Last day, NYC

Well, the people in my hall at the hotel were up and moving early this morning, so I was awake at 8.  I showered and dressed, then packed my bag and finished yesterday's blog, then decided to check out--it was 10:30 and Anneliese and I were planning to meet at 1:00 at Washington Square Park. So I left my bag at the desk and took off.  It didn't take long to walk there (it was only a mile away).  I couldn't find my hat or gloves--not sure where I left them.  It is cold here today--luckily I brought a hoodie and turtleneck.  There was a thunderstorm last night when she left, so Anneliese borrowed my umbrella to get home.  When I got to the park, I texted Anneliese again and asked where I could get a bagel and tea.  She gave me directions to Oden's--they didn't have bagels so I had to get a muffin to go with my tea (it wasn't even good tea).  Anneliese met me there and we talked for a long time.  Then we moved on to one of the residence halls to use the bathroom and sit in a lounge area they have that is outside Anneliese's radio station in the basement of the dorm.  At 4:00 I walked back to the hotel.  I asked them if I could go back into my room to check for my hat by pulling out the wooden base (like I did a few days ago to find my book).  they said no and gave me the email address for housekeeping to ask them to look.  My shuttle was late and I told the desk that their server rejected my email to housekeeping, so the desk had a porter take me to the room to look for my hat.  It wasn't there, hoping it got mixed in with my dirty clothes.  I was stressing about the shuttle getting to the airport too late to have enough time to get through security, then when I checked in, I found that the flight was delayed.  So now we're not leaving until 9:30.  It took close to an hour to go through security, then time for some Panda Express and now I'm sitting at the gate waiting to begin boarding.  But it may be awhile because we have no plane yet and we were supposed to start boarding 15 minutes ago.

The hotel I stayed at, The Jane, is a very historic hotel.  It was originally built for sailors which is why the rooms resemble rooms on a ship with a small berth and a shared bathroom down the hall.  The keychain has a small circle attached to a fob.  The circle is the key, simply touch it to the space on the door by the doorknob and it opens.  It also has a metal pole about three inches long attached.  This must be inserted into a hole next to the door which turns on the ability to use the lights, fan, and electrical outlets.  It is to save electricity and I've heard of other countries doing this in their hotels.   the downside is that you can only charge devices when you are in your room.  

(this is also great to hold in your hand as a potential weapon when
walking down quiet streets in the wee hours of the morning!)

The little "stick" goes into the plate to give you power.

The hotel itself was used to house the survivors of the Titanic when they were brought to New York and a memorial service was held at the hotel.  The porters and desk workers wear the old -fashioned uniforms with the cute little hats and brass buttons on the front (like in the movie, "The Grand Budapest Hotel").

They also provide a robe and slippers for you to use as well as specially bottled water.  And the safe is in one of the drawers and is big enough to fit a laptop (and your jewels, I suppose) inside.  For storage, there are drawers and a large space in the base of the bed, a small shelf on the outside wall, a large shelf high on one wall and hooks that slide on metal poles on the walls (maybe another ship thing?).

One of the hooks on the pole.

The robe and slippers

There is a mirror on one wall.

Great tile work in the lobby and palm plants in the entry with a porter to open the doors for you or hail you a cab.

The front desk

Part of the lobby

The old fountain in the lobby

Hold onto your hats, the gate people paged me and because it is a very full plane, they had to bump me to first class!  Wow!  So as I moved to my seat, I was offered whatever I wanted to drink (a diet coke sounded good), served in a real glass.  Then later, the little entertainment things with movies and games could be used for $8, but they were free for first class.   We were also served food (steerage had to purchase food).  We were first served a plate with fruit, cheeses, and various crackers, then a greek salad with grilled chicken (and real silverware), then a warm cookie on a plate with a fork to use to eat it.  All this time, we were offered drinks.  All free of charge.  We were three rows and had our own flight attendant.  And wide, comfortable seats with plenty of legroom.  The flight attendant was very helpful and deferential.  And I was the first person off the airplane at the end.  Wow, steerage is going to be hard to go back to!

The plane taxied the runways for an hour before we took off, we didn't land until midnight central time.  Tired!!