The city that never sleeps..............

.....but us, oh so weary international jet setters, had to bow out and hit the sack before even Times Square was alive and kicking. For that is where we next found ourselves. Having left the Crown Plaza, Terrigal a scant ten days before, the Crown Plaza, Times Square, in all its quite-shabby-but-no-one-cares-because-this-is-Times-Square glory was our new temporary home. We picked up the hire car at the airport, played child car seat switcheroo for a couple of hours, squeezed the suitcases and bags in to the boot, pardon me, trunk, then took them out again as Meg let a large one loose in the car which called for a complete stripdown and rebuild. But finally, we hit the road, remembering to drive on the wrong side of the road, that the Americans like to think of as right.
The GPS system was as squirmingly polite as folk are round here, even reminding us to put on our seat belts (and thanking us for hiring from Avis when we dropped the car back!). Off we ventured. I marvelled the whole way at the signs pointing to places that I have only read about, and laughed my socks off at the most helpful one that read, "Uptown, Crosstown and Downtown" with three little arrows. I assume that would be of help to some people. Jodi, bless him, concentrated on translating the instructions from the very helpful GPS lady into actual turns, all the while remembering not to try and change gear with the door handle, and sure enough we eventually found ourselves in Manhattan and Times Square. Enough was enough for one day however, and when the always-on-the-lookout-for-tips parking dudes told us the parking garage was full, it was Jodi's turn to lose the plot. I believe he threw his keys at the guy and told him to put the car somewhere quite, quite different, but I, alas, was not there to witness it, as Finn had a toilet crisis of his own which necessitated a wild dash into the hotel (with crying baby in buggy) to find the amenities.
Little wonder a short walk and some room service was all we could rustle up, before notching the day up to experience and throwing in the towel.