New York again

A trip to the US would not be complete without a visit to New York. This was my 4th visit so I was able to ensure my sister got to see as much as possible in the 4 days we were there. While we visited the Empire State Building, Rockefeller Tower, 9-11 memorial and museum and Central Park, I was able to do a few new things that I hadn't done before. 

We also took a walking tour to Brooklyn, crossed the bridge both ways and had a yummy feed down Chinatown.

Brooklyn Bridge

Flatiron

We took a cruise out to Liberty Island to see the Statue of Liberty up close. She still impresses me every time I see her. The statue is 93m high including the pedestal and the island she stands is bloody huge too - I didn't realise how big it was. It was cool to walk around Liberty and see her up close. The weather was perfect. The statue was a gift of friendship from the people of France to the United States and is recognized as a universal symbol of freedom and democracy. The Statue of Liberty was dedicated on October 28, 1886. It was designated as a National Monument in 1924. Wiki tells us that....The Statue of Liberty is a figure of a robed woman representing Libertas, a Roman Goddess. She holds a torch above her head with her right hand, and in her left hand carries a tabula ansata inscribed in Roman numerals with "JULY IV MDCCLXXVI" (July 4, 1776), the date of the US Declaration of Independence. A broken chain lies at her feet. The statue became an icon of freedom and of the United States, and was a welcoming sight to immigrants arriving from abroad. That statue is green because it's cast of bronze which has oxidised, colouring it green.

 

I also got to visit the USS Intrepid aircraft carrier museum. Wow, it was loaded with aircraft on the deck and full of exhibits underneath. The really really really cool thing I wanted to see was the Concorde. It sits on the rear of the deck and the only way to look inside is take the one hour tour. It was awesome. The Concorde is truly an impressive aircraft with a list of records and achievements. I loved the tour, the information they told us and seeing the cockpit was incredible. We got to sit in the aircraft and listen to the guide talk about the history and facts about the aircraft. I loved the stories and flying the Concorde was an absolute experience, an expensive one at that.

This aircraft was Alpha Delta, a British owned aircraft. Only the British and French had them. The French have white seats inside !! I have extracted this from the Intrepid website... 

The Concorde is a product of Anglo-French cooperation. When the Concorde entered Air France and British Airways transatlantic service in 1976, it was the only operational supersonic passenger transport in the world. With a crew of nine, the Concorde could fly at 1,350 mph (2,150 kph) at an altitude of 60,000 ft (18,181 m), high enough for its 100 passengers to see the curvature of the earth. This aircraft, serial no. 100-010 (G-BOAD), first flew on August 25, 1976. Concordes crossed the Atlantic Ocean in under three hours, or less than half the time of any other jetliner flying that route even today. Protests from environmentalists prevented its supersonic use over the United States and limited airport operation. A crash upon takeoff in July 2000 grounded the fleet until 2001. The Concorde flew VIP passengers until 2003, when both airlines retired their fleets from service. This airplane is on loan from British Airways.

I loved seeing the cockpit and saw the speedo that reaches MACH 2 (twice the speed of sound). You won't see that in the commercial aircraft today.

I also got some memorable Concorde photos such as the airframe plate above the door and the flashy plaque as you board the plane.

I loved seeing this aircraft and my sister liked it too so it wasn't just me being nerdy. We also looked around the Space Shuttle Discovery which was the first orbiter of the Space Shuttle system. Rolled out on September 17, 1976, it was built for NASA as part of the Space Shuttle program to perform atmospheric test flights after being launched from a modified Boeing 747. It was constructed without meninges or a functional heat shield, and was therefore not capable of spaceflight. I have seen the Atlantis down at Kennedy Space Centre and now Enterprise. Hopefully I'll see the Discovery at the Smithsonian Air Space museum at Dulles airport here over the winter. We also crawled in the submarine USS Growler, a guided missile submarine. Love submarines and my sister had never been on one or seen one so she was happy. Loving this high tech stuff - a real engineers playground.

I also took my sister to see the Broadway smash theatre show 'Book of Mormon'. Deb and I saw this a few years ago and it is an incredibly funny show targeted at the mormons. It is well worth seeing so get your tix and check it out. You won't regret it.

The night before we got the bus to New York, was the Aussie Rules Football grand final at home. My beloved Richmond Tigers were in the final for the first time in about 32 years. I had to be there at least in spirit. Deb got the techo TV stuff sorted so I could watch it live streaming, and all I had to do was get up about 1.30am and pray the Tigers would win. I put my footy shorts on and watched them take the lead early. This was good footy and I made myself a hot Milo (Aussie chocolate powder) to feel a bit more at home. But, with much encouragement from my Facebook friends, I put a 4n20 pie in the oven and enjoyed eating it as the Tigers stretched their lead. I was so glad I watched the game - they won and won fantastically. I had a little tear in my eye and was so proud to be a Tigers fan. Go the yellow and black !!

 


We returned home from New York exhausted and a well earned rest day next. But not for long as there were more things to see so we back on the sightseeing trail in no time.