New York

At last we are in New York.  The trip from Brisbane to Sydney to Los Angeles to Chicago to New York was very long and exhausting.  But we made it - we arrived at our accommodation and bed about 1 a.m. on Monday (USA time).  We nearly missed one plane connection because our plane arrived late; Aimee was searched at one airport; my carry-on bag was picked up by someone else (fortunately I noticed in time); my carry-on bag was searched because it showed something solid in the scan (turned out to be my camera!); we had almost no sleep for the whole trip (and not very much the night before we left) - so we slept very soundly when we arrived in New York.

Monday, after waking late, we went down for a late breakfast and then caught a bus into New York city and toured the northern part of the city.  Had lunch about 3 p.m., and then went walking through the city (which was wall-to-wall with people), looked at the HUGE Toys R Us store (3 large floors), went to the M & Ms store (another 3 large floors) and the Hersheys store.  Enjoyed all that.  Came back to the unit - Wendy, Martin & Aimee walked to the shops to pick up tea, which we ate when they arrived back about 9.30 p.m.  Again, dropped into bed exhausted.  I went down for breakfast about 8.30 a.m. (which the others missed because they were still asleep).  They have now gone out for a Subway breakfast, and then we are off to the city again to catch a bus tour for the southern part of the city.