New York City Day 1

I am preparing for Stamp Club later this afternoon but wanted to take a break and share a few of my pictures from my latest adventure to New York City.  We had such a great time.  The plan was for me to fly to DC on Friday, arriving at 1:30; Ashley was going to pick me up and we were going to the metro station to leave her car (cheaper there) and take the Metro to Union Station where our bus was leaving for NYC at 3.  I was not checking my bags so I could save time there as well.  Well, best laid plans .... my flight had some difficulty leaving Charlotte (the baggage door wouldn't close).   I had not checked baggage but the plane was a small one - we actually had to walk out on the tarmac to board where they took our carry-on bags since there was no room for all of them inside the plane.  So, we didn't get out of Charlotte until an hour after we were scheduled.  So by the time I got to DC & had to wait for my bag, we did not have time to go to the Metro station.  We drove straight to Union Station where we left Ashley's car for 5 days to a tune of $120!!  We were afraid we were going to miss our bus and would have to drive so I am sure parking in NYC would have been triple that plus I did not want to drive to NYC in Ashley's little tiny Fiesta rental car!!  They were loading the bus when we arrived so all worked out.  The traffic was terrible going to NYC and it took us forever to get there it seemed!  But arrive we did .  We ended up having to walk about a mile or more to our hotel and it was cold!  At one point, we stopped and I opened my suitcase right there on the sidewalk to find my hat and jacket.  Our hotel turned out to be much nicer than we had expected and for some reason, they gave us a handicap room so the room and bathroom were quite large for NYC standards.  We were just a block off Times Square and about a block from the Subway so the location was great.  My only complaint with the room was there was no drawers, shelves, etc. to put your stuff and it was hot.  But we found out every place is hot on the inside in NY.  We could not control the heat but there was a fan on the A/C that we kept running the whole time.  After unpacking, we headed out to find something to eat.  You know us, we found a nice Irish bar near our hotel and had some dinner.  When we returned to our hotel room, the theater right next door to our hotel was just getting out and we saw Maggie  Gyllenhaal (I remember her from the movie, Crazy Heart) coming out of the theater and signing autographs.  She is in the play, The Real Thing with Ewan McGregor. We were excited to see a celebrity on our first day!  We had another celeb sighting on Sunday while we were enjoying a delicious pastrami sandwich and cheesecake from Carnegie Deli - Andrew Dice Clay.  Although, I really wouldn't have spotted him if the people at our table hadn't pointed him out.  He was enjoying lunch with his kids.  What is funny is a few days later, I saw him on Good Morning America or Today show or one of those morning shows!

Here are a few pictures - will share more later.

I was supposed to photoshop the Cheetahs sign from this!!

Andrew Dice Clay spotting