Author: Jenny

Statue of Liberty & Ground Zero Workshop

Monday was our day to visit both the Statue of Liberty and the Ground Zero Museum Workshop , two very different experiences but both iconic and unforgettable in their own ways.

The park service provides a fascinating audio tour around the island, starting with a moving account of how the narrator’s Grandma sailed to the United States as a child of six, scared and unsure of what was happening until she was lifted up and shown the ‘pretty lady’ welcoming her to her new home.

It hadn’t really occurred to me exactly what the sight of ‘The Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World’ (as it’s full title was) had come to mean but listening to the different stories it comes across that she is much more than just a statue to so many people, especially to the 12 million immigrants who came through Ellis Island from 1886 to 1954.

To get to the Statue of Liberty you need to buy tickets in advance for the boat trip over to the island plus access to the pedestal of the statue or the crown of Lady Liberty, depending on availability. Unfortunately we were too late to buy anything other then the basic island access but, on arriving in the queue for the boat, we found we were lucky enough to have been given a free upgrade to a ‘pedestal pass’, meaning we got to climb 156 steps up to the top of the base of the statue as well as walk around the island.

The structure and origin of the statue is fascinating, the suggestion is that the statue was a ‘dig’ at France who had promised liberty through the revolution but not delivered, by creating a monument to liberty for the US instead. It was designed by the same engineer who went on to create the Eiffel Tower, using very similar construction techniques and transported from France to the US in hundreds of numbered pieces, like an extremely heavy jigsaw puzzle to be rebuilt on American soil by immigrant labour.

We have yet another day where Scott managed to stay out of any photos, but we promise he was with us! The three of us spent around 3 hours walking around Liberty Island before realising we had less than an hour to get to the Ground Zero Workshop meaning unfortunately we had to miss out our stop at Ellis Island and the immigration centre.

After a slightly hectic cab ride, we made it to the Ground Zero Museum and Workshop. The mission statement of the Museum is “To raise awareness of the heroic efforts of the Ground Zero Recovery workers through the exhibition of Gary Marlon Suson’s photographic collection”. Suson was the only photographer allowed into Ground Zero after the mayor of New York banned all photography at the site 3 weeks after the tragedy occurred. He worked without pay for months to document every facet of the recovery process with the only stipulation being that no photographs would contain the remains of victims or be publicised without consent. Profits go to the charities supported by the museum including collections for recovery workers medical bills and support for children who lost parents in the attack.

Each ‘tour’ of the one room exhibition starts with a 20 minute video describing the events of the 11th September 2001 and contains over 100 photos and artefacts from the day and the subsequent recovery and clear up, each with a narrated description by Suson. The result is an extremely moving record of the pain and commitment from current (and retired) members of the New York Police and Fire Departments who dug for the remains of civilians and their colleagues for over nine months.

It was interspersed with moments of lightness, such as the thousands of mysterious cans of german beer that kept being uncovered in the rubble: It turned out that they were from the original construction workers who would drink beer with their lunch and then hide the empties in the beams that they were constructing.

It’s a difficult experience to describe, suffice to say, if you get a chance to visit or to see the collection, I’d highly recommend it.

Later that evening, Jon and I got the chance to eat a gorgeous meal at The View , a rotating restaurant on the 48th floor, overlooking Times Square. It was a fabulous end to an amazing day – huge thanks go to Craig for organising it for us xxx.

 

First Day in New York

Yesterday was our first full day in New York . We arrived on Friday having picked Scott up from the airport on our way from Philadelphia. We have hotels just off Times Square so went out for a meal and drinks on Friday ( in pouring rain and 90° heat) then met up at the Guggenheim Museum on Saturday morning.

The Guggenheim museum is a fabulous example of architecture by Frank Lloyd Wright , but we weren’t as interested in the current exhibitions so we stopped to see inside the foyer and then took a yellow cab (of course) over to Central Park and the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art .

The New York Metropolitan Museum of Art is unbelievably huge and you could easily spend several days, if not a week, wandering around without duplicating anything. We managed to visit 5 or 6 of the halls and were amazed to see some of the most famous paintings and sculptures in the world, without glass cases or any ‘protection’ apart from a thin metal rope barrier: Monet’s “Water lillies” and “Bridge over a pond of Water Lillies”, van Gough’s “Self Portrait in a Straw Hat” and “Wheat fields with Cypresses” several Andy Warhol’s, plus, to our complete amazement, Rodin’s “The Thinker” mounted halfway up a wall (replicating, we think, its originally designed position above the gates of Hell, either that, or just putting it conveniently out of reach of visitors!)

We also spent a while in the Modern Art hall, with mixed opinions – Scott was particularly (un)impressed with a piece that looked very similar to a Dulux colour chart! (see it behind the white plaster woman in the photos below).

Our final tourist-stop on day #1 was The Top of The Rock , the observation platform at the top of the Rockerfeller Centre. Its not as high as the Empire State Building , but from it you get to see the ESB itself, and we were there at night, so the lights and colours of New York were just fantastic.

By the time we came down, it was 11pm, so the perfect time to revisit Times Square for night time photos: Another cab ride (I have no idea how they get the cars through spaces so small, it seems to defy any known laws of physics) and Jon spent a little while taking some great pictures of the neon lights, his favorites are below.

By this time our feet were exhausted and we realised we hadn’t eaten since lunch so we found a restaurant off Times Square where I had my first authentic New York bagel (toasted, cream cheese & lox (smoked salmon) with capers on the side; I could move here just for these!)

More tomorrow…

 

 

 

Gettysburg Battlefields

I’ll be the first to admit that my grasp of American history is a little shaky, but we are learning lots as we visit the different cities around the states. Gettysburg was the site of a huge battle between the Northern (Union) and Southern (Confederate) troops in the American Civil War in which over 50,000 soldiors lost their lives. It only lasted 3 days but was the culmination of many years of fighting and its conclusion (spoiler alert – the North won) led to the “Four score and seven years ago…” speech by Lincoln in the ‘Gettysburg address’ made in November of the same year.

We first went to the Gettysburg History Museum which has a re-enactment of the entire 3 days – in miniature. It is the largest military diorama in the United States covering over 800 sq ft and each of the 20,000 odd models have been hand painted and positioned to show the path of the battle over the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of July 1863. With a 30 minute light and sound show to illustrate the battle it’s oddly impressive, although Jon and I both felt we suffered from not always understanding completely who was fighting on what side!

We walked around a second museum showing more of the history and several dioramas with full sized models – a little bit like a Tussards Wax Museum, but with more of a story (and a lot of guns)

Once we’d looked around the models, we then decided to get back into our car and follow an audio tour around a circuit of the battlefields. Its really interesting to be able to see history and then drive around where it actually happened – there is a 40 mile route around the path the fighting took over the three days, with thousands of statues and plaques commemorating the batallions, soldiers (and in one case, a small dog) on both sides.

We loved the idea of a driving tour but, in reality, keeping to a steady 15 miles an hour to be in sync with a CD and following an artistic interpretation of a map in a small leaflet got a little confusing, so we called it a day after the first third of the battle and decided to move on to Phillidelphia where we have more history waiting for us tomorrow.

 

 

Swimming with Manatees

Our detour to Crystal River to swim with manatees was just under 24 hours long but, for me, was one of the best experiences that we have had so far.

Crystal River is a small river in Florida running into the Gulf and is home to a small population of endangered manatees all year round. During the winter, when it gets colder, there can be up to 400 living in the river, during summer months, there are about 25 adults and babies staying in the bays.

Our day started around 6am and, once we were fitted out with wetsuits and snorkel gear we were out on the boat with our guide in time for a gorgeous sunrise.

After about 35 minutes we stopped alongside 5 or 6 swimmers who were watching a mother and her calf playing in the water, we joined them for a few minutes and did manage to see them both, but having been in the same place for a while, they moved on (that’s the nice version, the more honest one is that Jon ‘interacted’ with a manatee by accidentally kicking it, then they swam away…) so we went down river to three amazingly clear pools/springs, called the Three Sisters – I managed to get some photos of an underwater crater filled with trees with Robin & Esperanza’s camera which they kindly left with us but the crater was too deep to take the camera down when I dived into it, so the crabs I disturbed didn’t get to have their photos taken.

As we took the boat further to look for more manatees, we found Cici, a small male recently returned to the wild from captivity; he has a small buoy attached to his tail and is being monitored to see how he behaves in the wild, so no one is allowed to swim near him, in case these behaviours are altered. Our guide then took us into a bay where, to my delight, we found four manatees, three adults and a calf, just floating about (that’s pretty much all manatees do, float and eat!). The water was really quite murky but I swam in their vague direction and then just floated (as we were told to, manatees are meant to approach you, not the other way around) After a few minutes the river bed appeared to move under me and a manatee’s back came into view – it was a little like a ‘magic eye’ picture, suddenly the floor had shape and was swimming!

Adult manatees weigh up to 2000 lbs and they certainly made me feel very small and ungainly as they swam around. The white marks you can see in the photos are scars from boat propellers; they all have them, even the little calf, even though the rules for boats on the river are pretty strict. Fortunately, most propeller injuries heal and don’t seem to cause too many problems at slow speeds (keel injuries are another matter, hence the strict speed limits).

After stroking the backs of two of the adults as they hovered near me, I couldn’t believe it when the little calf suddenly appeared in front of me and nudged me in a similar way to the way a dog will head butt you to get attention. I stroked down its back and it promptly rolled over and presented its belly for a rub! We’d been told that they were remarkably affectionate and inquisitive, but to actually see it was quite amazing.

I have a few pictures of the calf – the one with it’s nose very close to the camera wasn’t using zoom; 2 seconds later it headbutted my hand, then my mask. This was extremely cute but a little nerve-wracking, it may have only been a small calf but was still about 8ft long and a much better swimmer than me.

By the time the manatees swam off I could no longer feel my hands or feet (even with a wet suit it was really cold) so we decided to spend the rest of our tour time going out to the entrance to the Gulf and to an islands there called Shell Island, which did appear to be made entirely of shells. Beautiful views and huge banana spiders – some things I won’t miss when we come home!

Back at the hotel we slept for a few hours and then drove about 180 miles towards Washington – we’ve got a little behind because of moving our trip to Crystal River to after Orlando (we meant to go before but Labor Day weekend meant everything was booked up) which means we have a 700 mile drive to Washington tomorrow (Monday) to get us back on track. Good thing I have such a lovely chauffeur!

 

 

Typhoon Lagoon

 

After an exhausting day at Disney we decided to take it a little easier today and went to Typhoon Lagoon , the waterpark Jon and I loved last time we were here. They have the worlds first water rollercoaster (you sit in 2-person rubber rings and it goes up as well as down – See Robin’s video above) and fortunately, Esp & Robin were quite happy to keep going round and round – we were the last people to go on it before the park shut and I think that was around our seventh go!

There is also a lazy river, wave pool, high speed chutes… basically everything needed to allow us all to regress back to being about 10 years old.

This evening we grew up a bit and went to Fulton’s Crabhouse in Downtown Disney (you can’t avoid Disney in Orlando and Fulton’s is a really nice seafood restaurant) I’d never had oysters before and it turns out I love them, this could get expensive!

Tomorrow we’re going to Tampa and Busch Gardens and a lot of large ‘coasters…

 

Disney, Disney, Disney!

 

As we only have 6 days to fit in as many parks as possible, Wednesday was “Disney Day” and we decided to ‘hop’ between 3 parks; Hollywood Studios was first, followed by Epcot Center and finishing in Magic Kingdom for the firework display.

In my opinion, Hollywood Studios has the best ride in Orlando, the Tower of Terror! Fortunately Jon already agrees and after one ride, so did Esp and Robin (although it was the first ride we went on and Robin ‘may’ have been regretting that last drink the night before!) With that and the Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster plus an Indianna Jones stunt show and Star Tours, a Star Wars themed 3D ride, it was lucky the park was empty as we got to try all the rides we wanted to, then back to the Tower of Terror (twice more, yep, big kids!)

We then took a boat ride over to Epcot to have a look round and go on Soarin’, a gentle flight simulation that glides you over lots of American scenery – it sounds a little tame, but it’s quite impressive, not least for the ride structure, with hundreds of people all in rows and hanging from mechanical arms, facing a giant screen several stories high. Follow this with TestTrack (where you take the part of crash test dummies in around a high speed test track) and Spaceship Earth and a wander around a few of the ‘countries’, and we were running out of time, so had to move on

Our final (and by this time, quite exhausted) leg of the Disney-fest was to Magic Kingdom. You can’t do Disney without seeing a parade (well, that’s my excuse for barging small children out of the way to get to the front) and we managed to arrive just minutes before one started which was pretty good timing. The main reason to go to Magic Kingdom last was for the fireworks, but we managed to fit in Pirates of the Carribean and the Haunted Mansion whilst we were waiting, the fireworks in Disney are always fantastic, this year “Wishes” was narrated by Jimminy Cricket and featured a zip-lining Tinkerbell… well why not!

And sleep… next park is in less than 12 hours!

 

Dry Tortugas by Seaplane

 

Today has been one of my favourites so far, we decided to push the boat out (no pun intended) and booked a trip on a seaplane out to the Dry Tortugas , a line of islands off the bottom of Key West. Named after the sea turtles found there (the ‘dry part was added by mariners on their charts to indicate there’s no natural fresh water) the largest island is home to the largest brick built structure in the Western hemisphere, Fort Jefferson .

After an amazing 30 minute flight out there (neither Jon or I had even been in a seaplane before, and Jon assures me that no one in England would be allowed to fly that low or bank that quickly!) We got the chance to walk round the Fort for about an hour with our pilot giving a guided tour – it does seem that the US Navy bit off a bit more than they could chew with it as despite being stationed out there for 30 years it was never finished: their water filtration system used beach sand (so filled it with salt the first day rendering it permanently undrinkable), they used the local sand and salt water for cement, meaning the walls have huge cracks running down them, the fort itself was built on a coral bed, which partially sank under the weight and, to add insult to injury, the standard Naval uniforms were thick wool suits!

Saying that, the fort is still really impressive and it and the surrounding isands are now a nature reserve for hundreds of thousands of migratory birds as well as being surrounded by living coral reefs with turtles, sharks(!), porpoises and fish.

We spent the last hour and a half of our trip snorkelling in 86 degree water off a beautiful white sand beach, we didn’t swim out to any of the wrecks, although there is apparently still treasure to be found off one, so Jon decided to create his own treasure hunt by throwing my snorkel into the water 20 yards away and then had to spend 10 minutes trying to find it as we weren’t paying enough attention to where it landed… it was a bit like swimming with an over-excited puppy with a tendancy to sink!

Our trip back was even more fun as we took off from water and the pilot kept the door open until the very last moment – hope you enjoy the video 🙂

 

 

 

National Civil Rights Museum

Our second stop today couldn’t have been more different to Graceland: The National Civil Rights Museum has been set up in the Lorraine Motel where the Rev Dr. Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated on April 4th 1968.

The museum is a fascinating look at the struggle to end segregation and bring equality to the United States; it includes hundreds of newspaper articles, photos and exhibits plus an audio tour and videos – even though we allowed over 4 hours (and I didn’t really think we’d need more than 2), we could both have spent several more just walking round reading.

Although some of the articles made for quite uncomfortable reading, the majority of the writing portrayed everything in as positive way as possible (minimal emphasis on the KKK and the Black Panthers , much more being made about the peaceful protests and JFK’s support for example)

It was interesting to see famous events,such as the arrest of Rosa Parks , told from the point of view of the actual participants but, for me, the real success of the museum was how it linked all these events into a timeline that explained how and why many of the events escalated and why ordinary people went to such lengths and took so many personal risks to claim their rights – James Meredith in particular stood out for me; the first black student to attend the University of Mississippi, his application took 2 years and the intervention of the Attourney General before it was accepted and his first days attendance was met with mobs, guns and required the National Guard and US Marshalls to stop rioting that killed two people (two armed guards protected him every day of the two semesters he attended the University). He graduated in 1963 with a degree in Political Science.

In addition, the museum itself is not without controversy…
Jacqueline Smith was evicted from the Lorraine Motel when it was bought by the foundation and has been protesting outside everyday since the 12th January 1988 – over 23 years so far. She objects to both the content of the museum and the use of tens of millions of dollars by the foundation to create the exhibits and buy the building opposite (where the shot is claimed to have been fired from – I think this makes conspiracy #4 in our current trip) whilst simultaneously displacing residents and pricing them out of their old neighbourhood… Whether or not she has a point about the latter is a discussion for another day but personally I found it one of the most interesting museums we’ve been to so far (although as cameras were’t allowed inside and it has no rhinestones, aliens, cowboys or rollercoasters, the photos aren’t quite up to Jon’s usual standard!)

Los Angeles City Tour

Well I finally get to write my first blog post as Jon unfortunately wasn’t too well today and decided to miss our tour of LA to ensure he feels better for Vegas (we think it might have been something he ate at an outdoor bbq in Sonoma but fortunately he’s feeling a lot better tonight)

So today Jon#2 (more usually known as Dennis!) and I took a 5 1/2 hr bus tour of LA and Hollywood, going to the Hollywood Bowl, Kodak Theatre, Rodeo Drive and the Walk of Fame / Chinese Theatre among other sites.

LA was a lot more open and friendly than I was expecting, there is just a huge amount of space everywhere. I could also happily have spent hours on Rodeo Drive, (window shopping of course) so it was probably a good thing the tour only stopped there for 15 mins!

The most suprising part of the tour for me was realising that the Oscars red carpet and the Kodak Theatre entrance is part of a shopping mall with (among other shops, but this is my favourite) a “build-a-bear workshop” – they just cover everything in curtains for Oscar night!

Our plans for tomorrow are to put our lives in Dennis’ hands as he’s volunteered to drive to a few more sites around the city and the surrounding hills, as this is the man who hasn’t owned a car for several years, please wish us luck…

Hope everything is ok with everyone in London (especially Ealing by the looks of it) xx .

 

 

Our Calendar…

Quite a few of you have asked to see where we’re going and when, so our calendar is below – we can’t guarantee we won’t completely change our minds though, so if you’re planning on coming out and meeting us, let us know where / when and we’ll make sure we get there!