New York Part One

This year hubby was meant to take Madam to see his sister in Germany and to take in the Munich Christmas market.  The plan could not be executed due to family and work commitments and evolved in to ‘I’m going to send you and madam to New York’, there followed a brief time (counted in seconds) in which I protested everso quietly. Then there was six weeks of planning, saving and generally getting excited. 

You are now required to obtain a visa to gain entry to America. This can be applied for on line and costs $14. Apparently 96% of applications get approved immediately. Not mine, oh no, I had to wait 72 hours, and not because I answered ‘yes’ to this question:-

‘Do you seek to engage in or have you ever engaged in terrorist activities, espionage, sabotage, or genocide?’ 

Now I’m no rocket scientist, but surely if I was any of the above and wanted entry in to the US I would not say yes, or maybe I’m wrong, maybe these people are basically honest folk and would have to select yes! It did occur to me that they time how long you take to answer the question as a clue to your inclinations. It did take me a while but basically because I was sharing it with hubby and checking with Madam before I answered on her behalf. I can only assume my application took awhile due to my Canadian citizenship, after all those from Canada should not be trusted!

After a long drive, long flight, long wait in customs, long wait in bag clearance, long wait for transfer to hotel, there followed a mad drive to the hotel. We were staying in the tallest hotel in North America and had a room on the 44th floor-oh joy.

A quick change and off we headed. Soon discovering 5th Avenue and then the Rockefeller centre. The most amazing tree 

And light display on Saks set to music

A simply magical start to our time in The Big Apple.