Today Hubby and I swapped roles – he didn’t sleep well so skipped his run while I got up and hit the Capital Crescent Trail. While running along there, I noticed up ahead a black SUV reversing up the trail with a Secret Service agent walking beside. I think he was just making sure the driver didn’t hit any of the cyclists or runners using the trail. Anyway, the Secret Service Agent said to me “You can keep running ma’am.” Is it slightly ridiculous that I thrilled by this interaction, and the possibility of someone important in the SUV about to go cycling on the same trail? I think it probably is but I couldn’t help myself. The ma’am thing though is not something that I’m used to … it’s not something people say in Australia.

Once back at the hotel, after sharing my excitement with my husband, I had a shower and packed my bag to checkout of our hotel. The good thing about our small amount of luggage is that we could easily take it with us to breakfast, and then on the metro to Union Station. We went to Tatte bakery for breakfast and it was pretty good. While waiting for our train to New York I wandered around and got some photos of the station.

The train to New York went smoothly, although they kept apologising for being eight minutes late. It was interesting to see the countryside and towns/cities as we travelled and seeing the different types of architecture. I did a bit of research on the New York subway before we left and you can use tap and go instead of buying a card. While in New York I’ve been using my Garmin wallet to tap on for the subway. It’s so easy. If you travel more than twelve times in seven days the rest of your trips are free, you just have to make sure that you always tap on with the same device. You can use your card, phone or watch. From the Moynihan Train Hall, where we arrived in New York, it was only a couple of stops on the subway and a short walk to our hotel near Bryant Park.

Once settled in we headed back out to the Top of the Rock. I’d booked sunset tickets so we skipped the queue outside the building but not the massive queue in side for the lifts. We did make it up to see the sunset and stayed until dark.

Heading back down I took some photos around the Rockefeller Centre, then we caught the subway to dinner in the Tavern at Gramercy Tavern. We saw plenty of people dressed up for Halloween and even a couple of kids out trick or treating. The restaurant was beautifully decorated with Fall foliage and pumpkins and some of the waiters were in costume. There seemed to be a bit of a pirate theme going on. Several of the diners were also in costume. This was all very different for us coming from Australia where Halloween only just started to become a thing.