We left the Penny Sleeper at 5.30am by taxi then bus to the airport for our flight to New York via Baltimore. We finally arrived at 8.15pm. From there we caught our first New York cab to our motel, the Omni Park Central on 7th Avenue, right across the street from Carnegie Hall. Now called Park Central, as it was when it was first built in the late 1920s, it was organised for us by the parents of an exchange student I had in Gunnedah High School at the time. Unfortunately I did not get to meet them as they could not battle the traffic from Long Island where they lived to come into Manhatten, as it was not only the 4th of July weeked, but also the 200th anniversary of the opening of the Statue of Liberty! Instead they left flowers for me in the unit, which was thoughtful. However the route to our room was fraught with drama ....
After much difficulty communicating with the receptionist who could not understand my Kiwi/Aussie accent, we left our bags with the porter and made our way to the tenth floor to find our room. But then the lift stopped inexplicably on the 9th floor. We phoned reception on the lift phone, but suddenly we shot up to the 26th floor! We got out there to find it deserted, apart from a piano sitting all on its own. So bizarre. After finding that the lifts were now not working we walked down two floors and tried the lifts on the other side of the building. They worked, and we finally made it to the tenth floor - but couldn't find the room! Meanwhile the porter who had our bags could not get in as we had the key, so he went away again. We missed him at reception so when we went successfully back up to our room we had a key but no luggage! It eventually arrived and all was well. We went to a cafe nearby for tea, spending what American dollars we had (only travellers cheques and cash in those days), then fell into bed, ready for a big, but hopefully not as problematic, day tomorrow.
