Day 147 - From Columbia, to Riverside, to Armstrong's, all in a morning.

I had a jam packed morning today, as I wanted to play the tourist with Rhys and Alice, before I had to return as the student this afternoon.

We started of with a visit to the grounds of Columbia University. Here's hoping that some of the educational prowess, that exists on these premises, will have worn of on me for tomorrow. We then went to the Riverside Church to take in the grandeur of this historically and architecturally magnificent institution.

Our last trip of the morning was to Louis Armstrong's house in Queens. It is unbelievable the modesty of this house. I mean, for a man that was earning over $500,000 a year in 1944, (equivalent to around $7million in todays money) to live in this humble abode says alot about who he was. I learnt today that he was an extremely generous man, who used to give the majority of his possessions and wealth away to local communities and those with a greater need. It was pretty surreal, as you walked around his house, where over 90% of it is, as it was when Louis was around.

To those of you who are familiar with NY and its boroughs, you would know that we covered alot of ground today in quite a short amount of time. This was all due to Alice's godmother's, niece, who very kindly drove us around. Thank you very much Anouche!