Middletown PA

Diners

Fire and Rescue - Ten House - On Liberty Street

Ten House is on Liberty Street, as close to the Site of the WTC as anyone could have been.
These guys would without doubt have been the first ones to run into the burning WTC whilst everyone else was running out. Heroes.

A tribute to those who died.

In the top centre of this picture is the twisted sign for Liberty Street, obviously damaged when the WTC came down.

Ground Zero

We got off the sightseeing bus at Greenwich and walked almost for an hour (pilgrimage) to Ground Zero.. we got lost on the way reluctant to ask for directions, our experience was that New Yorkers don't seem to like tourists asking for directions. They sneer and are often quite nonchalant, but in desparation we asked for directions 2 or 3 times, and the people softened when they found out where we were headed.

Seems like many New Yorkers are cold, stand offish, mind thier own business and avoid eye contact at all costs.... but on our way to Ground Zero and those we saw there were all united and compassionate. A quiet still place for reflection...

The boarded up walls that had the black plywood on them emblazoned with "post No bills" had writings and poems and words from those who had visited. Some moving, some mis-directed and some plain stupid. But then Karolina found one, we read it and cried together. You can read it too, the last picture in this string.

R.I.P.

Ye Olde Goddess of Freedom

Juniors- Best Cheesecake in New York

Heres a real mixture of pictures in no particular order, from Washington DC, New York and Three Mile Island.....

Starting with a few snaps of Times Square and Broadway.

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Inside Planet Hollywood on Broadway

I got in a fight with some jumped up bouncer.

Whilst Karro checked out the costumes worn by incredibly skinny actresses.

I have been to Planet Hollywood (restaurant) a couple of times, but Karolina had never been. It is cool to see all the costumes and props from hollywood blockbusters, but as with the other times I have been there, the food is nothing more than ok, bordering on the barely edible... so now we have been there, we will never have to go back. Hopefully.

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Still Jet Lagged, but the Starbbucks coffee perked us up!

We took an open top guided tour bus ride around Manhattan, lots of interesting information and well worth the 50 dollar ticket price. The ticket was valid for all of the 5 different tours and for 48 hours... by which time we had seen enough of Manhattan to last for a few years!

Cast Iron building structures are probably common in the world, but we had never seen one before and thought they were fascinating. The pillars you can see between the windows aren't made of stone as they appear, but of cast iron, and form the structure that holds the building up. The pillars are equally spaced, not just on the outside, but also inside the buildings too.
This is a picture of one of the nicer ones..

Karolinas favourite (?).... as seen on Friends and Sex in the City.. the wedge shaped flat iron building....

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Three Mile Island Nuclear Plant

I took Karolina to the place I once lived in Middletown Pennsylvania and also drove out to the visitors center at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant.
The visitors center is now closed down, but we heard a band rehearsing inside and then found the drummer on his way back from the donut and coffee run.
He invited us in to see what was left of the visitors center displays, we talked to some guys who had actually worked on the reactor meltdown/cleanup operations that took 15 years, got treated to donuts and a walk around the control room simulator... I pretended to be Homer Simpson, but I wasn't lazy/fat/drunk enough, the button is the reactor trip to shut everything down if all hell breaks loose, and below is the lever to lower the fuel rods and nuke some water to make electrickery!

Woo-hoo... Doh!

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Elephant and Castle Pub on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington DC.

HUGE platters of appetisers and food... world cup football on the telly, air-con on the coldest setting... and yuengling beer. From America's oldest brewery... http://www.yuengling.com/ Add beer and food to jet-lag and you find two tired little bunnies....

but

Fresh baked dutch soft pretzels... mmm

Just a small appetiser....

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Obligatory white house picture.... (lack of capital letters intentional)

Smaller than I expected... but if you look closely you can see Bill Clinton laying on his back behind the bushes... ;-)


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Uptown New York, on the same block as Tom's Diner (Seinfeld Place)

Fire Hydrant picture for Riley my dog...

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Smithsonian Institute Air and Space Museum. Washington DC

Apollo Lunar module "replica" .... they say that the "real one" is still on "the moon". Yeah right.... they never went there, this is the "real one" they just had to bring it over from Area 53.. ;-)

Don't believe me... check out http://moonmovie.podshowcreator.com/

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It's that Forrest Gump place...

Lincoln Memorial.... with Karolina on the steps. Beside Karro is a woman in pink shorts, taking a picture of me, because she had never seen a skinny person before.