Hasn’t every aspiring writer wanted to sit in a dark corner cafe somewhere in New York City being inspired to pen the next great literary work of the century? Today I am getting to do just that with some minor changes to the plot line…the dark corner cafe is actually a brightly lit McDonald’s that happens to have WiFi and the pen is actually an iPad that is very much dependent on that WiFi to connect and send today’s latest post. One thing that is not any different though is it is New York City and it is a very inspiring place to write about.

The family and I landed yesterday morning at 9:30 and were in town an hour later. Of course, cold here is different than cold is in the south and warm attire is essential in December. A short walk in sub 30 degree weather in NYC will remind you to take the cold seriously here. Our first bite of the Big Apple was a trip over to the world’s greatest toy store, F.A.O. Schwarz, which had a line stretched around the building for half a block. The line moved fairly quickly as it was and once we got inside, the world of toys lay before us. Our son was quickly overwhelmed by it all but definitely in his element as he quickly began to transform himself into the good little boy that Santa likes to give gifts to. An hour, two toys and a $21.00 iron pyrite rock later, we got a cab and headed to our next destination, St. Paul’s Church, the oldest building in New York still in continuous use. St. Paul deserves an article of it’s own and since I can only write in short bursts here, I will leave that for the next installment but before I close this one out, I have to say that I experienced my first NYC cab accident yesterday on the way to the church and though none of us were hurt, it was a bit wild and funny watching the cab driver and the other auto driver argue and then go on about their business as if it were a normal thing. One thing to remember about the city-you do not drive here unless you know what you are doing as you could get seriously injured-so if you come here, leave the car at home. More to come!