Walking and Shopping in NYC

11:54pm EST NYC

So we leisurely got out of bed this morning, drove to Trenton and caught the 11:30 am train to Penn Station. We were able to check in early to Hotel Pennsylvania and by 1:30 we sat down to sandwiches, a wilted Caesar, and a soda for $5. We marched off to Macy’s which was only a block or two down the street. Now Mel and Clare find rows and rows of handbags as an almost orgasmic experience. I, Jenny of the purse-wallet, was not so impressed. So we meandered through a floor of shoes. Again – eh.

After several more floors we decide to head to Bloomies. Clare wants to walk and I said okay, as long as we take the subway back. So we trekked from 33rd to 59th and Central Park then across to Lexington, pausing on 5th Avenue for some pictures. By this time we were all pooped so we high tailed it up to the café on the 7th floor for a soda, then worked our way down from there.

Wandering through the bedding section slightly ahead of Melissa I hear a sales rep ask her if she needs help. Melissa’s classic response. “No thank you, I’m just touching everything.” I suppose I almost got in trouble when I took a photo of Clare with a five fingered duck glove on… but the camera was away before the lady could hunt us down. Clare and Mel bought t-shirts from the Bloomies store and I bought a grand total of nothing!

Off to the subway we went to hunt down Little Italy. I suggested we get off on Canal Street, but Mel wanted one street earlier so I obliged. Now we ended up walking the long way about – through China Town – which would have been a nice place to have dinner, if we hadn’t eaten at Rangoon’s the night before. We found this Italian place, a half a block from Canal Street Station. The waiter on the street polled people eating outside for us to help us decide. Fratelli’s it was, I think. The waiters were friendly and amusing. Ours tried to tell us some joke involving a business card and a million dollars. I think that he meant if we sign and date it, and bring it back in exactly 100 years, they’d give us – or our descendent – a mil. Anyway, we got back to the subway and sat waiting for the yellow trains, but only green ones came by. I thought we might be on the wrong platform but Mel swore there was only one. So I told us to get on the train to Union where at least we could change there. We successfully navigated the route… except Mel also said to get off on Herald Square… not 34th. The next stop being Times Square, we got off and went back to the previous station.

After a short trudge, there we were, the Empire State Building. Unlike our previous visit on New Year’s Day, it only took us 9 minutes to get through the ticket line. Clare timed us. Of course then we had to queue through security and then through the two elevators. Clare informed us those were hydraulic lifts… otherwise the cables would be too big and bulky for 80 floors. I guess having a lift repairman for a dad has some advantages.

We finally got to the top and were quite impressed. I’m glad I got to see it at night. I was windy, but not freezing… definitely not as bad as it was on New Years when then end of our noses went numb for most of that trip. Back at the hotel, I decided it was a good day. A little to much walking, but lots of silliness.