WTC and the Holocaust

Our last full day in New York was spent pondering the cruelty of humans to one another. And it's not just from watching the New York evening news and seeing story after story about murder and suicide. There are so many that most are not mentioned, and some are only fleetingly referred to, if they involve children. On our last night a teenage boy on Staten Island slit the throats of his mother and three young siblings, before setting fire to the house and killing himself. It was only newsworthy because a child committed the crime.

We visited the site of the former World Trade Centre and the WTC Tribute Visitor Centre, which is sort of a museum. It was, as you would expect, totally schmaltzy and completely over-the-top with American patriotic rhetoric. Apparently, every one of the 3,000 people who died there on September 11th was a bona fide saint. No exceptions. There was lots of emphasis on innocent victims of murder. Interestingly, the museum gave prominent space to the story of Sadako Sasaki, the 12-year-old Japanese girl who tried to make 1,000 paper cranes when she was dying of radition-induced cancer in 1955. They had loads of paper cranes, the story of her life, books for sale, photos and so on. The real irony for me was that of course Sadako's cancer was caused by the Americans dropping the atomic bomb on Sadako and killing her and 250,000 other innocent civilians (nearly a hundred times the number that died in the WTC). This was never mentioned. I thought it would have been good to reflect on the horror of war and the impact on the innocent, but no. The observation passed the American pariots by, too wrapped up in their own story of their own innocence.

We also visited the Museum of Jewish Heritage, which is dedicated to the victims and survivors of the Holocaust. I found it very interesting, although Ellie was bored. She felt that since she'd seen 'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas' she knew enough about the Holocaust. The displays were very moving, with lots of personal stories from those who survived and those who didn't.

We ate in the kosher cafe and Ellie was delighted to discover that Chicken Caesar Salad is kosher. That made her happier.

We saw Wall Street and the New York Stock Exchange, and took the obligatory photos of the bronze bull.

On our final (partial) day in New York we went to the Apple Store to buy new headphones for Ellie's iPod, as they had disintegrated. This was probably from the constant use, like every time I try to give her some home schooling, she puts them in! :-)

The Apple Store itself is pretty amazing. It is situated under an enormous glass cube, a bit like the entrance to the Louvre but a cube instead of a pyramid. You walk downstairs into a swirling mass of humanity, the happiest shoppers in the land. People were laughing and having fun, and playing with all the gadgets. Everyone seemed to be happy just to be in the store. I've never seen a shop like that before.

Later that day we took our flight to Reykjavik, Iceland. We went from 30 degrees Celsius and 70% humidity to 12 degrees and windy. It feels like Canberra! :-)

Vermeer in America

When I was 14 years old I set myself a list of things that I wanted to do before I died. Some of them were quite conventional (have children) and others not so much. A few years ago I realised that I had achieved them all, except one (visit Israel). So I thought that since I didn't want to die anytime soon, I'd better come up with some more things to do before I shuffled off this mortal coil. So far, I've added three new things, and one of them is to see every existing painting by Jan Vermeer. The originals. They are all in Europe or the east coast of the United States. Over the past two years I saw three in England, two in Amsterdam and one in Austria. In my first two days in New York I saw another eight.

Three were in the truly wonderful Frick Collection, which had once been the private collection, and the home, of Henry Clay Frick. It's a wonderful art gallery and repository of all manner of antiques. You can get quite close to the artwork, and the place is laid out as it was in Frick's lifetime, as a home. This means that the art is not divided up into periods or schools, but rather arranged to be beautiful in its own setting. If you travel to New York I thoroughly recommend this collection.


The other five were at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This was also a great place to spend many hours, although Ellie never got further than the ancient Roman art, complaining of sore feet and museum fatigue.

We had planned to visit Washington, DC for a couple of days, since it had six more Vermeers. However, with Ellie growing tired of being a tourist, and my vague thought that seeing too many Vermeers at once might actually hasten my own demise, we decided to stay in New York for the extra days. Ellie got a bit of rest and the Vermeers will still be there when I come back some day!

New York, New York

We have been in New York for six days now, and finally have found some time to update our blogs. We arrived in Manhattan on Saturday 17th July. We missed the small earthquake that they had in nearby Maryland (a measly 3.4) and arrived at the start of a heart wave. By Australian standards it's not too ridiculous - it's about 30 degrees Celsius everyday, but the pavements are blisteringly hot and the humidity is high.

The first photo is the obligatory one of the Empire State Building, taken from just outside our hotel. We stayed at the Gershwin Hotel which describes itself as the funkiest hotel in Manhattan. It wasn't too bad, although there are only so many Andy Warhol prints and crazily-coloured doors and floors that a hotel needs. After that, it just becomes cluttered. And a two-metre tall portrait of Picasso's face staring at you when you get dressed, well that's just a little creepy. The accommodation was much like a backpacker hotel, despite the glamorous photos on the website. I think that 'funky' is an artistic way of saying 'tatty'. In my efforts to sell my home in Canberra I think that I'll start calling it 'funky'.


We have done all the obligatory things to do in New York. We went to Saks Fifth Avenue and marvelled at all the ways one could waste money on clothes. I fondled a $17,400 mink coat. It was a bit like stroking Abby, Ellie's white cat. I guess you wouldn't have to feed the mink coat or get it speyed. The photo shows some handbags in a storefront window on Fifth Avenue. We didn't buy any.


We went to the top of the Empire State Building, which was brilliant. We have spent several afternoons in Central Park, lying under trees and watching street performers. We took a ferry out to see the Statue of Liberty, which was enjoyable and the guide's monologue was informative. We have visited many, many museums and art galleries. We've been on the subway and we've eaten hot dogs on the street. We have been to Times Square several times on our way back and forth. The next photo gives an impresssion of what a crazy, crazy place it is. Nearly all the signs move and glitter and flash. It's quite overwhelming. Even the McDonalds store in Times Square has millions of flashing light bulbs to attract attention.

We are having a fantastic time in New York. I was genuinely surprised at how clean and well-organised it all was. We felt safe walking the streets, even after midnight. Maybe that was because no matter where we were (and we were only in midtown and uptown Manhattan) there were always so many people around. There was no graffitti anywhere that we saw. I guess that, again, it's because there were always so many people around, and so many police around for that matter.

We've had the chance to eat all sorts of food. Ellie bought a packet of chocolate-covered ants (yes, real ants) at the 'Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum'. She's yet to eat them though.

So what's New York like so far? Expensive. Outrageous. Sweltering. Stimulating. Fattening. Fun!

Tijuana Teeth

On Wednesday 14th July, Ellie and I decided to go to Mexico. We weren't sure whether we should buy sombreros and tequila, or guns and drugs, but in the end we bought an orthodontic retainer and a pair of silver bracelets. We started the day by catching the San Diego trolley, which Australians would call a tram, to the Mexican border. We then walked over a bridge into Mexico. The border is shown in the photo - the shot was taken from the bridge. When we got to the bottom there were large one-way metal revolving gates with interleaving prongs like they have at Luna Park. We walked through the gates and into Mexico, with no border control at all. It's harder to get into Luna Park than Mexico.

The Australian Government warns its citizens to avoid Tijuana because of the level of violent crime. We were prepared for that. What we weren't prepared for were the huge number of orthodontists in Tijuana. Even as we were waddling over the border we could see enormous posters advertising the services of orthodontists 'just 10 feet from the border'. And there were dozens of them. You might recall that Ellie lost her orthodontic retainer in a restaurant in San Diego, so we rapidly changed plans and walked into the offices of Dr Alphonso Lopez. He was great - much more gentle than Ellie's orthodontist in Canberra! In just over an hour, and for a fraction of the cost in Australia, he had made her a new retainer. So we are happy little campers, although still a little confused about an international border lined with orthodontists.

Further along, we found dozens and dozens of pharmacies, selling everything from Viagra to Prozac and everything in between. There was serious price competition. Is that what the Australian government meant by drug wars?

We eventually wandered into downtown Tijuana, which was almost bereft of tourists, and so we received the full attention of every shopkeeper and street seller for the entire length of Avenue Revolucion.

We then waddled back to a marguerita bar, from which I took the above photo. If you look carefully, you'll be able to see a dentist's office on the left, two pharmacies in the middle and a veterinarian's office on the right. Not a drug runner or gun to be seen anywhere! :-)

San Diego Seaworld - Don't Do It!

Our next stop in San Diego was Seaworld. My advice to any potential visitors who have travelled the world and seen zoos and aquaria - don't waste your time at San Diego Seaworld. The locals think that it's great, but that's because they haven't actually been anywhere else to see what could be done. First, Ellie wanted to go on a ride, so we queued for 45 minutes to go on the Shipwreck Reef Ride. We climbed into the raft, then they told us to get out as the ride was now closed. Bummer. So then we thought we'd see the much-hyped Shamu show of killer whales. We waited for half an hour, sat through lots of videos and a really shmaltzy 'story' about a boy who wanted to train killer whales, then we watched killer whales jump up and down for 15 minutes. Our verdict? Lame. When I'm in my black-and-white swimming costume and I leap out of the water, I look like a killer whale. Why would I pay to see another mammal do whay I could do for free?

Plenty of other zoos and aquaria worldwide have shows that are actually impressive, like the Singapore Zoo for example. The shark tunnel was short and much less interesting than Sydney's Darling Harbour Aquarium. The ocean aquarium seemed to imply that American sealife was somehow 'better' than other sealife. It was all very peculiar.



Finally, we decided to eat before we went home. We went to the pizza restaurant, knowing full-well that we would pay a week's salary for something very ordinary. What we didn't expect was that the pizza restaurant would only have one type of pizza available, the 'monthly special'. It was ham and pineapple. Sigh. We ate the monthly special, hereinafter to be referred to as the 'monthly extremely ordinary', and went home.

San Diego Seaworld? Give it a miss.

But for a totally different view of the day, see Ellie's blog

San Diego Zoo

Waving Los Angeles a fond farewell, we headed to San Diego for a few days. On our first full day here we went to the San Diego Zoo. We had a great time. Ellie and I are something of zoo-freaks: we've been to many around the world. San Diego is up there with the best zoos - it's not THE best, but it's pretty good. Like everywhere in California, the food costs more than the admission ticket, but we're getting used to that. :-)

The photo above is of some Lesser Kudus. I'd be disappointed to be named 'Lesser' anything. I wonder how they feel? The photo below is of some sort of green lizard. I'm sure it has a great name - not a memorable one though.

Medical Mayhem

This holiday began with an earthquake and now some medical issues have arisen. Is it to be a plague of frogs next? We returned to Disneyland for the third day, and our last day in LA, and it was while exiting the 'Tower of Terror' that Ellie suddenly became struck by extreme photophobia. No, that's doesn't mean being sick of your ridiculous photo on terrifying rides being displayed to the world, but refers to any kind of light being extremely painful. Given that we were in southern California in the middle of summer, it was going to be tough to avoid light. Ellie put her sunglasses on and pulled her hoodie over her head, but she was still in acute pain. We went to the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' ride because it was almost entirely dark, but that was too much for her. She couldn't open her eyes enough for us to walk back to the hotel, so I guided her like a blind person to a shady spot. She sat in the shade of a tree, with her eyes shut and her head covered, all to no avail. With her sunglasses on, hoodie covering her face and her head thrust downwards, people stared at her, probably thinking that she was some diminutive celebrity trying to avoid recognition. After a couple of hours the pain slowly passed. She had no other symptoms, so my only explanation is that she may have had a bad reaction to sunscreen in her eyes. So far, it hasn't recurred.

The next day she complained of a large painful lump in her upper arm, which was quite black. Using my $19.95 First Aid kit that I bought at Woollies in Conder, I performed surgery and removed a black stone embedded in her flesh, not her skin. It was 2-3mm in diameter. My only explanation for that is that she had some sort of blocked pore and that her body had calcified it as a form of protection. Maybe I've been watching too many Discovery Health shows.

Then she lost her orthodontic retainer in a restaurant. She is supposed to wear this full-time until October, then wear it at night until February. So when we get to New York we are going to try to find someone who can make an emergency retainer. Sigh.

Finally, Michaela, who is bravely keeping the home fires burning back in Canberra, has now found out that she has to have surgery in the next few weeks, in the hope of being fit to play by the end of the W-League season. Now that I am a doctor of sorts, I feel I should know more about all this medical mayhem. Maybe I should just stick to anthropology! :-)

Universal Studios

We spent Friday 9th July at another quintessentially LA attraction: Universal Studios. It was great fun. We got to see the 'backlot' where there were old film sets. The photos show the sets from the crashed plane scene in 'War of the Worlds', Mr Bean's car and the travel bookshop from 'Notting Hill'.

We loved the Simpsons Ride. At one point Lisa Simpson screams out that we are all about to be killed and Homer Simpson assures her that the amusement park won't let anyone be killed while there's still a dollar in their pocket. How true! :-)

My favourite photo is the one below, taken on the backlot. In one photo it shows the Bates Motel from 'Psycho', Whoville from 'The Grinch who Stole Christmas' behind it, and up on the hill, the scary house from practically every horror movie made by Universal Studios. Ellie and I watched an episode of 'Jonas LA' on Disney Channel last night and it was filmed on all those three sets. Cool!

Earthquake at Disneyland

I'm not sure if this is good omen or a bad one, but on our very first full day of our 7-month adventure overseas, a 5.4 magnitude earthquake struck California. Its epicentre was 29 miles south of Palm Springs, which is 90 miles east of Disneyland, but we certainly felt it there. Ellie and I were having our portraits done and so we were both sitting on cane chairs in an archway of a building that was supposed to resemble old-time New Orleans. Our chairs shook and rattled - being Disneyland we wondered for a moment whether this was some sort of "special effect" but when the imitiation gas lamps above our heads started to sway crazily and the portrait painter started to look worried, we realised that this was not planned! :-)

There were a few after-shocks, but nothing major. The biggest impact for us was that they closed all the really fast rides at Disneyland so that they could check for structural damage. While we waited for things to re-open, Ellie and I went on the Winnie-the-Pooh ride. It was not high on our list of preferred rides, but it was better than standing around listening to all the cheerful Disney employees telling us that things would be back to normal "soon".

Eventually we were able to ride 'Splash Mountain. It was fun, but not as much fun as the earthquake! :-) The photo at the top of this blog shows Ellie and I on the Splash Mountain ride. The photo belows shows the 'New Orleans' section of Disneyland where we were when the earthquake struck.




Oh, and when we were sitting having our portraits done, Gwen Stefani wandered by with a huge entourage. We were hoping to see the Jonas Brothers, but I guess Gwen Stefani will have to do.