New York, Thursday

We're on the plane, going to New York! I was so excited, I could hardly stand myself. Brief layover in Chicago, then on to the Big Apple. Whoo hoooo!!!

We had a car pick us up at the airport - doesn't that sound fancy? I could have booked Super Shuttle for $32, or the car for $35. Which option would you have chosen? Yep - the car. The driver's name was Mazhran. I couldn't understand a word he said, but he was very nice and got us to the hotel in one piece. You have to be very brave to drive in New York City.

My beautiful daughter, with her amazing hotel connections, booked us into the Radisson Lexington. It's a "petite" room - and they mean "petite". Enough room for a desk, a nightstand and the bed. You need to inform the other person in the room when you need to move from one place to the other - you can't both move at the same time. I never did find out what this was, but looking out the hotel window, there was a kitchen below us.

Kitchen . . . food . . . mmmmm, we were HUNGRY. Across the street from the hotel was a pizza place. Almost every seat was filled with a police officer - the pizza had to be good - AND nobody will mug us, right? The pizza WAS good!! Jenna had her favorite pepperoni - I tried the spicy chicken. Yumm.

Next stop was the subway to buy two week long passes. We took the subway "Uptown" to the stop closest to the Empire State Building. The pictures don't do it justice - it was gorgeous! I'm really glad we got to see it at night.

So far, New York has been just like you see on TV. People everywhere, lots of traffic and lots of cabs. Tiny store fronts wedged next to each other. One might be a liquor store, next to a restaurant, next to a flower stand, with a supermodel. By now it's midnight, and one of us is tired. It's back on the subway, back to the hotel to get some sleep and get ready for tomorrow. I can hardly believe I'm finally here!