The City...

I'm blogging to you this evening from the Hostelling International New York Hostel on Amsterdam Avenue. YAY!

It's pretty exciting. The girl on my right has an Australian accent and the boy to my left has a british one. I'm pretty sure that the girl on the bunk above me is from the UK. Sweetnesss...maybe I can make some new friends. That'd be nice.

Today I took the Commuter Train into Boston and then walked right onto the Fung Wah bus. It's good timing, is all. I waltzed right past a lot of forlorn looking people in the line for the Greyhound bus to NYC right to the eager arms of the Fung Wah girls already ready with change for my $20 bill. It's pretty fantastic like that.

Once I got on the bus and was being driven on the Manhattan Bridge into Manhattan itself, I realized...oh no...where am I going? I whipped out my subway maps and found out that there is more than one way to skin a cat...but I think I found the right way. It just took me a few trains to get uptown to my hostel and welcoming bed.

I had just enough time to get settled and stuff my suitcase into my locker before I headed back downtown to Midtown Manhattan. I was on a mission, to find a certain Diane...from Jersey. So off I went, searching, searching for that elusive subway station that should have been down this block, but was infact down that one. I found the uptown side of the station...no...I want to go downtown. hmmm. I circled the block to find nothing but street. Maybe this is the only side of the station? Meh, whatever, I've got time. So I took the train up to the next station and then made the cross to the downtown train. Funny.

That wasn't enough though. Diane and I had a nice stroll down 5th Avenue and to Tiffany's (which was far too busy to actually consider buying something), into the new Apple Store by the FAO Schwartz. Circling back to her office, we stopped at Starbucks where I paid $.65 for a Grande Latte and a Parfait (everybody loves parfait)...thanks for the giftcard Mom and Dad...err...Santa! Up to the office we went to say hello to Diane's Dad and I hung out for probably another hour or so, just chillin' and eating my parfait, drinking my Latte...just enough to get hyper again. oh geez...When I had first arrived Diane had been the enthusiastic and bubbly one, when I left I was the one that was bubbly...she was just plain tired after working all day.

Once I left I headed towards Rockefeller Center. YAY for skating in the winter and the big Christmas Tree was still up. It was fantastic, absolutely awesome. I took photos...sweet. Then I was headed in the general direction for scoping out where I need to be first thing in the morning tomorrow, but I got distracted and ended up in St. Patricks Cathedral first. Said a prayer, a decade of the rosary and lit a candle in memory of Erich. Then it was off to H&M...which would probably be my favorite store, except that I don't have ready access to one in Ithaca. Boo. Anywho...

That's when I started to circle. I would go down 6th Avenue and think I was going down 53rd or vice versa. I just kept going in circles and getting sidetracked, not remembering exactly where I had been coming from.

It was confusing. But I made it back alright. Fantastic. Now I'm going to crash and probably just sleep the night away, or knit. One of the two.

More on this adventure later! Next time I decided to pay for internet service.