Day Two of New York Trip

DAY TWO OF TRIP TO NEW YORK

After getting a few hours of sleep, it was time for me to get ready for a business meeting with Tempico’s Chairman/Counsel and Avtar Jirh from Enpure Limited of the UK.  This was scheduled as a meeting of convenience because I was going to be in New York.  I didn’t mind using a couple of hours to discuss business and thought it would not affect our trip to the city. 

St. Louis Cathedral

Mary Liggio took charge of Betty while we had the meeting.  They did a little sightseeing and I was surprised that Betty was able to last as long as she did.  Generally she cannot walk too far and has to stop to rest.  Mary took her to see St. Louis’s Cathedral, Penn Station and around Times Square.  The following are a few of the pictures that she took on the walk.

Inside Penn Station

Street View of St. Louis Cathedral

Betty has always been fascinated by the architecture and loves to take pictures when she can. They can only serve as a refresher of the of what she saw but nothing can replace the actual feel you get being there in person

                                              

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Inside is very beautiful

Rockefeller Center

 The inside of St. Louis Cathedral is very beautiful and luck would have it, a wedding was scheduled while Betty and Mary were inside.  We were told that this is very common as many weddings take place there.

We have seen this image many times on the TV but never in person.  It has more meaning after you get to see something in person and visit the places you have only read about or seen on the TV.

                                                

After walking around for a while and seeing some of these beautiful sights, Betty found a place to catch her breath.  She wasn't alone as many others had found the same area to take a breather.

After we had a short rest, we joined Carl and Mary Liggio, Avtar and his daughter for dinner at a private club that was very good and ideal for us to enjoy each other’s company.  Pictured below inside one of the club’s upstairs parlors is our group.  As you can see we are very contented after a delicious dinner.

The Liggios, the Jirhs and the Morgans
in one of the upstairs parlors of the club.

The next day would be the first day that Betty and I would have to do a little exploring on our own.  We did have a good nights rest to help make it with our walking.  I will try to get posted in a few days.  





 

 

RECENT TRIP TO NEW YORK CITY

On June 24^th, Betty and I had the privilege to travel to New York City to participate in an investment seminar to begin on the 27^th.  We had planned to have a couple of extra days to see the city that we had wanted to visit for several years.

We had a travel experience that I hope we never get to experience again.  Our flight out of Jackson, MS left on time (10:45 AM) for flight to Charlotte, NC for connection to LaGuardia to arrive around 4:30 PM.  From our arrival in Charlotte until we arrive in New York, we had nothing but problems. 

When we left from Charlotte, we were sure to arrive on time in New York.  After getting somewhere in the vicinity of New York, we began to circle.  After about 30 minutes, we were informed that we were holding due to severe weather over the airport.  15 or 20 minutes later, the pilot came on the intercom and informed us that we could not land at LaGuardia and no other airports in the area would be able to handle our flight therefore we were returning to Charlotte.  Apparently there were many other planes holding in the area and it would be too long for us.  This was only the beginning to our most unusual flying experience.

We returned toward Charlotte and we met with a surprise.  Charlotte was under a thunderstorm which put us into a holding pattern once more.  About 20 minutes of holding, we were informed by the Captain that we would be diverted to Greenville for refueling since he did not have enough to continue to circle Charlotte until the storm cleared.  We arrived in Greenville where we refueled and waited until Charlotte had cleared enough for us to return.  The pilot said that in his 21 years of piloting, this was the first time that he had been diverted from a diverted landing sight.  Since the crew had completed their limit of flying time, they would not be able to take us to New York.  This caused us to have to leave the plane, get our baggage and try to re-book a flight to New York.

Once we were off the plane and worked our way to the main center court, Betty took on the challenge of getting our baggage while I tried to book us on another flight to New York.  I was having problem with my ATT phone getting connection to the number for rebooking.  Finally I was able to reach an operator who worked to get us out on a flight to Newark that was scheduled to leave in about 50 minutes.  I was able to get our boarding passes while Betty was getting the baggage rechecked.  Boy was she the trooper.  She had to stand in long lines to go back through the process of re-checking and then to go through the security check again.  I was waiting for her and was getting worried that she wasn’t going to make it back to the concourse in time for us to get on the flight.  After calling her several times, she finally arrived and we headed down the runway to the gate area.  Man was that the longest walk – speed walk - that I have ever taken, especially with my knees.  When I arrived at the gate, the time our flight was to leave had changed about 45 minutes.  Being out of breath and heart palpitating it was nice to be able to sit and catch my breath.  It would have been nice to see the change of time of departure while I was still in the main lobby.

As it turned out, our plane was also running behind schedule and was not even at the airport.  When it finally arrived, it quickly unloaded and then we were able to board for our late flight to New York.  When we arrived in Newark and got our luggage, we had to take a taxi to the hotel.  We finally arrived at the hotel around 3 am and thankfully had a good bellman and good desk clerk.  After getting checked in, we got to our room as two tired puppies.  We were blessed with beautiful flowers in the lobby and that made a great impression on Betty.

In my next posting, I will put some of the pictures that Betty and I were able to take during the short period that we now had to be tourist.  I will also tell about our second interesting flight home on the 27^th.