Baltimore, Maryland to New York City, New York 2/15/2014
FEBRUARY 15, 2014 (Saturday)
Didn’t sleep very well. We were so disappointed in the Sheraton. The room itself was quite lovely, the restaurant wonderful, but when the State Foosball Convention got out at around 11:30 PM, the noise level was everywhere and it continued most of the night. They really need to soundproof their rooms better.
Anyway, we got up and left pretty early. We went directly to the nearest McDonald’s for breakfast and then hit the road. It was raining and snowing the whole route but the roads were good. We could not believe all the tolls involved in getting to New York City. It cost $13.00 just to cross the tunnel into Manhattan. No wonder people don’t drive in here.
Anyway, we stopped for Starbucks in New Jersey, topped off on the gas ($3.50 a gallon) in case we got stuck on the freeway.
We got to our hotel around 2:00 PM. Michael stayed outside in the car while Lexi and I checked in. It’s a lovely new Hilton Garden Inn on 54th Street. Now it’s my time to brag – I used Skyauction to book our hotel in New York City. (The Skyauction buy it now.) I put in 3 adults, 6 nights in New York City, Times Square/Broadway area. I had been looking for several weeks and had a place booked in Queens, but just didn’t want to be cold and out walking late at night, so I cancelled it. Anyway, Skyauction had what we wanted for the six nights for $903.57. I thought that was a really good price, but then found out it was for TWO rooms. Yahoo. Was so glad – especially when we got to our room and saw how small they were. It would have been so miserable to cram all three of us in here. Nice rooms close to everything.
After we got our bags and everything up to our rooms, Michael and I drove to the parking garage where we got six days for $120.00. That was the best deal I could find. It was near 60th Street and we had a fifteen minute walk to get back to our room. Not a bad walk, however, and going to get the car will even be better because it will be downhill.
When we got back to our room, we waited on Lexi to finish getting made up and pretty. We walked around the corner to the David Letterman Show and signed up for their lottery, then walked down to Times Square. Not very far at all. We totally walked by the discount ticket place in Times Square. I hadn’t noticed it as I was watching Spiderman, Elmo, and Mickey Mouse. We went back and waited in line to get tickets to Motown the Musical. We were told by people in line that it was excellent and they enjoyed it more than Cinderella. Well, by the time we got up to the window and asked for the tickets, they were all gone. We’re hopeful we’ll be able to get some this week as we’d like to see it.
By this time the snow was coming down really hard and we were hungry. We decided on the Applebee’s that Lexi and I had gone to when we went to the Tony Awards Show a few years ago. We were able to be immediately seated. Lexi ordered the most expensive drink (some kind of margarita) and a salad, I ordered a oriental chicken salad, and Michael ordered broccoli/chicken pasta. Everything was excellent. Our server was really nice. We asked her where she lived and how she got into work. She said she lived in Queens and it took her about 45 minutes to get to work on the subway. She said it costs about $2.50 each way.
After we left Applebee’s we just window shopped and looked around. Also found out it hurts when snowflakes fall into your eyes. On the walk back it was getting very icy so we were glad we were going back to our “home” for the evening.
That was our day. Hope yours was great!+
