Planes trains and automobiles - USA summer, are we mad?

[bPeteb]

Over to Brooklyn for a visit to the New York Transit Museum, down in the old Court subway station. Two platforms full of old subway cars.







The advertising in them was hilarious.









Back on the subway to go to our first ever Grand Prix – New York City E-Prix. Ok, so maybe not a real Grand Prix. Free shuttle from straight outside the subway station we weren’t going to (thanks wikip!).



Hell hot day! 32 degrees with not a cloud in the sky. One of the things mentioned on the website was ‘more under cover areas’. There were two very small shaded areas in the Allianz E-Village that our $12 tickets gave us access to. For some reason the other E-Village, the fully shaded one, was closed when we tried to get to it due to ‘an incident’. No further explanation given.

One of the two temp shade structures...



Very fancy and expensive displays by Audi, BMW, Jaguar and other companies involved in Formula-E. I’m not going to say it wasn’t fun, more for the people watching that anything else. People lugging around bags of stuff from the exhibitors that will get shoved in a cupboard when they get home. We ate and drank and watched a big screen every now and then from a shaded corner.

 

[bPeteb]

Some more from the E-Prix









With a bout five minutes to go Al decided we should go across the bridge in search of the other E-Village. I was not interested but he persisted and I’m glad he did because we managed to catch a couple of glimpses of the cars and even got a couple of funny videos of cars flashing past. This was despite the best efforts of the overly zealous staff who it felt like were under strict instructions to stop anyone who hadn’t paid for grandstand seats to even look at the track!



and a bit of another racing car



an Audi of the future



not an E-Prix racer



We didn’t bother with the shuttle back to the subway as Al new exactly where we had to walk to get to a closer station. I doubted his route but he was spot on. Sadly we got on the first train that arrived at the station and it was the wrong one. At the next station we got on a train going in the opposite direction. It was a bit of a fiasco. I had an important work call that I’d hoped to make back at the apartment. Instead I made it from a street in Brooklyn.

Being slightly stressed after the call, the obvious solution was alcohol. Luckily we’d been sat next to a Bavarian Bier Bar, so we did our duty and had some biers.





Al then told me he’d been approached by a gentleman who’d asked him for some money for food. Al said he was incredibly polite and excused himself before he asked if Al could buy him something to eat. As Al was getting him some money from his wallet he then thanked Al for acknowledging him as most people don’t. The five dollars Al gave him was very gratefully accepted.

This then reminded me of Al being approached in Peet’s Coffee at The Embarcadero in San Francisco. While I was ordering, a guy started a conversation with Al about how he had lost his accommodation and at Al’s prompting said he was living rough. He also asked for money for food but would only take it after performing a personal rap for Al. He gave Al a hug as we left. There are over 8000 homeless people in San Francisco. It’s not a big city.

We are so privileged.

 

[carls888]

Loving your TR! I'm taking notes for a future trip...your photos are fantastic.

 

[bPeteb]

After de-stressing with bier we headed back, on the correct train, to home

What all of the best dressed ladies of New York wear to catch the subway on a Sunday afternoon



We stopped at the quite beautiful AIDS memorial





before catching a glimpse of the sunset that might have been. Manhattanhenge was rained out last week and this was the only coloured sunset we managed to see.



After dropping our stuff off we had a walk down to the Hudson to check out the boats down there





golf anyone?



Dream Hotel, next door to Maritime Hotel, next block up



I’d lost track of time so when it was time to get some dinner it wasn’t far off 10. Managed to catch a still open kitchen at Jack’s Wife Freda where we had a terrific lamb lasagne that I would have called moussaka.

 

[bPeteb]

Day 8 NYC Monday

27 years ago, when the Twin Towers still stood, I had an opportunity to go up to the crown of the Statue of Liberty. I said no. This time it’s a yes.

The tickets are released a few months out and somehow I’d forgotten to keep looking at the available dates. When I finally remembered I had just three days available over the nine we’d be in NYC.



We stopped by the very beautiful, and haunting, WTC memorial













before walking down to Battery Park to get the ferry







No crown tickets available for anyone who decided to try last minute.

 

[bPeteb]

Way, way behind with both this and my TravelArk blog . So far I'm actually sat in bed in our hotel in San Francisco, on the last day of this fantastic holiday. Arrived into SF yesterday evening on a very late California Zephyr (six hours!) to notifications that 74 is delayed by 40 minutes tonight. We don't want to go home so 40 days would have been fine!

Anyways, where were we...



Access to a faster security line for those with crown and pedestal tickets. The boat was pretty packed but we scored some space up front with both shade and breeze.





Nobody even looked at our tickets to check the time I’d booked for our climb – 1pm – so we went straight up.

View from podium







Another 32 degree day and it is hot inside Lady Liberty. It’s a total of 354 steps from pedestal to the crown, nearly half of that in a really tight spiral (162 steps)



You could not be a person of size and do this climb. You just wouldn’t fit. I’m not great with heights and I was a little freaked out as I pulled myself up.

 

[bPeteb]

But getting to that final viewing deck and be the only two people up inside the crown (plus two National Park Service Rangers) was fantastic. The view is limited because the windows are small, and it was super hot, but we’ve now been in the crown of the Statue of Liberty!











Going down the spiral was just as awkward as going up. I went down backwards for half of it.

The view of the inside of Lady Liberty









What the statue is bolted on with

 

[bPeteb]

For the rest of our time on the island we joined the throngs scrambling to get the best shot. What is it with selfies? Why do you need a photo of yourself pulling a dumb face with a landmark/scene behind you? Just don’t get it.











the original flame

 

[OZDUCK]

You could not be a person of size and do this climb. You just wouldn’t fit. I’m not great with heights and I was a little freaked out as I pulled myself up.

So as a tall, fat Acrophobic it is possibly not for me?

Please keep the great photos coming.

 

[bPeteb]

The queue to get on the ferry back across to Ellis Island was lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng but we managed to get on the next boat to arrive.

While we were stood in the queue we got talking to a lady who had been to Yellowstone and recommended an app called GyPSy Guide. She said it made their visit to Yellowstone a map free pleasure. More on that later.

Ellis Island













Ellis Island deserved a longer visit, especially the hard hat tour of the hospital. Maybe next time.

Dinner - sushi made to order at Chelsea Markets

 

[bPeteb]

So as a tall, fat Acrophobic it is possibly not for me?

Please keep the great photos coming.

Tall ok but my belly could not have been much bigger!

 

[bPeteb]

One of Al’s ‘to dos’ was Drunk Shakespeare. Booked through rush49.com for half price and then ‘upgraded’ at the door from balcony to mezzanine. Booked direct those tickets would have been US$138. We paid US$54.

It was a hoot. They ‘performed’ MacBeth. It’s Broadway, so it’s a show, and the drunkenness is all part of the act, but it was hilarious. One gut did lots of impersonations including The Donald. We were chatting to another couple of the way out and they’d been sat next to a couple from Iowa who none too impressed with their president being made fun of. I wonder what they thought of the constant and very loud swearing and everything else that went on?









a great, and random, impersonator/announcer





David did end up with shirt half off and pants half down. You had to be there



If you’re in New York, go!

The part of NYC we don't like...



Beer and fried food to finish the night off

 

[bPeteb]

NYC Day 9 Tuesday

For our last day in NYC we decided to revisit the Intrepid Museum.

We misjudged how long it would take us to get there

some of the sights along the way







and walked in just a couple of minutes before our pre-booked Concorde tour. Sadly the power outage two nights before had zapped something and the tour wasn’t running. Very sad. They offered some alternatives and we opted for a ship’s tour and were escorted up through the ship to where the tour was about to start.

Only half a dozen of us on the tour and it was interesting, although not a lot of info I hadn’t heard before.



Highlights were a 1:40 scale Lego model of the Intrepid



that had only taken six months less than the real Intrepid build (12 months v 18) and being able to go behind the ropes up on the flight deck and actually get round an under all of the aircraft up there, particularly the Lockhead A-12.

 

[bPeteb]

Oh, and maybe the very first space shuttle, Enterprise, that was used to test atmospheric flight and landing







We both tried a VR experience on the ISS. I was rubbish, the headset slipped down my face, but Al was good





and of course we went and gave Concorde a look over, even if we couldn't have another look inside

 

[bPeteb]

Somehow I talked Al into going back to the Guggenheim.

We walked up there from Intrepid but realise that we need to work the buses out next time we visit NYC to cover where subways don't.

The Clinton Garden (I think)



8th Avenue





World Heritage listed and deservedly so. Such an amazing building.









To celebrate it’s 60th birthday in October, six curators have selected works from the Guggenheim collection and they ‘read’ up the ramp. As usual, some stuff we loved

 

[bPeteb]

much more stuff we just shook our heads at.

Pinocchio?


giant macrame room divider



Our favourite 'what the?' A pile of lead sheeting being guarded by a bored fine arts intern...



The trip back to Chelsea











When we got back to the apartment we got some last washing done and then went out to dinner. We’d walked past Co Ba a few times and very glad we finally dropped in. A great meal, the pork ribs the best thing we ate in NYC.

Where the ribs were







I can’t believe I didn’t manage to eat a doughnut/donut the whole time I was in NYC.

The journey west begins tomorrow.

 

[craven morehead]

Jumping on board. Better late than never. Great read and pics so far

 

[AisleSeat]

Love the architectural photos.

 

[bPeteb]

Love the architectural photos.

You ain't seen nothing yet

 

[bPeteb]

Wednesday NYC-Washington

Up pretty early to get the last domestic jobs done – sheets and towels washed and in the dryer

Goodbye bed view



Uberred uptown to Penn. A little confused how boarding worked as people just milled around in front of the departures board. We missed a queue forming at a gate behind us but it didn’t matter, we managed to find two seats together straight away and just as importantly space for our luggage.

Love the room on these trains



Not the most photogenic scenery on the run down to DC.









Breakfast muffin not too bad at all



nor was the cookie