There Is No Place Like Home!

We are home! And we are glad to see the kids and dogs and be back in our own beds. It is also nice to see the sun, too! I have so much catching up to do on this blog and will do it this weekend to fill in the blanks. . . .I have several entries started but they are not ready to post. Steve and I traveled for 24 hours straight on Tuesday from Latvia to New York. We had a ten hour layover in Amsterdam and that wasn't very much fun. The chairs were not comfortable and there was no place to lay down. There are also no places to go to get away from smokers and I needed a breath of fresh air so badly. (People are allowed to smoke in public areas in Europe.) I was getting a little claustrophic. :( We flew KLM airlines this time and sat in business class again. We had a comfortable and roomy trip back to the state but Czech Airlines still is the way to fly.

Anyway, we got to New York around 9 p.m. on Tuesday night and took a taxi to the Waldorf Astoria hotel. We would not have been able to get to our connecting flight at LaGuardia from JFK airport so we decided to stay in New York City for a day before going home. Our "taxi" from the airport was $90.00 for a 30-minute ride!!! Yikes! Later we realized we got taken advantage of. It wasn't a taxi but a limosine service. The guy asked Steve if he wanted a taxi but didn't say he was a limosine service. And it was not a limosine. . .sigh. . . I've always wanted to ride in one. Anyway, when we got to the hotel we were pleased to find out that we were upgraded to a suite because of Steve's Hilton Honors ranking. So, we were able to relax and get caught up on some sleep. Yesterday (Wednesday) we went to Starbucks and got our breakfast and ate it as we sat in the lobby. The Waldorf Astoria is a gorgeous old hotel. There was a clock that chimed every 15 minutes and on the hour and it was so pretty. Our suite on the 22nd floor was really nice, too. We even had his and hers bathrooms! When I woke up after a good night's sleep I opened the windows to see what the city looked like. I saw at least three dozen taxis on the street below us. They looked like little yellow bugs going every which direction. I don't think I've seen that many taxis all a once! We also saw St. Bartholomew's Church next to the hotel and the New York City skyline. For breakfast we went to Starbucks on the first floor and ate it as we sat in the lobby. We checked out of the hotel before noon and checked our bags so we could tour the city for a little while. We had lunch at the Tavern on the Green at Central Park. That was a beautiful place, too! The highlight of our day in New York was seeing the Broadway play, "The Color Purple" and it was GREAT! I wanted to see it last year and thought it ended on December 31st. The season must have been extended. I was thrilled to have a chance to see it. When Steve told the clerk that I was hearing impaired, we got front row seats for a great discount! As soon as the show was over, we walked back to the hotel to get our bags and take a taxi to the airport. This time our fare was less than $30.00. We'll know what to do next time. Chris was waiting for us and was glad to see us. Our bags were already at the baggage claim so it didn't take long to get out of the airport. We got home about midnight.

The jet lag is getting to me. I have a meeting to go to tonight but will go to bed instead. I did go to work for a few hours and Steve worked all day at home. But, we had a great trip and miss our dear friends in Latvia already.