2024 - Trip 11 to USA (and a brief stop in Canada) Day 6. 4th October - Manhattan - 911 Museum, Staten Island Ferry and Lebanese Hotdogs.

Today we went into Manhattan to visit the 911 Museum.  We had been to the memorial on a previous trip but the museum hadn't been quite ready to open at that time. Due to lack of parking we needed to take the Staten Island Ferry across to Manhattan and then the Underground to the 911 Memorial.

The Staten Island Ferry is a free (yes...….FREE) public transport, that can transfer a few thousand people at a time from Staten Island to Manhattan and back on a massive ferry. As a bonus, it passes within a stones throw of The Statue of Liberty so you get to see her up close and personal at no cost.  The trips are quick, and run on schedule, running all day every day.   Stepping outside to take some photos and video was a little brisk, very windy, but exciting.  The Big Apple lay ahead of us...…a concrete jungle that is home to millions. The home of Broadway; home to stars; home to TV shows; and home to one of the most catastrophic acts of terror in our lifetime. 

Once off the ferry we went down into the underground to catch a subway to the 911 Museum.  I am a little scared of the underground because in movies you see people putting poisonous gas on subways leading to mass deaths, so I was convinced I was going to die today.  I went with the flow though.  The experience was better than I expected.  The subway was relatively clean and the people on it were relatively normal.  One bloke was giving me a bit of "side eye" so I regretted wearing my extra 3 noses today.

The memorial pools are at ground zero where the North and South Towers stood and now are in the shadow of the new World Trade Centre, and the Museum is basically beside and underneath them, with some of the structures remaining in the same place as they stood before that dreadful day, such as "the survivor stairs".  There is a large wall covered in blue tiles, behind which remains the debris from 911 where scientists continue to work tirelessly sifting through to try and identify any speck of DNA to bring closure to families who still don't have answers.  The number of tiles on the wall are the exact same number of the dead and missing from that day, and are all a different, unique shade of blue as a reflection of the colour of the sky that morning and acknowledging that those that lost their lives were also unique separate individuals. .  I won't go through and describe everything in the museum because I could not possibly do it justice or capture the emotion that is felt.  Having watched the events unfold on TV on 11 September 2001, it was overwhelming to stand in the exact spot of such evil, such courage, such bravery, such despair, and such death.   When standing at the memorial pools at the sites of the North and South Towers there is a small feeling of serenity.  They are waterfalls now so I guess that brings a feeling a peace.  The names of those killed are etched into the edge of each waterfall however despite the volume of names, the area has been done in such a tasteful way, it truly is a lovely way to remember those who lost their lives. A white rose is left at the name of a person on their birthday which is a nice touch.  In the museum however, you are faced with cold, hard facts and realism.  You get a small taste of the horror that those who died and those who survived  experienced and know for a fact that you will never be the same again. 

    

After our visit to the Museum we head back to the Underground to get a subway back to the Staten Island Ferry terminal with the hope of getting some lunch.  We bought our tickets and pushed our way through the turnstiles New York style and went onto our platform to wait for our subway.  All of a sudden the Bear went into a flap and all shades of red and white. My guess was a heart attack but it turned out to be much worse - he lost his mobile phone. He guessed he had left it back at the museum so asked  me to wait on the platform while he ran back.  To say I was terrified was an understatement so I donned my best "don't f**king come near me" face and waited for the Bear to return.  When he had not returned after 15 minutes, I became worried that he had in fact had a heart attack and figured it was time to start worrying about the important things - like where the hotel key and credit cards were.......and how to get an upgrade to a  first class plane ticket home.   Another 15 minutes passed and I didn't know whether to give up my post and gather a search party or continue to hog the bench which I had taken possession of. It was a hot day and I had no idea how far it was to Police Headquarters, so staying on the bench won.  I decided I needed something to reduce my worry about how long was an acceptable time before reporting someone missing in the Big Apple so I started playing a bit of a game with other patrons.  I have absolutely no idea how people could not read the massive "I am a touring Australian so have absolutely no clue" sign flashing in large neon lights on my forehead, but every second person came up to me to ask me questions about the subway.  I got bored with answering "I don't have a clue" so started suggesting people go to other platforms, and ended up speaking the little bit of German I remember from my school days. I would be asked what subway departed from the platform I was sitting on and I would answer "die sonne scheint" (the sun is shining) or "wie geht es dir" (how are you?).  This is a common, successful and rather childish tactic of mine.  Meanwhile another half an hour passed and I was literally near to having a stroke myself, when the Bear returned - still in a major flap.  His phone was nowhere to be found. The staff at the museum had been most helpful but unfortunately the phone had disappeared into thin air.   The Bear was stressed to the eyeballs as his life (like with everyone else) is in his phone but he could do no more other than to leave my phone number with the museum in case it was handed in...…..and...….take a drink of water.   Take a drink of water?  Yes.....take a drink of water.  He went to grab a bottle of water out of the backpack we had with us as he was sweating like a nun in a strip club, and what do you know - there was his phone. I have nothing else to say other than please don't tell him I was planning on how to spend his life insurance. 

Once again we found ourselves on a relatively clean subway and soon were back at the Staten Island Ferry terminal.  There were a number of food vendors around and the Bear felt like a Lebanese hotdog.  I didn't even know Lebanese liked hotdogs! I must say it didn't resemble one.  It looked like a cream bun with green and pink icing with coconut sprinkled on top.  As he ate this, I chased a squirrel up and down a bit of bush trying to get a decent photo.   The Yanks think we are a little crazy.  Whilst they might be correct for other reasons, I don't think a fascination with squirrels warrants that despite them being rodents. I just want perfect photos of the little bastards but they are so damned quick!

Heading to board a ferry we found a group of busking dancers in the area just in front of the terminal. They were beefed up African American men and they were damned good!  They were also looking for audience participation!  The extrovert in me basically screamed to pick me, whilst the overweight, bad kneed me screamed "go to hell" so I bravely did as I always do - stood behind the Bear.  Gee they were good though.  I honestly would have paid to go and see them again.

Back on the ferry, passed the Statue of Liberty again, back to Staten Island, fought the thousands getting off the ferry, crawled to the hire car, and finally we drove back to the hotel.  It was an absolutely an exhausting day which was emotional on so many levels.  Tomorrow we head for Philadelphia where we have never been before......so something new to write about!

2024 - Trip 11 to USA (and a brief stop in Canada) Day 5. 3rd October - Bridges, Brooklyn.....and a horse?!!

 Today we took a trip out to Coney Island - a filming location from one of the Bears favourite movies, "Big". In the film, Tom Hanks character makes a wish using a Zoltar machine which comes true.  We sought it out much to the Bears delight.  I was tempted to use the machine and make a wish that I was slim and "outta sight!" however knowing my luck I would be turned into a feminine hygiene product, so I gave it a miss. The theme park at Coney Island had yet to open (just like the rest of damned America) however there was a hotdog vendor that had opened.  The Bear got a hotdog and I got some fries and we sat in the car watching seagulls and strange people while we snacked.  Given that there was not much else  to do, we chose to move on. 

From there it was a trip into Brooklyn.  Not only can you see the magnificent Manhattan skyline from there, you can also see several of the amazing bridges that carry commuters from several of the New York boroughs into/from Manhattan.  In particular we could get some amazing shots of the Brooklyn Bridge and the Manhattan Bridge.   During previous trips to New York, we have not ventured to these, much to my disappointment.  As a fan of "Law & Order" I have seen the bridges at the beginning of every episode and longed for the day that I have seen it for real, so today was a bucket list item being ticked. 

First of all though, we went down to DUMBO (Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass) at a particularly picturesque spot.  There were photo opportunities galore - if you ignored the road works going on. There was even a wedding party having their wedding photos being taken there.  Cobble stone streets and old brick buildings made the perfect surrounds to photograph the Manhattan Bridge.  The stench from the manholes was putrid but that just seemed to add to the experience. 

Walking down to the water line, we could finally see the Brooklyn Bridge as well as many views seen in films and TV shows.  This includes a merry-go-round on the water front. I feel very confident though that I mean it when I say that I could not be paid enough to get in that water because it looked like a soup of garbage and faecal matter. However I would be lying if I said that I wasn't overwhelmed to be standing in one of the most amazing spots in the entire world.  I also found myself trying to picture what it would have looked like from that vantage point on 11 September 2001 - and it chilled me to the bone. 

Heading back to the hotel, we made a stop at Walmart for dinner supplies again and as per usual we had a look around.  As mentioned countless times before, I absolutely LOVE Walmart. I was in the "Health and Beauty" section looking for hairspray when I heard a sound like a person hitting to coconut shell halves together - reminding me of a scene out of Monty Pythons "The Holy Grail". I turned towards the noise and came face to face with.......a horse. A horse. Of course.  What else could I have expected?   I have seen countless dogs in Walmart, and my fair share of human animals in Walmart, but never a horse.  And not just any horse, but a "support" horse - like a support dog. I literally couldn't get my phone onto record fast enough! I was not the only person gobsmacked at seeing a support horse in Walmart so had to fight my way through the crowd to get a little bit on video.  More than that though, I was interested to see whether its owner was carrying doggy (horsey?) poop bags!  I still don't know if its owner were carrying any. I pretty much feel as though I can say I have seen everything now though.  A support horse in a supermarket/department store.  I would not be surprised if I now saw a support camel or a support giraffe.

Tomorrow we will catch a Statten Island ferry across to Manhattan and visit the 911 museum!

2024 - Trip 11 to USA (and a brief stop in Canada) Day 4. 2nd October - New Jersey!

Finally, for the first time in a few days, we will see daylight for the whole day,  We have decided just to have a bit of a look around New Jersey as jetlag on previous trips have robbed me of pretty special experiences.  For example, I went to sleep in the front row of the "Motown Show" on Broadway in New York.  I also went to sleep during my first ice hockey match at Honda Stadium in Anaheim.  I can sort of understand going to sleep on Broadway given that it was dark, with soothing music and comfy chairs.   At Anaheim though.....it was brightly lit with noise that could wake the dead!  Seriously, it was a major brawl where an ice hockey game broke out! When the home team scored, they sounded a ships foghorn, yet I apparently blissfully was visiting The Blanket Show (A term my Dad used when I was a child). I still wonder if Alyx was pulling my leg when saying I fell asleep.......hmmmmm.

New Jersey - a city with a difference which is ironic given that it was different to what I expected even though I didn't know what I was expecting. New Jersey to Manhattan Island I would consider to be the equivalent to Ipswich versus Brisbane's CBD perhaps? I found it to be a city/state with less shame than most. I say this because of their advertising.  Here is an example:

Good to know.  I mean, I have one, and I don't even put that much thought into it. I can't even say the word let alone plaster it on advertising.  For a city to have enough passion to advertise their thoughts, kudos to them. 

I also found strikes of genius in New Jersey.  It's possible Australia have these already in the southern states, and if they do.....well done!  If they don't, then perhaps the metropolitan cities should consider them. Amazing usage of space for an age old problem - parking. 

How clever is that?! It's a bit like playing "Connect 4" but with cars! (I am going to feel really stupid if I find out that Australia already has something similar) And there wasn't just one of these - they were pretty much on every corner in the business districts.  Brilliant!

We decided to leave Coney Island for another day as jetlag was still hovering so decided to find a place for an early lunch before heading back to our hotel. The USA doesn't come alive until later in the day, unlike Australia, so we had a job finding a place that was open.  Even the shopping malls with places like Macys do not open until close to lunch time unless you are in Vegas or Manhattan so driving around New Jersey we kept striking places that were closed.  We decided to head in the direction of our hotel and go to another Walmart if necessary however luckily we came across a shopping mall that had just opened which had the chain restaurant, "The Rainforest Café" in it (which also had just opened).  We have never eaten at that restaurant so thought now was as good a time as any! 

We followed the waitress through the empty restaurant to our table.  The restaurant was themed with thick rainforest and jungle. There were life sized animals such as gorillas, lions and elephants, oversized butterflies and things like waterfalls. It was actually really well done although wondered if the life sized animals would scare children.  The menu was your standard American menu.  Everything is always the same.  Its just the name of the restaurant that changes.  There are always buffalo wings, nachos, burgers, pizza etc. I can't eat most of the stuff so will order something soft, cheap, or something that the Bear can help me with.  On this occasion I ordered a flatbread to nibble on, and the Bear ordered his standard burger and fries.  Just as a side note, you never order "chips" because if you do, that's exactly what you will get - potato chips out of a packet. 

Our meal arrives and at the same time, some bongos start playing.  I was a little startled as it seemed to signal the arrival of our meal. I figured this was an interesting concept, because if the restaurant was busy the bongos would always be going off which would render the place very noisy.  I was grateful that the place was empty. About 10 seconds later there was movement to my left where a life gorilla sat in a garden next to our table and it started to roar. I immediately crapped myself and let out a squeal (ok....it might have been a scream) however this turned into wonderment as the whole restaurant came to life! I wondered again how this wouldn't scare the daylights out of kids yet found the theme and concept quite cool!  Mind you, by the end of lunch I was a bit over it as it interrupted the flow of conversation each time it went off (the Bear and I still talk when we are eating.  We don't sit in silence) and we probably won't eat there again however I am glad we had the experience anyway!

After lunch it was back to the hotel for a Nana nap and nothing more interesting to report for the day.  Hopefully there will be some more interesting stuff to report tomorrow! We are looking at heading into Coney Island and Brooklyn!

2024 - Trip 11 to USA (and a brief stop in Canada) Day 3. 1st October - LA to New York!

 After a sleepless night, we had to leave our hotel to head back to LAX and jump on a flight to New York.  After having flown back in time and virtually had a 26 hour night, the trip to New York would take us further in time (although further away from our time at home) due to the time zones across the country.   Our flight was at approximately 8am however we wouldn't arrive in New York until late afternoon - nearly bedtime again!  As previously mentioned, my body has not coped very well with jetlag when flying to New York and it was fairly obvious this was going to be the case again. 

This time we decided to fly to New York via Alaska Airlines (no doubt a financial decision) and will be flying first class which is a poor cousin to a Jetstar economy flight. We don't fly economy on domestic flights throughout the USA given that all economy seats have you automatically in the crash position. You could fit properly if you are an anorexic on your deathbed, however if you have indulged in an extra "Twinkie" once every six months, you are required to adopt the "Lotus" position and then bend like a bifold door before taking place in your seat. 

We took our place in the "First Class" line at the check-in desk and were called up to the counter by a bottle blonde bimbo who had the personality of a dead ant.  This was not helped by the fact that her face was was literally drowning in extraordinarily bad make-up and botoxed lips. She completed our "transaction" whilst picking at her dramatically long fingernails, although to be fair, she spent less time doing this than staring at the ceiling.  If this was First Class service, I dread to think of how economy passengers were treated.  The Bear put the first suitcase up on the weighing machine, and the Barbie wanna-be tutted, rolled her eyes, and advised us that the suitcase was 4 pound overweight.  Being First Class, the Bear thought they would let this slide (although he also challenged the correctness of their scales given we had just flew from Australia with that suitcase being well under the weight limit)  however Barbie stated that we would need to pay an extra $100 dollars.   The Bear advised  her politely, "F**k that" and I geared up to be prepared to add a few layers of clothing because adding an extra 4 pounds onto me wouldn't cost a thing.  Had I have been going into an economy seat, I would have been royally screwed but given our foresight to purchase first class tickets, I would still fit in despite being dressed like the Michelin Man. This turned out to be un-necessary given that taking only one item out of the suitcase brought the suitcase down the required 4 pounds. All other suitcases fell within the required weight limits, and we we were free to head off to security and leave Barbie to go back to picking her nails. 

As is with all TSA security spots, all stuff needs to be x-rayed, belts have to come off, shoes have to come off, and with the Bears knee replacement the alarm goes off.  10 minutes later after the Bear had his separate secondary screening to prove his knee replacement, replaced his shoes and belt, and I had replaced my shoes and chastised the TSA for not being frisked by an Eddie Vedder look-a-like, we head up to the Alaska Airlines lounge where we hoped to score a coffee that didn't taste like paint stripper and perhaps a bite to eat.  We were lucky in finding two things.  Firstly, there was a lovely Alaska Airlines employee  behind the entry desk, and, there was a barista who made the only drinkable coffee that I have had in my 11 trips to this country.  Whilst I couldn't eat any of the food they had on offer I still surveyed what was available and grabbed a bit of cheese and a glass of orange juice because it makes me feel normal.  As I looked at both the cheese and OJ on the table in front of me, it occurred to me that the cheese in the USA was more orange than actual orange juice!  in fact, I am now fairly certain that twatwaffle Trump smashes his face into a bucket of cheese to maintain his year around bad, fake tan look. 

Boarding the plane, we found that there was no entertainment on  board. Given that the flight is approximately 5 hours, I was a little ticked off at that.  There was a way of downloading an app and watching stuff on your phone however I am as blind as a bat (and technologically challenged) so that simply wasn't going to happen for me. I also needed to make sure that my phone didn't run out of charge given that it is the phone that carries the international SIM.  The flight was relatively long and boring and I was officially over air travel.  I was very glad to touch down in New York (actually New Jersey) and even more glad that we had already cleared customs and the TSA the day before.  That meant there was very little chance that I would fight anyone today, or would be un-necessarily held up by having our luggage searched. * Phew *  One thing I did find, is that I have a new slogan for Alaskan Airlines. "You can't complain about the service - because you don't get any!"

Once our bags were retrieved we head off to collect our hire vehicle which was a lovely, large SUV.  Last year when we came over, the Bear insisted on a Mustang convertible coupe which, whilst it might have had us looking pretty damned cool, also had us sitting in the crash position.  Travelling with 6 suitcases, most of which had to sit on the back seat, subsequently whacking me in the back of the head, meant that the seats had to be positioned all the way forward.  Trying to get in and out of a sports car with a screwed knee also had me making sounds that I am sure mimicked those heard in a 70s porn film - or so I've heard 😏😏- so the SUV made for a nice change.  

 

On the way to our hotel for the next few days, we made our first of many stops to a Walmart (WOOOOOOT!!!!!) to get some essentials and some dinner.  I've said it before and I will say it again - Walmart is my favourite place in the entire world!  We were relatively quick on this visit though as we just wanted to get to our destination which was a part of the Homewood Suites chain, and watch the Walz/Vance debate.  It was night time again before we knew it and I was suffering my usual bad jet lag as I do when flying to the East Coast of the USA.  Despite having spent the last 36 - 48 hours mostly as a night time, I ended up falling asleep anyway and missed out on watching the debate.  Not that I minded as I wanted to be able to hit the ground running tomorrow, and, because Vance is a dork. 

Tomorrow we are going to have an easy day and not head into Manhattan for a few days until the jetlag has passed.  As long as we do something that we have never done before, I will be happy!