The First Bite

My adventures in New York are now only a memory. I'm back in Grand Rapids, where there are no skyscrapers, no view of Broadway theaters, no Times Square, and no SoHo. But it's home.

While I've been to New York two times in the past, those visits were only day trips, and I spent a lot of time walking around and just skimming the surface. Even though this trip was a business trip to the Book Expo, my co-workers and I did have an opportunity to do some exploring.

The first moment of note occurred when we all arrived at La Guardia. We retrieved our luggage and were headed out for a taxi when a man and his son (I assume) approached K., asked where we were going, and offered to take us to our Times Square destination for what K. decided was a very reasonable cost. I somewhat reluctantly handed my suitcase off to the little boy, who seemed a little too eager to me to take it. M. and I felt even more nervous when we all crossed the street--past the Yellow Cabs and into the parking lot--and were led to a raggedy looking white limo. For a few moments, I imagined the headlines: "RBC Ministries Employees Missing in NYC" or "Bodies of Three Discovery House Employees Found in Harlem Alley." I also had visions of being left somewhere in some nasty looking alley while M. and K.'s laptops and the rest of our luggage drove away in the limo, never to be seen again.

Soon, however, I realized that we were crossing a bridge into Manhattan, and before I knew it, we were looking at Times Square, which was just yards away from the entrance to our hotel.

Happily, it just ended up being a somewhat noneventful ride into the city--my first in a limo of sorts. And if the ride in was a little less than glamorous, the hotel more than made up for it. Registration was on the eighth floor, and while we waited to get checked in, a hotel concierge handed us each an expensive bottle of water and two squares of dark chocolate. M. and I were given a room on the sixteenth floor, with a view that looked out on Broadway theaters, including the theater where Vanessa Redgrave was starring in a new play, The Lion King, A Chorus Line,and, a block over, The Producers. In fact, the Marriot Marquis where we were staying featured its own Broadway theater on the third floor!

Needless to say, M. and I were a little beside ourselves with all of this. And it was just the beginning of the excitement. . .