They say the neon lights are bright…on Broadway…
Yesterday, I walked the town. First, my immediate need was coffee. The Starbucks in the hotel was jampacked so my roomie and I headed outside in search of one that wasn’t quite to busy. We made it to one on 7th Avenue. I got my coffee fix and very berry coffee cake. We found a little bench in Times Square to rest and watch the crowd (apparently, there was a guy who had climbed to the top of a light pole. The cops closed off part of the street to get him down and traffic, both people and car, was a mess).
As you can see from the picture – I finally made it to Broadway! 🙂
Then, with my handy map, we headed up 42nd Street and made our way to St. Patrick’s Cathedral. It’s a beautiful place. I loved it. I walked around in there for a good bit and took lots of pictures. I’ll be sure to upload some later (it takes too long to upload here now) but suffice to say…wow.
Then we headed back to the hotel. I rested up for a bit and Vicki headed off to a meeting. I got another burst of energy and walked to Central Park. I didn’t go too deep into the park but I did get to the carousel. I realized I had at least 20 blocks to walk back once I got there and my feet were already tired. 🙂
I walked up 5th Avenue on the way back: Louis Vuitton, Prada, Saks, Bergdorf Goodman. I resisted the urge to go inside and purchase a pair of Louboutins. (I did covet them in the window as I walked by though).
I paused at Rockefeller Plaza and took pictures. The found a lovely little souvenier shop and got some trinkets for the guys back home.
I thought I might walk to the Empire State Building but by the time I hit 47th Street, I was done for. I stopped into a Chipotle for some lunch and then hoofed it all the way back to the hotel.
Went to the literacy signing which was a madhouse. I’ve never seen so many people. It was boiling hot in there and I heard the line to get in (it’s open to the public) was around the block. Wow. I was good though – I bought only four books – and then met up with my publisher. We finally found each other and immediately headed to the bar.
We had lovely drinks and then I met some gals from TOR who we chatted with about Game of Thrones, among other things. I spent a good portion of the evening there and by 10 pm, I was ready to head back to the room.
But as I walked through the bar area toward the elevators, I found Joy (from Joyfully Reviewed) and introduced myself. She then introduced me to a tableful of Twitter folks that included Keri Stevens and Leah Braemel. Just as I was getting ready to depart, though, I ran into Sophie Oak and Shayla Black. They were having just one more drink. We laughed and talked for a few minutes and then FINALLY, I made my way to the room.
I think it was close to midnight before I crashed.
This morning, I had breakfast with Samhain. I sat with the lovely Sandy Blair and met some other fantastic authors: Miranda Baker and Natasha Moore.
So now I’m getting ready to head down for the keynote luncheon and then then PAN retreat. And my day will be filled. I have other folks I’d like to meet up with, so hopefully I can do that
Times Square is something else, isn’t it? If you hit 42nd St. & 8th AVenue, the building across from Port Authority, that now has a comedy club in the bottom, is where I lived for 13 years.
The good and reasonably priced restaurants are on 9th Avenue, but it sounds like you’re being well fed at the hotel.
Glad you’re having such fun!
Got to get cheesecake and coffee from the ROXY. Looks like you’re staying at the Marriott. I’ll be there is September. Have fun!!!
Thought I’d stop by to see if you had something posted about the conference and lo and behold…! Sounds like so much fun! Bring lots of pictures to Yellow Rose next month, OK?