Yesterday was spent wandering around the rather huge Woodbury Commons outlets, which is located in Central Valley, New Jersey (which, by the way, meant a long bus trip through some very pretty areas!). Mel bought lots, I bought a little (shoes–what a surprise. But they were only 30 bucks, so I couldn’t resist). So today’s pics come from Saturday night’s evening tour around Manhattan:

a pic of me on the boat, with New York in the background

a pic of me, M J Scott (Mel) and Kelly Hunter

Yesterday we went to the Cloisters, which is the medieval part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and set in the stunning Fort Tyrone park. I wish the day had been sunny rather than overcast, because I could have gotten some glorious shots over the Hudson river. Sadly, it was not to be. But here’s some of the shots of the Cloisters. This first lot is of the approach up to museum:

M J Scott and myself outside the main entrance

a squirrel with attitude

And here’s the shots taken from inside the Cloisters:

all that walking was too much for these poor souls–from left to right: M J Scott, Kelly Hunter & Anne Gracie (not as fit as me fellow Aussies )

As I mentioned on my last post, yesterday was all about meeting my NAL editor (who is lovely, by the way), so these pics are the rest I took while we were wandering around on Wednesday. First up, pics from the foyer of the Rockefeller Building:

These following pics are of the amazing Grand Central Terminal. They don’t make train stations like this any more! (more the pity):

Here’s some shots taken from inside St. Patrick’s Cathedral:

and a final pic from the day–I have no idea what this building is, but I loved the top of it:

This afternoon we’re off to see the Cloisters, so expect a heap of pics from there tomorrow

But first, some shoe pics! Yes, as everyone who follows me on facebook and Twitter knows, I have been shoe shopping. We went to Aerosoles the day after we arrived, and headed for the amazing Fluevog yesterday. The first two are Fluevog, the third Aerosoles.

and now, back to your regularly scheduled blog…

We didn’t go to Central Park today because they were predicting thunderstorms (which finally hit about 7pm, just as we were trying to find a place to eat. We were soaked within 30 seconds. Man, when it rains here, it really buckets down!). Instead we stuck within reasonable walking distance to the hotel. First stop, the New York Library:

I’m off to meet with my NAL editor Danielle tomorrow, and I won’t be lugging my camera with me. So, I’ll post the rest of today’s pics tomorrow

the internet isn’t exactly cheap here at the Marriott–$16 per day, no discount for bulk purchase–so we’ve decided to get connected only every other day. Which means I won’t be updating now until Thursday, so I thought I’d load these pics up this morning. These were all taken last night in Times Square (you can see the Marriott entrance in one of them):

Well, I’ve been here since midnight Saturday, and jet lag hit with a vengeance last night. Was wide awake until 5am, at which time I crashed for a whole three hours. It’s now 11pm, and I’m wide awake again. It bloody well sucks. At least I have a week to get conference sensible.

We did a whole heap of shopping yesterday (Sunday) and today we did a 5 hour tour of New York sights. There’s lots of places we’ll go back and visit, but this was a good primer (plus, didn’t have to think too hard about getting around–we were just told. A bonus when jet lagged)

Here’s some pics from today:

Ellis island from a boat

The Empire State Building seen from a boat

The flat iron building

Liberty

The new tower rising from the site of Twin Tower 1

New York from a boat

Trinity Church

Another shot of new building rising from the Twin Towers site

St Patrick’s Cathedral

I’m all packed and ready to go to New York (although I am keeping my fingers crossed, as the ash from the Chilean volcano is still causing chaos in some airports here in Oz). I’m hoping to blog about my travels and the conference while I’m over there, so keep an eye on this blog if you want to see some pics

Oh, and if you’re in or near New York, don’t forget I’ll be doing RWA’s “Readers for Life” Literacy Autographing on Tuesday, June 28, from 5:30–7:30 p.m at the New York Marriott Marquis in Times Square. (me and about 500 other authors!)