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.