Manhattan Day 1

So we arrived via Amtrak and we answered the question of why few people travel Amtrak any more. The conductors are R-U-D-E rude! We were all bustled into 2 cars and when we couldn't find seats together because other passengers were spread out sleeping on multiple seats, we went to another car dragging our large suitcases behind us because they didn't check baggage. The conductor immediately stopped us from entering the almost empty car and asked why we were coming in. I said because there weren't any seats in the other car. "No seats?!?" he said loudly. "REALLY? Are you sure there were NO seats?" No I replied. "If I go back there and find seats will you give me a dollar for every empty seat I find?" I kept waiting for him to crack a smile or start laughing or give some indication he was joking but there was just uncomfortable silence with him staring at me and not letting me pass. "There are the 2 seats we just got up from but they are not together and we would like to sit together," I said. "Well then there ARE seats then, right?" "Yes, there are 2 seats but we want to sit together," I repeated. "Oh TOGETHER. Do you HAVE to sit together?" I kept turning to Nathan thinking this had to be a joke but he was very serious. "Can we NOT sit in this car or is there a sign I missed," I asked. He shook his head obviously perturbed and said "Go ahead and sit there but go back and bring all your tickets with you" (our tickets had been punched and displayed above our last seats that were NOT together. What a crappy Amtrak employee and what a great introduction to New York City I told Nathan. A few minutes later a guy that had been watching the altercation came up and said he was an Amtrak employee that was off but traveling home and apologized for the conductor's attitude and told us to write a letter to Amtrak because no one liked the conductor and they were hoping enough people complained. So I'll see what I can do because he sure pissed me off for the first 30 minutes of my train ride.

It was off the train at Penn Station and into the subway for a quick trip uptown to our modest digs at the Sheraton Manhattan on 7th Avenue (mom and dad belated bday gift to me-THANKS!) I wanted to share with mom the excellent amenities Sheraton gives to its guests for FREE so here's a photo. A cool shower cap and one shoe mitt. They must have forgotten the second shoe mitt for both my shoes, so I left a call in at the front desk.

We had dinner on the corner at Mars 2112. It's a for the kiddies but we went for the ambiance. Don't go for the food. We then walked down to Times Square where they were having a HUGE church tent revival in the middle of the street. It was very loud so we ducked into ToysRUs and Nathan went straight for what section? DUH!

And then early to bed with a fluffy down comforter. YUM!