American Adventures: Day 1 New York

Monday 14 December

So, this morning started very stressfully. Emily wanted to make an early start and set the alarm for 6.30am. She was on the computer looking things up and checking out sites. We ventured out and had breakfast just around the corner - biggest breakfast ever! I had a 3 egg omelet and I swear that those eggs must have been emu eggs because that omelette was huge - struggled to finish it, and it wasn't as good as dad's - just saying! Em had a Bacon and egg panini, also huge and both meals came with a side of potatoes. Weird I know.
That was not the stressful part, this next bit is…but it's not really, we were just stressing about not knowing where to go. Both of us being female, and therefore obviously not good at map reading, began stressing about our whereabouts. It's quite a confusing city - too many streets with east and west ends of them. Argh, probably by Friday when we have to leave we'll have our bearings. We didn't have this much trouble together in Paris, but Paris is much smaller. Anyway, finally after asking many people for help with directions we found a bus stop for the hop on hop off buses we bought tickets for. Yay for us!!!
Today was cloudy and very foggy until about 3pm, just in time for an hour or so of sun before sunset around 4.30pm. On our bus rounds, the fog was so low that as we went past the Empire State building we couldn't see the top. We did however get off at Macy's and have a wander inside. The decorations on the ground floor are so beautiful. Macy's was the first store to have Christmas displays in the windows. The theme this year Charlie Brown and Snoopy!!!
We also went past the 9/11 Memorial - will go back tomorrow to do that properly. Got off the bus at Central Park and went on a horse and carriage ride. Was fun. Emily felt sorry for the horses though. We then walked back to the NBC studios and shop where Emily bought a Jimmy Fallon and Friends shirt. After some more aimless wondering, aka begin lost, we asked a lovely NYPD officer for directions to the Rockefeller Centre and had a look at the enormous Christmas tree overlooking the ice skating rink. It was very beautiful and would no doubt look more beautiful at night.
The weather has turned tonight - have been having showers. But good news, it will be fine and sunny tomorrow! We were going to go on a night bus tour, but when the showers started we changed our minds. Didn't want to get wet on the open top bus and risk getting sick for the rest of the trip, so we spent the evening planning the next couple of days and watching the weather channel.