Welcome to New York

Okay, here's the story.

My older sister Sarah was studying abroad in France, and we had planned to pick her up in Paris. However, the best laid plans of mice and family didn't work out for us.

My mother, Katie and I flew from Houston to LaGuardia, then took a shuttle to Newark, hoping to get a plane to Paris. While waiting, a series of storms hit us. We couldn't get out. That night, we discover that all the flights leaving Europe were overbooked until Tuesday. Mom was in tears. Katie thought the best thing to do was to stay in New York, so we did.

We stayed in a hotel in Carteret, NJ that night. Mom got us a hotel in Downtown Manhattan, so we didn't have to go back and forth.

We took a train from Rahway, NJ to Manhattan.

I got the train while it was moving.

We got off at Pennsylvania Station, which is near Madison Square Garden. This is the first thing you see when you get out.

Our hotel room was a block away from the Empire State Building. You can't get a better location at the price we got.

We had lunch at the Europa Cafe at the base of the building then went to the Observation Deck located on the 86th floor.

What a sight.

Hello, down there!