It’s been a busy weekend of moving, throwing a house cooling party, cleaning and catching colds. So today when I chanced it out of work nearly an hour early, I decided to use the time to recuperate.

I headed to 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue for the New York City Public Library. Somehow I’d never been before – I don’t think I’d even admired it from the outside.

The inside is a majestic maze of ornate doors, statues and classical paintings. I headed for the third floor and after nipping through a few hallways and several more doors, it suddenly gave way to the Rosa Main Reading Room.

The room stretches on and on, rows of wooden tables dotted with lamps and surrounded by ancient tomes. But I stuck to my home-brought material, a collection of poems by Angela Veronica Wong which I bought from the Strand.

The Library, which celebrates its 102nd official birthday this year, is beautiful. Grand, solid and perfectly manicured.

Growing up in Europe meant I was never far from stunning architecture so while the building is nothing I haven’t seen before, I really loved that this one was used (and judging by the crowds, it really was used) as a library. Despite its popularity, it was a surprisingly quiet reading spot and perfect for me to wind down/pretend I was still a uni student.

Ooh and they have a sense of humour there too: