NYC: Day 1

The trip to new York got off to a good start. After finding that the Toronto subways don't start on Sundays until 8am, we caught a cab to the airport.
No traffic holdups later, we were one and a half hours early for our 9am flight.
The flight left 10 min early as it was only 2 thirds full, and a tailwind put us in La Guardia airport, almost 30 minutes ahead of schedule.



The yellow cab ride was no different from most others, but did seem a little faster, and closer to the car in front. Also the cab had a screen with advertising and a GPS map so we could see where we were.




As soon as we were on Manhattan island and going across town, things of course slowed up, but we soon arrived at Macys on 34th and Broadway.

Unfortunately for us, they had just packed up their Christmas display, but we had a good look around the 'worlds biggest store' for an hour or so.

After Macy's it was time for lunch, so skipped across the road to a pizzaria for a new York slice.

Feeling better after a bite, we wandered down to the end of the block to go up the Empire State building, but after seeing the queue stretching down the road and around the corner, we decided to come back later.

So now we needed to get from 34th st to our hotel on 46th st, and what better way than to use the subway.
Well, what a trip. It was only 1 stop to our destination of times square, but after using the subways in Vancouver and Toronto we were just shocked. I'm never going to complain about the Toronto subway ever again.
While the station with its 3 levels and multiple train routes on one track does make things confusing, it just didn't feel right. Dirty, dark and downright weird.

So anyway, we came out at the 42nd st times square stop, and fought our way through the masses of people on 7th avenue. I have never seen anything like it, it was like coming out of a rugby game at athletic park, but the exit is 4 city blocks long and there are people on the side selling things.



We checked into the hotel at around 2:30pm, and found the room on the 9th floor. It was at the end of the corridor and in the right place for a nice view over times square, but instead walked into a broom closet with a double bed! Wondering where the rest of it was, Aimee and I found the equally sized bathroom, but that was all there was.
Hmmm, 3 nights in this? Hopefully we'll not be spending too much time here anyway, and it doesn't matter how big the room is when you're asleep.

After a revitalizing nap, we went out for some dinner at planet Hollywood in times square, and had a bit more of a look around before retiring for the night.