NYC: Day One

I left home this morning and picked up my daughter, my granddaughter, and my "adopted" daughter.  We turned east on 77 and set off for a four-day trip to NYC.  For people from the country this is no small thing.  Fortunately for us we have family living there to guide us in the way of city life.  As I've mentioned before, we have family everywhere.

For most of our trip we enjoyed light traffic and beautiful scenery.  The leaves were really putting on their best autumn faces for our pleasure and we saw only a rare farm scattered here and there on the rolling hills.  I had no idea one could travel all day through Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York without seeing any major metropolises. And then we saw The City.

As luck, or bad timing would have it, we managed to arrive during rush hour.  The traffic leaving the city was at a complete stop more than once, stretched as far as the eye could see.  I used to think driving from Sugarcreek to Berlin is an exercise in patience.  Not so much anymore.  Crawling along at 40 mph with the occasional pause for a tourist gawking at a buggy does not compare with four lanes of traffic at a dead stop.  Thankfully, those of us heading toward Gomorrah, as Paul has taken to calling it the past few days, kept moving along at breathtaking speeds.  At one point I followed traffic between two stopped vehicles, fender-bender or mechanical problems I know not and didn't stop to ask.  A few minutes later an accident happened right behind us but there was no place or time to get involved.  All the pertinent cars stopped and emptied out their occupants, the other million or so kept on getting out of Dodge.  When I kept saying "Jesus!"  I was not taking the Lord's name in vain; I was in fervent prayer.  And He was faithful.  We are alive and happily ensconced in our hotel.

The kind lady from the front desk had assured me on the phone, yesterday, that although there are not enough spaces to park for all the rooms at the hotel, they are "almost never all taken" and I "don't need to worry."    This, of course, did little to dispel my propensity for worrying.  After passing it the first time around, we drove into the parking lot beside the hotel, the lot marked "rental cars."  Thank-you Jesus, it was also for use by hotel guests and we got one of the last spots available on the lot, right close to the entrance to the hotel and securely surrounded with a fence.

Since it was getting dark by the time we got checked-in and hauled all our luggage to the seventh floor (yes we are four females so between us we probably brought ten pairs of shoes and numerous bags and suitcases), we debated whether we should venture out and about in unfamiliar territory at night.  The lady at the desk assured us it was safe and hey, we were not steered wrong on the availability of a parking space, so off we went.  I didn't know I could walk so fast but when motivated by the eery sensation of impending doom, well, the girls could barely keep up with me.  

We ended up at Victoria's Pizzeria, promised by Google to be a "hole-in-the-wall with great food."  Marlene was wanting some authentic New York style pizza so that sounded good.  And our enchilada's, burritos, and guacamole hot sauce were most excellent, indeed.  A steamy Latin drama was playing on the overhead screens and we didn't need to speak the language to understand.  Corona, the neighborhood we would be staying in for the next few days, has been changing from mostly African American to Hispanic and, indeed, it looked like we had stepped into South America in our four-block walk from the hotel.  I guess Marlene's pizza will have to wait for another day. 

Back at the hotel I got a quick tutorial from the pool guy on where the 7 train's station is, how long it would take to get there, and where we should go when we got on it.  I think I have it straight. We'll see when we set out to meet the relatives in the morning.  

Looking out my seventh floor window I can see the almost nonstop elevated trains running. And I hear bagpipes.  Yes, there are two guys standing in the parking lot playing bagpipes.  Sirens harmonize as a crisis erupts a few blocks away.  This is all pretty exciting but I wouldn't mind seeing a buggy right about now.