A Wet Welcome

The flight was uneventful, as usually dinner choices were "chicken or pasta", and, before landing, we got a tiny little sandwich. Not a whole lot to drink neither. The entertainment program hasn't changed much since our last flight a couple of weeks ago.

The plane landed about 25 minutes earlier in Newark and in a jiffy we went through immigration - thanks to Global Entry, but, to be honest, even the regular lines were short today, probably because of the time of the day (noon). Same with luggage, we didn't even have enough time to admire the Christmas trees set up at the baggage conveyor belts (see below)!

We were fortunate and got a chance to experience "My Sedan", a car company transporting people in private cars like sedans, SUVs or limousines from the airports into town or vice versa. Good deal for a group of 3 or 4! To our surprise, a young guy was already waiting for us with a name sign (though we were early) and brought us and our luggage to a black sedan, circling around the airport. We were climbing into the car before 1 pm (scheduled landing was 12:45 pm!).
The trip itself was a little bit of an adventure, an introduction to NYC mentality and traffic. Our driver, an elderly (Eastern European?) gentleman, must have been a race car driver before ... later, when I slowly got car-sick,I noticed, that apparently this is the New York style of driving! Well, at least I know now, that the least thing I want to do is driving in New York. Honking, tailgating, immediate lane changes, you call it...Drove into Brooklyn from New England once, long time ago, but that was enough of an experience and Manhattan is even worse.

Arrived in Harlem, at our friends' brownstone, much earlier than we were expected, before 2 pm already! Unfortunately, it was raining heavily and therefore we took our time to catch up on news with them and to get settled in our room before we left again to buy a weekly ticket for the subway at the nearby train station. Took the train to Columbus Circle, where one of many Christmas markets takes place, and went to Time Warner Center's huge Whole Foods Store to get some breakfast items and a bite to eat for dinner. On our feet now for over 20 hours and tired to the bones.