Arriving Somewhere, But Not Here
Oct. 11th, 2021 10:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
waitingmanPhiladelphia to New York City - Roadtrip 2012
Oct. 11 Thursday – Philadelphia to New York
And so, our last day ‘on the road’... after today we’ll be based in New York until we fly home next week. Tomorrow we give Steve McQueen back to the rental company, so we’ll see how many miles we’ve clocked up by then. It probably won’t be seven thousand, but it will be close... I suppose it depends on how direct a route we take to get to our lodgings today. And on how many times we have to take Steve through a car wash to get rid of twenty five states worth of dust & bugs
But first, Philadelphia & its historic sites pertaining to America’s Declaration of Independence & the subsequent War for it. We obtained two (free!!) tickets for the 11.30am tour through Independence Hall, which features the meeting rooms & courthouses where the notion of, & later Declaration of, independence was debated & written... then rewritten, then amended, then... Our guide was a firm believer in audience participation & decided that I should represent King George III in his narrative (Me: "I'm Australian , not British!!!"). All in good fun though... They also have copies of the first print run of the Declaration, from July 5 1776, all under glass & under guard – you & your bags get thoroughly searched on the way in – well okay, the bags get more attention than your person, but it certainly seemed more security conscious than LAX airport had been when we arrived. Surely they'd be better off searching your bags on the way out!!
Across the road from there was the Liberty Bell – another for the “I thought it would be bigger” file, but no less popular for that... there were photos displayed of Nelson Mandela & the Dalai Lama posing &, in the Dalai Lama’s case, throwing peace signs, with the bell. What is it with Asian tourists & their peace sign posing in front of everything & anything??!!
Right side...
Left side
Then downtown to ‘Love Park’, so known because of the LOVE ‘sculpture’ in one corner. Add another one to the “ITIWBB” file... the photos we’d seen certainly added size & scale that it doesn’t actually have. Nice fountain behind it though...
Lunch from a street van – Philly Cheese steak (of course!!) on a roll, with hot peppers for me & onions for Julia. A few photos in the Square across from City Hall, but the light wasn’t favourable for many close-ups of the various statues & sculptures all over the Hall itself & we didn’t have time to hang around... we had another large city to get to. A shame, because I really liked Philadelphia. One for the re-visiting list when we return in a few years. So back to the car & the inevitable wrong turns & squabbles between Jeeves Navman & Googlemaps eventually spat us onto the New Jersey Turnpike (“counting the cars...”) in the direction of New York. More of the Turnpike’s multi-stage tolling had us hand over $7.45 in two instalments, but it’s still cheaper than travelling from Sydney’s north-western suburbs to the airport, so can’t really complain. Between those two payments, we managed to fit in a quick trip to Jay & Silent Bob’s Secret Stash shop in Redbank, New Jersey – a comic & collectables shop dedicated mostly to the works of film-maker Kevin Smith. Afterwards we also found the convenience store in the suburbs where he shot the film Clerks. Well, we visited Monument Valley, where John Wayne made The Searchers, so it’s only fair we seek out the more urban locations too. So, of course we bought some snacks & drinks - as you do. Actually, we were pleased to find the store, as they (Spoiler alert!!) burned it down in the sequel. Ah, the magic of cinema!!
Around sunset, yet again, the NY skyline came into view & the traffic began to build up as we approached the city itself
First view of NYC
It's not easy to drive in traffic, deal with roadworks and take a photo!!
The route to our accommodation took us over a number of bridges, flyovers & motorways toward the Holland Tunnel, where we were given a crash or crash through course in lane-merging, New York-style. Eight lanes have to merge into two for the tunnel & the competition for even the slightest hint of a gap in the traffic is incredible. Being a veteran of Sydney peak-hour just didn't cut it here - this is the big league!! After some deft manouevring across lanes, I’d thought we were set for the Tunnel, but almost simultaneously we had 2 cars perform some kind of NFL offensive move on us... first a silver SUV, then a black Pontiac appeared on my left & right front quarters & weren’t going to give me any quarter whatsoever. Given that we’re handing Steve McQueen back to the rental company tomorrow & I could do without the hassle of insurance charges, I let the two cars in... not without some language, some horn blowing & a free counting lesson for each of them (“How many fingers am I holding up, @$$#ole??!!). I’m sure when the tunnel was built about fifty years ago, they thought two lanes would be plenty. Well no... not any more. That whole experience also cost us a $12 toll, so it was a pretty expensive introduction to driving in the big city...
Once we were through though & officially into the State of New York, the sight-spotting began:- the Bowery, Queens, Broadway (the non-glamorous end), then into Brooklyn & its little villages, first of which was the Jewish area. Easy to spot given the number of Orthodox Jews all getting around in Homburg hats & those black suits that are so distinctive
Pulling up outside our accommodation in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area, I was pleased to see we’ll be staying in an archetypal ‘Brownstone’ building, of the type synonymous with Brooklyn. We’re on the second floor & after eventually finding where our host had hidden the keys (he did a great job of it!!), we lugged our suitcases & sundry other bags up the creakiest wooden stairs I’ve ever trod. There’ll be no hope of sneaking in after midnight here... I’m sure everyone in the building could hear us... & probably those in the buildings on either side as well
Our first dinner in New York was a bit of a nostalgia trip – a Southern fried chicken place about three blocks from our new home. Small, crowded, but friendly... with great fried chicken, collard greens & a nice scotch that went well with coke. The Vice Presidential Debate was on TV as we ate & the whole place was getting into it – either yelling encouragement or detriment at Joe Biden & Paul Ryan, or discussing it loudly over dinner & drinks, as were we, both among ourselves & with the table next to us. I’m not sure of the predominant ethnic group in the area where we are staying, but I’d be willing to bet its politics lean to the Democrat side. I’m certain we’ll get to know it & many others over the next week though. It’s a whole new adventure!
Oct. 11 Thursday – Philadelphia to New York
And so, our last day ‘on the road’... after today we’ll be based in New York until we fly home next week. Tomorrow we give Steve McQueen back to the rental company, so we’ll see how many miles we’ve clocked up by then. It probably won’t be seven thousand, but it will be close... I suppose it depends on how direct a route we take to get to our lodgings today. And on how many times we have to take Steve through a car wash to get rid of twenty five states worth of dust & bugs
But first, Philadelphia & its historic sites pertaining to America’s Declaration of Independence & the subsequent War for it. We obtained two (free!!) tickets for the 11.30am tour through Independence Hall, which features the meeting rooms & courthouses where the notion of, & later Declaration of, independence was debated & written... then rewritten, then amended, then... Our guide was a firm believer in audience participation & decided that I should represent King George III in his narrative (Me: "I'm Australian , not British!!!"). All in good fun though... They also have copies of the first print run of the Declaration, from July 5 1776, all under glass & under guard – you & your bags get thoroughly searched on the way in – well okay, the bags get more attention than your person, but it certainly seemed more security conscious than LAX airport had been when we arrived. Surely they'd be better off searching your bags on the way out!!
Across the road from there was the Liberty Bell – another for the “I thought it would be bigger” file, but no less popular for that... there were photos displayed of Nelson Mandela & the Dalai Lama posing &, in the Dalai Lama’s case, throwing peace signs, with the bell. What is it with Asian tourists & their peace sign posing in front of everything & anything??!!
Right side...
Left side
Then downtown to ‘Love Park’, so known because of the LOVE ‘sculpture’ in one corner. Add another one to the “ITIWBB” file... the photos we’d seen certainly added size & scale that it doesn’t actually have. Nice fountain behind it though...
Lunch from a street van – Philly Cheese steak (of course!!) on a roll, with hot peppers for me & onions for Julia. A few photos in the Square across from City Hall, but the light wasn’t favourable for many close-ups of the various statues & sculptures all over the Hall itself & we didn’t have time to hang around... we had another large city to get to. A shame, because I really liked Philadelphia. One for the re-visiting list when we return in a few years. So back to the car & the inevitable wrong turns & squabbles between Jeeves Navman & Googlemaps eventually spat us onto the New Jersey Turnpike (“counting the cars...”) in the direction of New York. More of the Turnpike’s multi-stage tolling had us hand over $7.45 in two instalments, but it’s still cheaper than travelling from Sydney’s north-western suburbs to the airport, so can’t really complain. Between those two payments, we managed to fit in a quick trip to Jay & Silent Bob’s Secret Stash shop in Redbank, New Jersey – a comic & collectables shop dedicated mostly to the works of film-maker Kevin Smith. Afterwards we also found the convenience store in the suburbs where he shot the film Clerks. Well, we visited Monument Valley, where John Wayne made The Searchers, so it’s only fair we seek out the more urban locations too. So, of course we bought some snacks & drinks - as you do. Actually, we were pleased to find the store, as they (Spoiler alert!!) burned it down in the sequel. Ah, the magic of cinema!!
Around sunset, yet again, the NY skyline came into view & the traffic began to build up as we approached the city itself
First view of NYC
It's not easy to drive in traffic, deal with roadworks and take a photo!!
The route to our accommodation took us over a number of bridges, flyovers & motorways toward the Holland Tunnel, where we were given a crash or crash through course in lane-merging, New York-style. Eight lanes have to merge into two for the tunnel & the competition for even the slightest hint of a gap in the traffic is incredible. Being a veteran of Sydney peak-hour just didn't cut it here - this is the big league!! After some deft manouevring across lanes, I’d thought we were set for the Tunnel, but almost simultaneously we had 2 cars perform some kind of NFL offensive move on us... first a silver SUV, then a black Pontiac appeared on my left & right front quarters & weren’t going to give me any quarter whatsoever. Given that we’re handing Steve McQueen back to the rental company tomorrow & I could do without the hassle of insurance charges, I let the two cars in... not without some language, some horn blowing & a free counting lesson for each of them (“How many fingers am I holding up, @$$#ole??!!). I’m sure when the tunnel was built about fifty years ago, they thought two lanes would be plenty. Well no... not any more. That whole experience also cost us a $12 toll, so it was a pretty expensive introduction to driving in the big city...
Once we were through though & officially into the State of New York, the sight-spotting began:- the Bowery, Queens, Broadway (the non-glamorous end), then into Brooklyn & its little villages, first of which was the Jewish area. Easy to spot given the number of Orthodox Jews all getting around in Homburg hats & those black suits that are so distinctive
Pulling up outside our accommodation in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area, I was pleased to see we’ll be staying in an archetypal ‘Brownstone’ building, of the type synonymous with Brooklyn. We’re on the second floor & after eventually finding where our host had hidden the keys (he did a great job of it!!), we lugged our suitcases & sundry other bags up the creakiest wooden stairs I’ve ever trod. There’ll be no hope of sneaking in after midnight here... I’m sure everyone in the building could hear us... & probably those in the buildings on either side as well
Our first dinner in New York was a bit of a nostalgia trip – a Southern fried chicken place about three blocks from our new home. Small, crowded, but friendly... with great fried chicken, collard greens & a nice scotch that went well with coke. The Vice Presidential Debate was on TV as we ate & the whole place was getting into it – either yelling encouragement or detriment at Joe Biden & Paul Ryan, or discussing it loudly over dinner & drinks, as were we, both among ourselves & with the table next to us. I’m not sure of the predominant ethnic group in the area where we are staying, but I’d be willing to bet its politics lean to the Democrat side. I’m certain we’ll get to know it & many others over the next week though. It’s a whole new adventure!
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Date: 2021-10-11 02:04 pm (UTC)