USA Travel Thread - The Bert and Wotto show begins - for anyone interested.....

[millsy]

Coool 
Great photographer - Bert ?

[Cursed]

Lost luggage sucks....but now that you have it im sure you will forget all about it and enjoy your time. I can imagine how good the comic stores are over there!

I have to ask and excuse my naivety here....Spitting? Do people there (never been to the US) spit on the ground alot? Or have i missed something really obvious and now look like a goose! 

[Wotto]

Hey Jonesy - this ones for you mate - sweet place............



Until the toilet SH*TS itself and you gotta do the NeW York plunge !
I honestly thought I was gunna end up with sh*t all over me when the thing was pushing and making squelching noises 



Had a decent feed at Il Bastardo restaurant tonight - my daughter wanted to go there because some dude from the show called The City owns it.
I have to say it was a FANTASTIC Italian meal.
They had shared toilets - obviously I couldnt use ours tonight so I saved up a ripper , went down to the 'GENTS', walked in and there is this american woman in there , she sees the look on my face and says 'hey its OK , your are in the right place", we share.

Was a little awkward.


To answer a few thread questions so far......

Millsy - Bert is still in Oz - he flies into LA next Monday , this week in NYC is only myself and Kayla - a reward for her for a tough 2012 she went through.

Cursed - Spitting - man we have copped about a dozen or so dudes just slag one right out in front of you / anyone as they walk along, I have been to the West Coast about 6 times and never experienced that.

Nino  - Yeah we HAD to go to a store last night and get her some 'chick' clothes - they are well priced and let me tell you - at 10pm at night it was like a Myers yearly annual sales day - ITS WILD mate. We had to buy more stuff today just in case , so we went to Macy's , it was 9 levels of that same madness, you know how we walk into Myers and ONE person wants to offer you some 'spray' sample in the perfume section, this place had a row of about 10-12 people either side of you ( like about 20+ in total ) that you had to walk through and they ALL offered , it was like the scene in Flying High where Lloyd Bridges bashes everyone that approaches him as he enters the airport 

Pinister - I am unsure if it is normal here but it feels like there are cops on nearly every corner every day.......thier presences is massive.

The models in the comic store are FANTASTIC quality.

[Prince]

Stressful isn't when your belongings don't arrive with you. I was without my backpack for 2 days in Paris, when my wife & i left New Jersey (NY).
It's not a good feeling wearing the same jocks & clothes.

Enjoy the trip over there with your daughter Mark and have an orange juice for me.

Stephen.

[noj472]

That's one thing I noticed when I was there in 2011, there is always a cop within 100 metres of you. Also Wotto, try this, stand on the street and listen if you can hear a point where there is no sirens. I was there in Manhattan and heard one siren roll into another for 7 days straight.

[pinoffski]

surprised you didn't get the hulk for your new avengers pin as we all know you love your toppers 

have and thanks for sharing

I am sure he will have plenty of goodies to bring back to OZ 

[ddstoys]

Far out nightmare beginning but should make the rest seem even sweeter.   Loving the posts so far mate keep em coming

[studley67]

please tell us what a NY pizza is like.
no pizzahut please.
best wishes damien pizza'n'pinball
enjoying the posts so far,mate.

[Wotto]

Can it get much better than this?
So last night we are sitting here and we here this man moaning ( in pain ) - we are 17 storeys up and it sounds loud.
Here is our conversation...........

Me - What the hell is that
Kayla - sh*t I dont know
Me - can you hear that dude , sounds like someone stabbed him - is he dying?
Kayla - Dad, I dont think he is dying
Me - what? - can you hear him.......( and my brain goes CLICK )
Me - OH NO.........he is not dying at all ( and then we hear our neighbour's moment of triumph in some big loud US accent OH YEAH BABY type of comments )

Now THERE is one of the lifelong memories that will linger with Kayla and I for a LONG time - great great stuff :o

So after this - Johnny Stallion decides to celebrate his moment of glory by pulling out his ALMIGHTY subwoofer system ( I am thinking MArty McFly in the opening scene of Back to the Future ) and proceeds to view The Jurassic park Marathon and a documentary on the wild african stomping elephants, Just until around 1am this morning  Our entire room was shaking and I woke again at 4.30am ( it is 7am now    )

Today we have to venture on to the subway system in morning peak hour and get down to Ground Zero area, should get a lot of friendly assistance with directions and stuff from these locals  - we will endeavour to have a decent day and do our best to raise our current rating of this city from currently a 0.2 out of 10 to something a little better.

Studley - we are going to try and find Lombardis Pizza's down where we are going today - USA's first ever Pizzeria - as seen on the last Amazing Race series for anyone that saw that.

[Cursed]

Ok the spitting thing is just wrong!!

Surely it can only get better from here Wotto! Looking forward to the updates.

[Prince]

Sounds like your staying @ The Animal House. What's next?...a Ninja Turtle lol.

[Wotto]

Hey all

So today we bought our Metro Card in the subway - no easy task at first, and with the pressure of 15 kazillion NY locals around you it was a little testing at first - anyway we got it done and were soon headed through to the stations proper- of course on my first ever NY subway excursion I chose a to go to lower Manhattan / finance district which meant 2 trains with a transfer at Union Square station - easy huh,  yellow train, green train, the 4, the 5, the express version of each of the local version etc etc .......I asked directions a few times and as it turned out we had our plan done perfectly BUT it was refreshing to have it confirmed by a local.

These trains are packed - PACKED I say, but very effeicent.
This is a quick snap downstairs with the stink, rubbish and rats.....



This is one of the cooler looking station entrances/ exits at The Bowling Green near Wall St



Unfortunately Liberty Island and Ellis ISland are still closed from Hurricane Sandy - so we grabbed the free ( and most of you will know it ) Staten Island Ferry which gets 'close' to the Statue of Liberty.



The city is in Level 1 security 'lockdown' due to Boston events and there are cops and security people EVERYWHERE.
I wasnt to concerned because when boarding the ferry I realised we had God on our side today


That was NOT a dress up - the dude ACTUALLY wore that as normal !
Do I attract these nutcases?


This is the skyline of lower Manhattan on the way back across - you can see Building one ( of 4 to be built ) called Freedom Tower where the Twin Towers once stood ( more on that later ) Its the tall building mid shot , still having work done way up top



We wandered the Wall St / Broad St area's - all the toursists were being very serious about everything and the history of the area, I on the other hand just HAD to find the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld



We did get serious in the end and I stood where George Washington gave his oath as the first President of The United States.
That is pretty cool to be honest.Considering the security around today I am amazed I didn't get tazered down !



Kayla wasnt so daring , but I hope you can read the plaque



Thats the end of any funnies today guys , because what we did next was REALLY REALLY hard for me to do and I am in no way ashamed to say that.
it really got to me

We went to the 911 site - and it was tough to be there and then also go through the Tribute Centre after visiting the site.
I know some of you reading this will have also been here and maybe were not so moved by this - but it got to me , and I am normally a hard hearted bloke.

I would never smile for a photo at this site.





You read the names and touch their names and just cannot imagine what that must have been like here on that day and afterwards.


The Tribute Center was tough to look through.....

Plane window recovered.....



Part of the tower



But when you see this stuff - thats when it hits you ( well for me anyway )
Seeing signs from kids to dads etc - so VERY sad



And you will ALL remember this lady from the TV footage we all saw - but just read the quote at lower right !



We have been pretty flat after this afternoon and INSTANTLY stopped complaining about some of the small things happening on this trip.



.

[Strangeways]

World Trade site would be a very depressing place to visit, but life goes on for New Yorkers. They have built a very respectful site for those that died at the hands of those sick terrorists. I guess you look at those relics on display and wonder "how" the debunkers can sleep with their twisted conspiracies. I was watching one of those Histroy Channel documentaries "Cities of the Underworld" and there's a special on New Your City. There's a secret rail station under one of the terminals (or thereabouts) that was only used by Franklin D. Roosevelt.

A VERY interesting start to your USA visit 

[Wotto]

Hi Nino,

YEP - life definitely just goes on for them , and what they are building in its place is going to be great.
The main tower will be EXACTLY 1776 feet tall to the top of the spire - a very noteable number for those that realise it's significance , and something I thought was so simple and so clever at the same time.

Just had a pizza, next time Domio's turns up at your door with your 2 pizza's for $35.00 and those tiny little slices - just think of this for $2.50 a slice !

[goodolddays]

Thoroughly enjoying your thread so far Wotto . Hopefully the downsides/hassles of your trip are now behind you and Kayla.

Gound Zero would have been a very difficult place to visit I imagine .

Great commentary and pics so far . Thanks for taking time time to keep us up to date with your latest adventure