July 18 Washington DC - New York NY
Woke up early, caught up on our blog. Left the hotel at 9:45AM to Union Station by Taxy. A porter took our luggage and asked if we wanted him to look after it, or to check it in at the station for $5.50 each? We were hungry and wanted a bite to eat before the train left, so we told him to look after it.
Went to have some bacon & eggs in the food court a level below the main. They had all kinds of food except bacon and eggs. Most of them were still preparing to open. So went back on the main floor and found a place that had bacon & eggs and a salad.
Couldn't find Lance anywhere. Rita was sure he had taken off with our luggage or lost them both. As you can tell, both Rita and I are worried about handing our luggage over to anyone, after the experience with Porter. Asked the Red Cap Captain to call Lance on the walkie talkie they all seemed to carry around. We met up with Lance gave him $20 and he loaded our luggage right on the train.
Penn Station is the 10th stop from Union Station and we arrived at 2:30PM. Trying to find an elevator that goes from the train level to street level is a task. First you take an elevator to the Subway level and then you have to find another elevator that takes you to street level, and they are not easy to find.
No problem catching a taxi. As you all know, they are all over the place in New York. Checked in to the Park Lane Hotel. We are on the 23rd floor looking onto W58th street.
We each have our work area.
But what I really like about our place, is that it's only 2 short blocks from my buddy's Tower. I am going to try to avoid him, as I avoided Barack in Washington. Hate to listen to someone badmouthing someone else behind their backs, unless it's me doing it.
Excuse the expression, but it is pissing down rain, lightning, thunder. That's why I'm writing this blog instead of walking around in Central Park. But we will brave it later today.
The rain stopped and we decided to go for a walk. There is a reception everyday between 5 & 6 in the hotel for guests. On our way out we decided to have a glass of red wine along with some snacks. It's all free except you have to pay $30 everyday, which they don't tell you about when you book online. At least I never saw it. I was too busy drinking my free wine to take a picture, I will take some tomorrow and report on how many free glasses of wine we can guzzle in 2 Hrs. Maybe we'll buy some Ziploc bags we can line our pockets with and get our moneys worth.
There were at least a hundred young people on the corner of Grand Army Plaza and 5th Ave. all looking at their cells. Took a video of what the heck was going on. A young man explained it was a Pokémon Hotspot (not that I know what that means) and they gather there to play or look at Pokémon's. I explained to him that it's a good thing he told me, otherwise I would have told the worldwide followers of this blog, that New Yorkers are crazy.
Walked by Central Park up to 68th Street went a block North on Park Ave. and then back to 5th Ave. Rita found a great little ensemble she absolutely needs.
Walked through Central Park back to our hotel.
Rita went up to our room while I went hunting for a bottle of wine for the evening. The wine store I found on the internet, is 1/2 block from the hotel. It is either under construction, or permanently closed. Found a market, went through it. I guess they don't sell wine in convenience stores in NY.
There were three policemen standing around outside the market just chatting. I asked if there was a wine store in the neighborhood. They seemed to know less about the area than I did. Walked back to the hotel, watched the RNC, with a parched throat, on CNN.
July 19 New York NY
Woke up at 7. There is no coffee maker in the room, so had to go downstairs to get a Latte a Coffee and a croissant. You think for $30 a day they could throw in a coffee and a pastry or something. But that's OK, we will just have to buy large size Ziplock bags instead of regular, to get our moneys worth.
Walked to 61, 62nd. Street. ehats where you have to validate your Greyline Hop-on Hop-off tickets. We were told by the security guards that they had moved to the Time Warner Building on 59th Street. Walked to the Time Warner Building, we were told by the information desk that they don't have an office there but to go back to The Grand Army Plaza and we would find the busses there. Took a picture of the lobby of the building.
Walked back and found the bus stop. It was right across the street from our hotel . The fellow at the stop tried to scan our QR codes no luck. Told us to get on the shuttle bus that was parked there and have them scan it in Times Square. We went to Times Square, took forever, and when we arrived noticed a huge lineup of people at the bus stop there. We had tickets to the 9/11 Memorial Museum for 11AM. Decided to take the subway. Bought a ticket for $11. She said that that would take us to the Museum and then back to Central Park. She gave us only one ticket, when I asked why, she told me to hand the ticket back to Rita so she could get through. Went through the turnstile handed the ticket back to Rita, she couldn't get through. She went back to the booth to say the card didn't work. The lady came out of the booth and after a couple of tries she was able to get Rita through.
Rita was hanging on for dear life, throughout the ride. She thinks it's the worst subway system she's been on.
Arrived at 9/11 Museum at 11:00 on the button.
The only advantage of buying a ticket online is that you don't have to line up. There was a lineup but very short. We were rushing to make our time, we could have had a cup of coffee and relaxed if we wouldn't have bought the tickets.
Went through the Museum.
They had personal story soundtracks playing, as in the Terror Museum in Budapest, but they were too close together and a lot of them, you couldn't make out much of what was being said. Very interesting. We were there for 4hrs.
Tried to get through the turnstiles on the Subway. I got through Rita didn't. Asked an attendant about the problem he said there was only $.10 left on the ticket. Tried to load up our ticket again in the machine, it kept asking for a zip code. I didn't have one. The attendant told us to go to a booth at another subway line. There was a long lineup and we had to wait for about 15 minutes before we were told that there was nothing they could do about our problem. So we put another $11 on our card. Went back to the R line and managed to get back to 57th street station.
Bought a bottle of Malbec from Argentina, in a wine store we found on Broadway. Remember I couldn't find a wine store yesterday. There are two wine stores 10 steps from each other.
We were hungry, so decided to eat at an outdoor restaurant on Broadway. Asked for a beer. They said they didn't serve alcohol. Rita asked for the reason from the waiter. Couldn't understand what he said from the street noise. Probably Halal. We have seen a couple of Halal restaurants. It was a hot day, really felt like a cold beer, so we left.
Found an outdoor restaurant right beside the hotel, Sant Anrea Cafe.
Rita really enjoyed her food, I thought it was alright.
After dinner we went back to our hotel room drank the wine and watched Donald win the Republican nomination. Traveling on a train from Washington to New York, you can appreciate why he is popular. Train routes don't usually go through the most attractive parts of the countryside to begin with. But this was eye-opening. Total devastation of the manufacturing industry along this route. All the large factories are shut down. Trees growing from inside the buildings through the broken glass windows to get to sunlight. Baltimore is a total disaster. The warehouses seem to be doing OK. But I didn't see, not even one, mid to large size factory that was open. Total devastation.
July 20 New York NY
Finally had or Hop-on Hop-off tickets validated. Took the shuttle bus to times square and found the Greyline offices. We had an appointment at the Statue of Liberty Pedestal at 12 noon. The bus would have been too slow to make it so we took the Subway to Battery Park. Went through security before boarding the ferry and were at the base of the Statue of Liberty right on time.
There was a long lineup for the Pedestal Access. Quite a lot of the people were turned away because they didn't have tickets. You are not allowed to take a backpack into the pedestal, so had to put it in a rental locker. It cost $2 and uses fingerprint technology for verification.
Took the elevator, which took forever, and a very nice elevator attendant dropped us off at every level. We wouldn't have known there were that many levels to the pedestal. After walking around all the levels we went through the museum, which shows the method of construction for the statue.
Walked around the island and then took the ferry back. We could have got off at Ellis island, but decided to go back to the hotel to freshen up before going to see Cats.
Took the Hop-on Hop-off back to Central Park. The traffic was so bad that we were passing Police cars with their lights flashing and sirens which they turned on once in awhile. I don't know how in a medical emergency, the ambulance would help. You would be better off walking to the hospital if you had a heart attack. It's unbelievable. Watch the video, I took it so nobody could call me a liar.
Walked to Cats which was playing in the Neil Simon theatre on 52nd. Street. We were early so decided to have a light dinner. There is a Russian restaurant right next to the theatre called Russian Samovar. Rita had a salad, I had a Borsht. I have never had Borsht before, and even though I hate beets. I thought I should try it. Well, the last three letters of the soups name, with one letter missing, tells you what it tasted like to me. Ate it anyways.
We were right on time for Cats. I don't know if anyone else noticed, but the Music was canned. At one point the volume dropped for no more than a second and you could see, if you wanted to, that it was prerecorded.
Neither Rita nor I, cared much for the musical. Don't understand why it ran for so long on Broadway. We nearly fell asleep. The only good music is Memories. The rest is just noise, with a bunch of people dressed like Cats, jumping around.
Didn't get any pictures. Forgot to take the memory card out of the computer and put it back in the camera.
Stopped at a wine store on Broadway bought another bottle of Alhambra, went and watched CNN tear a new one for Ted Cruise about his speech at the RNC.
July 21 New York NY
Took the Uptown tour bus from across the street, transferred to the Downtown bus and went to the Empire State building.
Took pictures for a Hungarian Family who were on the observation deck. When we were ready to come down on the elevator Rita started talking to a Finnish family from Oulu Finland. The Empire state building is like the Tower of Babel, you hear all kinds of languages.
Got back on the bus to stop off at Grand Central Station.
Then we walked to the Chrysler building to look at the lobby. Not as nice as the Empire State Buildings, but the entrance is more impressive.
Found a restaurant close to the bus stop and decided to have something to eat.
When we reboarded the bus, we were told that it doesn't run to Central Park and the Uptown bus has stopped running at 5PM.
Took the bus to Rockefeller Center, and walked back to the hotel.
Walked along 5th Ave. dragging Rita by all the shops. The best shopping in the world they say, between 39th and 60th Street. I had to walk with Rita from 42nd to 59th where our hotel was. Hearing her sigh as we walked by Versace, Gucci, Louis Vuitton etc. All the most expensive, and ridiculous stores in my eyes, that carry the quintessential, and according to Rita, essential selections of women's clothing that she absolutely requires.
Walked by my buddy's apartment on 5th Street and 56th Ave. Rita was so tired with window shopping that we didn't cross the street to see the lobby and the elevator Donald rode down to announce his candidacy. It has become a tourist attraction. Those Americans sure know how to market unimportant attractions.
Went to bed immediately. We have to wake up at 1:30AM tomorrow to catch our flight.
July 22 New York NY - Abbotsford
Woke up at 1:30AM, Rita said she didn't sleep at all. Caught a taxi to LaGuardia at 2:30AM. There was no traffic at time of night, so it was clear sailing. During the day it probably would have cost 4-5 times the time and money to get to the airport. Hadn't planned on it, but it worked out great for us, taking that early flight. It was the only flight with a reasonable layover in Toronto.
Had breakfast at the only coffee shop that was open at that time. Went through security. The plane left on time, but when we landed in Toronto we were delayed, because the plane that was parked in the gate we were arriving in, had luggage with a missing passenger on it.
Went through customs, no problem. Had to go through the long lineup at security again. We arrived at the gate right on time. Boarded immediately, and were on our way home to ABBOTSFORD INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT.
Eija was there to meet us. We were really tired, and I forgot to take any pictures.
It was a great holyday. We saw and experienced a lot, but it was wonderful to be home.
