Getting up in Lady Liberty's Head

Last weekend on a cold, wet day, it was finally time for Pants, Mr. Pants and I to go up into the Statue of Liberty's head. Of the 3,000 people that visit Lady Liberty daily, only 240 tickets are available to climb up to the Crown.

In order to score our tickets up we had to book three months in advanced. Actually, I remember when Pants and I were looking at booking the tickets word got back to our Boss. He was kind of concerned that we were booking tickets before the project was even signed off and his Don't count your chickens catch phrase followed. Before we left we were sticking chickens drawn on Post Its on his office door everyday.

Apparently the folks in Sydney are still building to our collection. This morning I was missing our daily team lunches in Sydney and last night I was really missing the soon to be Mrs. Juzzy! Wow... sentimental tangent.... and we're back on track.

So, last Sunday we jumped on a boat (literally, jumped, we were quite excited) to Liberty Island. We shared Statue of Liberty Trivia as we travelled... over the course of the day we learnt that all of Pant's facts were true and all of mine made up. Typical.

There were three levels of security before we were able to enter the Statue. (One in Manhattan at Battery Park, one on Liberty Island and then one final ticket check at the Statue herself.) Finally it was time to climb Lady Liberty.

We were concerned out the hike... but turns out the number of stairs was easy to master... it was the cramped space inside that was harder to deal with. As we climbed her it got narrower and narrower.

Worth it! At the top there were Rangers who live in the Statue (well, that's what we thought, until we climbed back down to Earth and saw one of the rangers again... how did she get down before us?)

The Lady who lived in the Statue cleared up all the myths (OK, given most of the myths we had made up, it wasn't too suprising) and answered all of our questions. The Ranger also let us know that despite popular belief there is no restaurant at the top of the Statue. Of course we had to ask "Do you mind if we perpetuate the rumor anyway?" Awkward silence.

It was worth while going up into the head. It was tiny, with very little windows, and not much to see. But still awesome. You could see and feel Liberty's hair and look out the crown at the people below. Photo Op. Where is R when you need him?

The Ranger also told us that because of the materials that Lady Liberty is made of she is an excellent conductor and it almost always struck by lightening during an electrical storm. "Hmmm" contemplated Mr. Pants "Surely all energy that would eventually do some damage. I wonder why not?" To which I replied "Because God Blessed America!"

So we agreed that quote of the day would go to me. Mr Pants was a close second with a comment about Osama after I pointed out a suspicious looking object floating in the ocean. We were all clearly on a role, because of the boat trip back Mr. Pants said "I wonder why Pirates are called Pirates?" Finally my moment to shine... a joke I have had preprepared for years.... "Because they arrrghhh"

OK, so one of the three of us should have realized that the day could only go downhill from here.... Alas, it was not to be. On a post Statue high we decided to "after party" at Ellis Island. This was a bit of a mistake. The only thing we could see on the Island was an immigration museum. Umm... my attention span was too small for that sort stuff by that time!

And so with that we were homeward bound - with a new found intellectual relationship with our neighbor over on Liberty Island.

Strike!

So some of my readers (OK, really just my Mum and Noodles) have been asking what's with the lack of new posts. Fair enough - it has been a while. To explain, I have been on a strike against Blogger. See, I wrote a post last week about Obama's visit to Ground Z - where I had watched him lay the reef etc from the office... (I took the below picture from the windows at work. Obama is circled in red. Check out all the media and the soldiers in the background.)

Anyway a few days after I wrote the post  Blogger went down for a while. Fair enough - everybody has dark days. The problem is when Blogger was back up and running, my Obama post had been deleted. Not only that, but an unpublished post (about Central Park and John Krasinski) was also gone. So annoying - firstly what a waste of writting time (although y'all were spared having to read them). Secondly, I wasn't sure whether to do an awkward re-writes of the posts, or just ignore it ever happened. Mind blow.

Easy solution...I declared a  Blogger Strike.


But fear not, dear Readers, your favorite blog is back (no, Pants, not A Blog About Ping Pong, but this blog!) Of course the down sound to this is that I'm going to need to find interesting things to do so I have something to write about....

On the Soapbox

So chilling out one Sunday waiting for something of interest to happen at Union Square. Belly dancers, circus acts, country bands - You name it, it's probably been on at Union Square. To my disappointment there wasn't much happening that Sunday - I would have to wait for it. Wasn't long before a large man (think the comic book guy from the Simpsons) arrived and began preparing to get on his soap box.

Ok so he wasn't literally on a soapbox, but he had his voice recorder out and his gigantic bottle of soda at the ready. It was obvious, this guy had inner musings to share with the world. Or Union Square at least. Ummm hello, haven't you heard of the internet?

"I am here today to talk to you about an issue that is commonly ignored. An issue that not many people know about, but is, nonetheless, very important."

What was the issue? I can tell you are dying to know... Nanotechnology... That's right, nanotechnology. You got up on your soapbox to talk about nanotechnology??

My favorite part of the rant was when he said "have you ever wondered why some materials like steel are hard, but others like jello and silly putty are soft?" I prefer how we re tell the story though.... "have you ever wondered why some materials like steel are hard and others like jello are soft and delicious?"

After a short time Comic book guy had attracted a large crowd of onlookers. Not just any onlookers, but hard core hecklers. One pointed to his Velcro sneakers and shouted "Why don't your shoes have laces??"

The hecklers were hilarious, but Even funnier was the fact that comic book guy found them just as amusing. He was trying desperately not to laugh. Can't say the same about the creepy skateboard guy who hangs around Union Square and hassles people. He ran over to the hecklers and shouted "stop Teasing him, he is my friend!!" And, as Noodles added, probably also your former cell mate.

Oh New York City, more character and drama in one hour then on a day time soap. Got to love it.

Little Poland

This Sunday Potato managed to get me to accompany him to Greenpoint, Brooklyn - an area populated with Polish New Yorkers. (Not that it's ever been hard to get me to go to Brooklyn.) Potato's Mama had called him earlier in the week to recommend a Polish restaurant. I overheard the conversation: Potato said "hodsfjbkasfjohrl kgkef josdjfhskjd jig Skype", which roughly translates to "Mum, I'll go to the Polish restaurant, but just stop hasseling me infront of my friends. I heart Skype."

How could I say no to Mama Potato's recommendation? We tore ourselves away from the spectical that is Union Square...

...And, we were off to Brooklyn.

After taking three subways and losing Noodles along the way, we were in Greenpoint. "So, Potato, which way from here..." Needless to say he did not know. Without a map (aka Noodles), we were stuck wandering about the streets of Brooklyn. Not that this ever a bad thing... After a few blocks long time Brooklyn skeptic and first time visitor, Potato, was won over. "I'm coming back here next weekend, to find a Polish wife and a Polish house in a Polish street and live happily ever after as a butcher's apprentice." So, maybe he wasn't getting the same takeaways from Brooklyn as me... But a new member of the fan club is always welcome.

We found the Polish restaurant we were looking for - too bad it was boarded up! Wasn't going to deter us - after all we were in Poland, I mean Brooklyn, baby!

A few blocks over we found another Polish place with all of Grandma Potato's favourites. Very cute and simple - cafeteria style. The Polish girl at the counter was adorable - I will be sending Potato back next week without me - the 'dumb, non Polish speaking sister', ruining his game.

I had schnitzel and pickles and Potato had potato cakes (fitting!) It all got the stamp of approval, "just like Granny makes!"

Anyway, I think this means that Noodles and I will be losing the Hermoine to our Ron & Harry, because Potato hasn't stopped talking about how much he loves Polish Brooklyn ever since.

Making News...

So Osama Bin Laden is dead and, as being reported, the atmosphere in New York is euphoric.

Potato, who stays at Times Square was kept up all night by the chanting "USA, USA, USA"... E (who is downtown with me) got up in the middle of the night went down to Ground Zero to take photos of the cheering crowds. She got a good one of some guys climbing a traffic light.

As for me? I found out when my Mum, in Australia, texted me in the morning. I actually was awake when the news broke out... and I was watching television... but apparently The Princess Diaries is too dramatic to interrupt with this breaking news?? ABC Family disappoints....

So, what is the atmosphere like in NY? One girl was telling me her sister went to a college celebration and her friend was trampled in the mayhem and broke her foot. E told me it as all very calm at Ground Zero. She said the crowd went between quiet and chanting.. but there was no pushing or shoving. A lot of people had candles.

I overheard some people talking in the cafeteria "Now Obama is going to try and take credit for what Bush started"... Seriously... that's the comment you want to make now?

The whole thing was reminding me of when Dorothy tips the bucket of water on the Wicked Witch... and they all celebrate with Ding dong the witch is dead! So out of curiosity I Google "Ding Dong Osama is dead"... it pulls a lot of results.

I guess the thing is, a least where I am, its all still very raw for people... I think that what they really want is closure. It's hard for me to understand why people chant and become boisterous, but I can only sympathise with what they went through.

In other news... Australia, please explain why, on such a big news day, events in Sydney made the Wall Street Journal...

http://sojustinbeiber.com/celebritynews/justin-bieber-pelted-eggs-sydney-wall-street-journal-blog-0