New York City and Amtrak

July 1, 2008 – New York City, New York

Day 1 and we did not make it too far. We are still in New York! Yes, that is right boys and girls; we spent the night in New York City. The day started with a doctor’s appointment, some last minute errands, lunch with dad, and then a 2:18 train from Central Islip. We were right on track to meet our 4:00pm Amtrak train to Chicago in New York City until the unexpected happened. Our train was delayed for over an hour because of a brush fire near the tracks. To make a long story short, we missed the train in New York City and ended up staying the night. In Penn Station we were able to change our tickets and check our luggage. Would you know it….our luggage was too heavy! We exceeded that weight limit (the story of our lives). Needless to say we were the two twins in the middle of Penn Station unpacking and weighing our bags! Hopefully our luggage, two bags and now a stunning new cardboard box will arrive with us in Chicago.

We started the evening with a nice walk around ground zero and explored some of the back streets. We also decided to go to the concierge floor and enjoy some snacks, with the Statue of Liberty and one of those New York City man made waterfalls in the background. These waterfalls were built by a 41 year-old Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson; they are a series of four man-made cascades installed on the shores of Brooklyn, Manhattan and Governors Island. We then went to the health club at the hotel and went swimming after we watched the sunset. What a nice unexpected addition to our trip.

Day 2

We are still in New York and enjoying every minute of it. We decided to take a New York City Duck Tour, that’s right folks the famous Boston Duck Tours have made it to NY. It was great fun, we got some free quackers (duck noise makers) and something unique they do is the actual vehicle is driven into a movie/ride simulator. Some quick New York City Fun Facts…Did you know that the Empire State Building was built in one year and forty five days…also the New York Public Library took over seven years to build? We has been educated and cultured! Good times!

After the tour we decided to have lunch at a restaurant in the Hell’s Kitchen section of NY and then headed on to Penn Station, we left plenty of time so we would not miss our train today!

On the train we have a room in Sleeper Car. This means we have our own bathroom, bunk beds four large windows and who knew we could convert the sink into a cooler chest! Of course we had to have a mini cocktail party before dinner is their any other way to travel?

Day 3

We have yet to update the Blog and we are SOOOO Sorry for that! We have limited internet service on Amtrak, I think I will write to the CEO about that! I’m also sorry to report that we have yet to meet some odd characters like the ones we met on our journey last summer (I would like to give them a shout-out if they are reading this). After a very uneventful dinner last night, we had some grilled chicken and Prime Rib (not to shabby), we decided to watch a movie and enjoy the sights. Thus far we have been from New York City to Albany, Albany to Cleveland and Cleveland to Chicago. On a side note we are running approximately 4 hours behind schedule. The Windy City here we come!