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Our last morning in New York dawned cloudy and a little cooler. There was just enough time to take a walk back down to Gantry State Park to sit and enjoy the view, and to investigate the Gantries which give the park its name. On the way we had a look at some of the smaller curios in the neighbourhood, including the house with a front yard (very rare), the fire station with the stuffed dog out front, and the restaurant facade created solely from rolling pins!
Beatta had informed us earlier that a late checkout was fine, so we planned to leave at about 2pm to make the taxi ride into Penn Station, and take the train to Newark Airport in New Jersey.
Packed our stuff and then headed out for lunch, which we had chosen to take at the 'Court Square Diner', just near the subway stations we'd used every day. Lunch was OK - cheap and plentiful, though the fried clams did not match Minuk's childhood memories! They contained a bit more dough than actual clam as it happened.
Back at the apartment, a final cooling shower, and we headed off to find a taxi. Did not take too long, though we ended up in an 'unofficial' type of taxi in the end. Quite a slow trip, with heavy traffic, but we made it to Penn Station, bought our tickets and were soon off to the airport.
There is an automated train taking one from the station to the terminal, and once there, we found a schemozzle at the check in counters. Did our manual check in, then joined the queue, only to find we should have dropped our bags first! Bit of a rush to make the security screening then, but eventually made the flight.
I spent the flight reading 'Rapture of the Nerds' on the Kindle, and we enjoyed the lunch we'd earlier bought at Food Cellar. Much better than the stuff for sale on the flight. Nevertheless, the 6 hour passed reasonably painlessly, and we arrived at LAX pretty much on time. Passed through US Immigration to depart the USA and made our way to the departure lounge for our flight to Sydney. This lounge area was much less 3rd world -like than the one in which we'd waited for our flight to Toronto on the journey out. In fact I found only the 2nd decent coffee I'd had in North America at the 'Kaffee Klatch' stall! Wonders never cease.
In retrospect, we should have partaken of the United Airlines offer to delay our flight for a day, and accept $US1500 each and a night in a hotel in LA (the aircraft was too heavy). We chose not to, mostly because we were on our way, so thought we might as well continue (the $US1500 was credit for flights on United of course!). Anyhow, given how tired we were after the 14 hour flight to Sydney, the 1 hour delay at the execrable Sydney Airport, the short hop down to Melbourne and taxi trip home, which saw us in the door and greeted by enthusiastic cats fully 32 hours after we'd closed the door of the apartment in Long Island City, perhaps we might think differently if there is a 'next time' for such an offer.
Beatta had informed us earlier that a late checkout was fine, so we planned to leave at about 2pm to make the taxi ride into Penn Station, and take the train to Newark Airport in New Jersey.
Packed our stuff and then headed out for lunch, which we had chosen to take at the 'Court Square Diner', just near the subway stations we'd used every day. Lunch was OK - cheap and plentiful, though the fried clams did not match Minuk's childhood memories! They contained a bit more dough than actual clam as it happened.
Back at the apartment, a final cooling shower, and we headed off to find a taxi. Did not take too long, though we ended up in an 'unofficial' type of taxi in the end. Quite a slow trip, with heavy traffic, but we made it to Penn Station, bought our tickets and were soon off to the airport.
There is an automated train taking one from the station to the terminal, and once there, we found a schemozzle at the check in counters. Did our manual check in, then joined the queue, only to find we should have dropped our bags first! Bit of a rush to make the security screening then, but eventually made the flight.
I spent the flight reading 'Rapture of the Nerds' on the Kindle, and we enjoyed the lunch we'd earlier bought at Food Cellar. Much better than the stuff for sale on the flight. Nevertheless, the 6 hour passed reasonably painlessly, and we arrived at LAX pretty much on time. Passed through US Immigration to depart the USA and made our way to the departure lounge for our flight to Sydney. This lounge area was much less 3rd world -like than the one in which we'd waited for our flight to Toronto on the journey out. In fact I found only the 2nd decent coffee I'd had in North America at the 'Kaffee Klatch' stall! Wonders never cease.
In retrospect, we should have partaken of the United Airlines offer to delay our flight for a day, and accept $US1500 each and a night in a hotel in LA (the aircraft was too heavy). We chose not to, mostly because we were on our way, so thought we might as well continue (the $US1500 was credit for flights on United of course!). Anyhow, given how tired we were after the 14 hour flight to Sydney, the 1 hour delay at the execrable Sydney Airport, the short hop down to Melbourne and taxi trip home, which saw us in the door and greeted by enthusiastic cats fully 32 hours after we'd closed the door of the apartment in Long Island City, perhaps we might think differently if there is a 'next time' for such an offer.