New York, New York

Had a couple of days down time trying to sort out a water pressure problem.  That’s one of the hardest things when you are on the road and moving all the time – staying still long enough to get the minor problems sorted.  We are in New York for a week though and managed to get hold of a mobile service.  Shouldn’t have taken two days to diagnose though but we’re sorted now.

Light Dispelling Darkness fountain - the good guys are carved around the
column chasing away the evil-doers out on the limbs

 Did a day trip to the northeast corner of New Jersey to find ourselves some weird and wonderful.  Discovered the Light Dispelling Darkness fountain in Edison.  This was a WPA project done during the Depression and it helped that the creator was also the WPA director so his design was never going to get rejected.  It’s not your usual fountain but depicts good triumphing over evil in a graphic, allegorical manner.  It’s presently being restored which meant we could get up close and personal with the evil dudes.

 

Evil is represented by the Four Horses of the Apocalypse along
with the added extras of Greed and Materialism

 

Keeping with the Halloween theme (quite relevant really given this is October 31) we did a drive by of the house that was the inspiration for The Addams Family.  The addition of the deck reduces the creepiness but I’m sure makes it more comfortable for the present inhabitants.  I was humming the theme tune the rest of the day. 

Look familiar?  I'll have to re-watch the
programme now to see if it's really so

Our last stop in New Jersey was the Morris Museum in Morristown.  It houses the Guinness Collection of Automata and we arrived in time for some of the automata to be demonstrated.  Quite amazing.  Some of these machines are over 100 years old and still in good working order.  Advances in technology at the time turned them from luxury items for the wealthy to popular play things of the hoi polloi.  The museum had other interesting exhibits although it was definitely the automata that was the main attraction for me. 

This one still belts out the tunes loud and clear 100 years later

The dude on the left moves arms, legs and head and writes in his book;
the dude on the right does a one-armed handstand on the top of the ladder

This one?  Well, she just smiles and waves her hand

Couldn't be a New Zealand blog without sheep in it somewhere
- these ones are life-sized and made out of paper

An alternate use for a Webster's dictionary

We had initially planned another couple of stops in this corner of New Jersey but we spent so much time at the museum we missed their opening hours.  C’est la vie.  Fortunately we were far enough west of New York City to avoid the worst of rush hour traffic and had a smooth run back to the campground.  Saw a grand total of two kids dressed up trick or treating on our drive back.  Guess there’s not too much call for it on the Interstate.  It was a bit late for the wee munchkins to come calling when we did get back to camp.  Yay, we get to eat the candy!

Took a day trip down to Coney Island in Brooklyn, a place that featured in many a book we’d read about over the years.  There was a 50% chance of rain, we hummed and hah-ed and decided to book the tour anyway.  Yeah, we got the 50% and then some.  Not surprisingly, we were the only ones on the tour this morning.  Our guide, Kim, thought it was fantastic that we still showed.  He is so enthusiastic about his adopted playground of Coney Island and just loves sharing stories about the place.  Coney Island took a hammering in Hurricane Sandy and the recovery over the past couple of years has been phenomenal.  Interestingly enough, the old rides came through pretty much unscathed.  All in all we had a great time in spite of the weather gods doing their darndest to have us sit in a pub all day.

Nathan's Famous Hotdogs and starting point of our walking tour
on a cold, wet, windy day

Carnival posters

Wonder Wheel

Parachute Drop

Mmmmm, coconut dipped marshmallow

Still smiling after a couple of hours walking in the rain -
Sue & Jean with tour guide Kim



Which leads me to our next destination … a pub.  Not just a pub but The Australian – a little bit of Down Under in Manhattan.  It also helps that they are sports mad and have a TV every few feet and were playing the All Blacks v Eagles live.  We’ve noticed that the further east we’ve come, the more the Americans have heard of rugby.  Some even know about cricket but they are usually of Indian extraction so not sure if that really counts, India being a huge cricket country.  Back to the game.  The pub filled up pretty quickly with the smart people reserving tables days ago.  We found a good spot to stand with good views of several televisions then got lucky when a party of 4 who’d reserved a table didn’t show, so our small group that was now 5 were offered it.  Great game, great afternoon with new friends.  Lovely to meet you John, Cathy & Bob.

Sue & Jean with new friends Cathy, Bob & John

Grand Central Station with the Chrysler Building in the background

Caught the train into the city again the next morning to check out the New York Marathon.  Met up with Cathy who, after a welcome cup of tea, showed us around her backyard – Central Park - before we stopped to watch the marathon.  Cheered on as many Kiwis and Aussies that we could spot before succumbing to the cold and taking refuge in Trump Tower for a hot cup of coffee (see, it’s not all about alcohol).

Central Park

Some of the 50,000-odd people in the marathon

We even saw Superman out running

Headed north once we’d defrosted to check out the Headless Horseman (keeping with the Halloween theme).  What a fun place.  Quite pricey to get in but it’s so well done.  Security was a bit over the top we thought but apart from my camera (no photography allowed) we were sweet – no cigarettes, no lighters, no weapons.  First up was the witching hour hayride followed by several themed haunted houses and a corn maze.  All the while creepy characters are jumping out at you doing their best to make you scream.  No luck with the Mills Sisters but lots of teenage girls and boys obliging them.

 

And that was New York … for now … we’ll be back at New Years