We hired a car, braved the heavy New York traffic and arrived in Greenwich just in time for a late afternoon drink overlooking the picturesque ferry dock.

The hotel where we stopped for a drink held special memories for Gary because it was where his family stayed when they first arrived in the States.

According to a current barman (but unknown to its British guests at the time) the hotel had a reputation in the Seventies for hosting cocaine parties. It later changed its name.

The following day we hit the road again and visited the historic home of Jay Gould, an infamous 'robber baron' who was once one of the richest men in the world.

The Gothic Revival country house overlooks the Hudson River and it was suggested by our guide that every time Gould travelled from his mansion to his office in New York the huge desk at which he worked and in which he kept all his documents under lock and key would go with him – by boat.

Perversly Gould refused to use the train because Cornelius Vanderbilt, his great business rival, owned the local railroad.

Today Greenwich still has some of the wealthiest neighbourhoods in America. It's a very attractive place to live and work.

We breakfasted at Dunkin Donuts, lunched at a chic French bistro, spent time on the beach and watched baseball and American football in a couple of sports bars.

We even found time to see Wind River, a "gripping snowmobile Western" set in Wyoming, at the local cinema.

The weather was sunny but not too hot. Perfect, in fact.

On Monday I caught the train to Manhattan, a 45 minute journey that took me to Grand Central Station, a ten minute walk from the Intercontinental Hotel, home of GTNF 2017.

The conference began the following evening with a 'welcome reception' on the 65th floor of the Rockefeller Center. The view was spectacular.

The Intercontinental lived up to its title as 'North America’s Leading Business Hotel 2016'. I particularly liked the Gin Parlour bar that gave the lobby a lively ambience few other hotels enjoy.

Most impressive was the penthouse suite that had been commandeered for our use after the gala dinner on Wednesday.

This luxurious apartment featured a large fireplace on one wall and an enormous, sports bar style screen on another.

The best feature though was the outdoor terrace where we smoked large cigars with the lights and sounds of the city all around us.

Cost of staying in the penthouse? $25,000 per night.

Outside conference hours we gravitated, inevitably, to an Irish pub – PJ Morans – on East 48th Street, two blocks up from the hotel.

I also discovered that Raffles Bistro on Lexington Avenue did a remarkably fine breakfast (assuming you enjoy steak with your eggs at 6.30 in the morning).

I couldn't stay for the closing GTNF event on Thursday evening because I had to catch a flight back to London. 

Bath, where we spent the weekend, was pretty enjoyable too. But that's another story.

Below: Empire State Building from the top of the Rockefeller Center