![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Grand Final day in New York
Sep. 7th, 2018 12:44 pmFinal day in New York. Only really had the morning and a small bit of evening.
I wanted to do the Grand Central Station tour. Found the office, nowhere near where the website said it was, but there was no-one there. So we went looking for the office again where the website said it was. Still couldn't find it but when we got back there was finally someone manning the ticket booth.
That wasn't until 12:30, so did a quick trawl round the shops. Somehow I was the one who was the impulse purchaser in the HBO store. But we did need the Game of Thrones cookie cutters! Flickums, of course, impulse purchased a book in Barnes And Noble, because she clearly doesn't have enough books.
Grand Central tour was interesting. Random facts learned included the knowledge that the staircase at one end was not added until the 1990's, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis campaigned to save the station when it was about to be replaced by a skyscraper, they once erected an Redstone rocket in the station during the cold war, and that there is a whispering gallery outside the Oyster Bar. Saw several people heading into the corners trying it out. Naturally, after the tour, I needed to drag flickums down there. She was not all that interested at first but she seemed amused when we actually tried it out.
Finally back to the airport. The man in front of the hotel directed us into a limo, shared with another person, which would allegedly have been cheaper than a taxi (it wasn't, although only $15 more and we get to travel in style). Traffic was awful, so it took about twice as long to get there as expected, which is always worrying. Fortunately it did only take 20 minutes or so to get through the security queue and we had 90 minutes or so until boarding closed. The queue wrangling was bizarre with multiple queues being stopped and eventually let through to the metal detectors.
As it turned out, the plane was delayed because the aircrew were stuck in the same traffic that we were. It didn't matter too much because all the planes were grounded due to a thunderstorm (which would have been nice had it happened a little earlier). Still, plane took off. Landed. Passport control took about 20 seconds. Waiting for bags took forever. Still, it was just a short tram ride home and finally we were in!
I wanted to do the Grand Central Station tour. Found the office, nowhere near where the website said it was, but there was no-one there. So we went looking for the office again where the website said it was. Still couldn't find it but when we got back there was finally someone manning the ticket booth.
That wasn't until 12:30, so did a quick trawl round the shops. Somehow I was the one who was the impulse purchaser in the HBO store. But we did need the Game of Thrones cookie cutters! Flickums, of course, impulse purchased a book in Barnes And Noble, because she clearly doesn't have enough books.
Grand Central tour was interesting. Random facts learned included the knowledge that the staircase at one end was not added until the 1990's, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis campaigned to save the station when it was about to be replaced by a skyscraper, they once erected an Redstone rocket in the station during the cold war, and that there is a whispering gallery outside the Oyster Bar. Saw several people heading into the corners trying it out. Naturally, after the tour, I needed to drag flickums down there. She was not all that interested at first but she seemed amused when we actually tried it out.
Finally back to the airport. The man in front of the hotel directed us into a limo, shared with another person, which would allegedly have been cheaper than a taxi (it wasn't, although only $15 more and we get to travel in style). Traffic was awful, so it took about twice as long to get there as expected, which is always worrying. Fortunately it did only take 20 minutes or so to get through the security queue and we had 90 minutes or so until boarding closed. The queue wrangling was bizarre with multiple queues being stopped and eventually let through to the metal detectors.
As it turned out, the plane was delayed because the aircrew were stuck in the same traffic that we were. It didn't matter too much because all the planes were grounded due to a thunderstorm (which would have been nice had it happened a little earlier). Still, plane took off. Landed. Passport control took about 20 seconds. Waiting for bags took forever. Still, it was just a short tram ride home and finally we were in!
