This time we went to NY, there were some “firsts”.  Our regular dog sitter was unavailable, and so was our dog’s sister so we asked a friend in the neighborhood who also had dogs.  Mimi had met Sue near her house but never near ours.  Sue came over several times and Mimi found her acceptable so the trip went on as planned.

Since our past regular hotel is no longer available and we weren’t all that thrilled with the hotels we’d stayed in, I decided to try Airbnb.  I’d never used that before and I was a little overwhelmed by the choices that were available.  Unfortunately, I started looking on a Sunday morning when I rang handbells at both services.  So, I found the place I wanted and, since it was our first time, scanned in my driver’s license.  During church, I got a message that the scan was too blurry.  So, between services I scanned again and went back to church.  There is a time limit that they hold the place, so I was concerned.  After the second service, I found out we were accepted.  Hooray!

The place I choose had several amenities but the best was how close it was to Michael’s place.  Only .3 mile walk.  No subways, no Ubers.  Just a short walk.

On Friday, December 11, 2015 we headed out for Union Station in a reasonably timely fashion – only about 15 minutes late! Getting on Route 66, Tom realized he had forgotten his phone.  For once, we didn’t go home to get it.  Our schedule was very tight and we couldn’t miss this train.

The Amtrak parking lot was nearly full so we parked up on the very top layer, way on the side.  But we found a space.  They were already boarding when we got downstairs but we were able to find seats together on the train. The trip was normal, which was good.  We arrived in NYC on time.  Also good.  Michael had taken a half day off work, so he met us at Penn Station.

We took the subway and there was a stop right outside our Airbnb – very convenient!  We took our things in and met one of the owners, Paul, and their 2 adorable corgis.  Paul showed us around and gave us our key for the weekend.  The dogs followed us everywhere and I fell in love with them. 

Back on the subway to the Lincoln Center for the Big Apple Circus.  We’d seen them a couple times here but Michael had never seen them.  On the grounds of the Lincoln Center, everything is under the tents where here, much is outside.

We found that Michael had bought tickets in the VIP Seating & Lounge.  This included:

We took an Uber back to the airb.  Tom talked with Paul for a while and I fell asleep immediately.  I couldn’t find my contact case so I used the case for a SD card.  Worked ok as a temporary fix.

Overnight, I could smell the fabric softener they’d used on the sheets or comforter but I was too tired to take any meds for that.