Day 2 in NYC - Carrier Intrepid Museum

 

We only had 1 activity planned for today, visiting the Intrepid Air and Space Museum. The Intrepid was a WWII Essex class carrier that was commissioned in 1944.  It saw some action in the late WWII battles, but most of it's war experience was in supporting the air war against North Korea and in Vietnam.  It was finally decommissioned in 1974.  

It also support the Mercury and Gemini programs by being the main recovery ship for two space flights in the early 60's.  

The range of airplanes on this ship was very wide, from WWII planes (like the Hellcat on the left) up through the jets that flew in Vietnam, pictured on the right.  Feel free to click to enlarge any picture. t was all pretty neat to see.    

There were many exhibits about the role the Intrepid played over its years of service. We walked through the Vietnam one, among others.

I did climb into the ship's island and got this picture of the navigation station.  I also sat in a quad 40mm gun mount.  very cool!

But the main reason I wanted to visit the Intrepid was to see the Space Shuttle Enterprise. This one never made it to orbit, but paved the way for the others. . It was in a special environmentally controlled building on the deck.  Now I can say I've seen all 4 surviving shuttles. 

They also have one of the last Concorde. supersonic passenger jets on display. It was neat to see.  

So it was quite a day of sightseeing.  Tomorrow we head to the Island Princess to begin our cruise.  We still don't know if there will be any itinerary changes due to the hurricane. If not, I expect some rough seas on Wednesday evening as we head south along the eastern cost .

Day 1 in NYC

 

We had a nice, relaxing morning today.  After watching church, we headed out on a Times Square shopping trip.  Our main stops were the M&Ms store and the Hershey Store.  

This picture on the right is barely 1/3rd of the  "M&M wall".   You can take a plastic bag and hold it under the bottom of a color and add as much as you want.  At the counter, you pay by the pound. 

Lunch was at Shake Shake, then we headed to our hotel to get ready for the play.

We had tickets for the matinee performance of the Book of Morman.  It was nearly a mile to walk to it, and it was a bit warm.  We found the play very hilarious!  But we can see how someone who is very serious about religion could be offended.   

After that we headed to The Perfect Pint, an Irish pub recommended by friend Gail.   I enjoyed Shepherd's Pie while Mary had a pair of cheeseburger sliders.

Tomorrow we head to the US Intrepid air and space museum.  

Heading to NYC

 

Today was our travel day to New York City.  We're here for 3 days, then we board the Island Princess for a 10 day cruise to the eastern Caribbean and Bermuda.  We've cruised out of New York several times and like to stay at the Fairfield Inn Time Square since it's not only close to Times Square, but a lot of the Broadway theaters.  We got a room on the 29th floor this time, but with all he tall buildings, there's not much of a view.  

Since we've stayed here a few times, we have a favorite close-by restaurant, Schnippers. After dinner we walked around a bit and got a selfie at Times Square.  

Not much else to write about today.  Our travels were pretty much on time, no issues with the flight and we got a very nice Lyft driver to take us to our hotel, where our room was ready when we arrived. 

Tomorrow we plan some morning shopping and lunch at a local deli before we see The Book of Mormon.