Day #2 East Windsor/Windsor Lock to New York

Ventured out from our quaint little town and the train station...

was cute and small town. We arrived much earlier than needed to and were ready to board the train when it arrived. We caught the Amtrak and headed in from the heat, toasty warm today. We rode a two car train into New Haven, CT. The countryside was so beautiful. I am looking forward to having the rental car to explore more of CT and New England. The train line traveled through a lot of industrial areas and modest neighbourhoods. We arrived in New Haven and had a 40 minute delay on our connection, so we had the chance to explore the train station and to have a slice of pizza.

We boarded our next train to New York... and this is what we learned. Always go to the back of the train - there are more seats; take a sweater and wear socks - the air con will be on... I ended up sleeping for most of the ride, but did wake up when we crossed the state line and made our first stops in New York. It was a little surreal to see the approaching skyline and to recognize several buildings. We came into the busy Penn Station and headed above ground for our first views of NYC.

This is what we saw:
Penn Station
Madison Square Gardens
Empire State Building
...then we hailed our first cab
Time Square
Grand Central Station
our hotel...

Then we headed out walking...
back down 42nd Ave,
to Time Square where we met a friend of Jenn's.

We entered a ticket lottery for front row tickets to Priscilla Queen of the Desert for $40 each. I won but could only get 2 tickets and there were three of us, so we bailed. We went to the TKTS booth and got 3 tickets to "Catch Me if You Can." Got the best salad and red velvet cupcake from Europa Cafe and enjoyed that while taking in Time Square.

While waiting for the show to start we walked down Broadway, passed the Ed Sullivan Theatre, walked through Columbus Circle and ducked into Central Park for a quick walk before heading down Central Park South to check out the Plaza Hotel. WOW! Again surreal to see it after seeing it so many times in movies.

A quick walk and cab ride back to the theatre to see our first Broadway show! Loved it! And loved it so much that I later bought the soundtrack.

Coming out of the theatre at 10:30pm to see the lights of Time Square brightly lighting the area was unlike anything I have ever seen. We took advantage of the open shops and did some window shopping. No purchases yet.

After remembering to stop to buy more water, we returned to our lovely hotel overlooking 42nd Ave. I keep looking at the time and realizing that the computer is still in PST and it's now 1:30am... good night from the city that really never sleeps!