New York City: Day 1

So, we returned from the maritimes and spent a few days in Toronto. Then, last Thursday I flew to New York with my Mom. Coincidentally, one of my mother's friends was on the same flight. We stayed in Queen's in an affordable hotel that was not as close to the subway as claimed, but otherwise fine. We got to our hotel (for the amazing price of $13... which would leave you at the end of the runway at Pearson, but apparently gets you to an actual hotel from LaGuardia), checked in and then headed out in search of a Post Office. After receiving multiple, vague and conflicting advice (one man tried valiently to find it on his Blackberry), I said we should just get on the subway and explore Manhattan, where we could window shop while looking for a post office. But first, we passed the missing parrot sign:



Mom headed instinctively to Rockerfeller Plaza where I took the requisite tourist photos. One thing I appreciate about my Mom is that she had annotated her map of Manhattan with the position of every Anthropologie (and a few other shops which we don't agree upon, but nonetheless). The Anthro off Rockerfeller Plaza is huge and included an art installation.




The shopgirl was able to direct us to the nearest Post Office, which, of course, was closed. But, it did have a sign in the window with the address of a Post Office which would be open late. So, we continued our walk.



I successfully mailed my packages for an unbelievably low price.* In another coincidence, next to the Post Office was one of the restaurants recommended by my mother's friend, while we waited at Pearson.

This synagogue was really beautiful, and I liked that you can see the Chrysler Building in the distance.




My mother was far too amused by "Eleanor's Building" with the "She Who Must Be Obeyed" sign.



I spotted these sculptures as we approached the Park and said, "I want to go look at the animal heads." I was glad I did. These were "Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads" (bronze, 2010, each weighing ~800 lbs., inspired by the "fabled fountain clock of Yuanming Yuan, an 18th century imperial retreat outside Beijing") by (the still detained) Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. One sign read "Free Wei Wei". The sculptures were quite spectacular.















We got back on the subway to return to our hotel for the night. I liked how this subway map was annotated ('Dystopia', 'Human Alter', 'The Money Tree', 'Slave Factory', 'MOB','4 Hours Sleep', etc.).






EDIT: Apparently it's privatized, though it has a deficit. *The USPS must be massively subsidized. The US is almost as large as Canada, and because of Alaska and Hawaii it is more spread out, and yet I could mail packages for about a fifth of what it would cost at home. So strange, it seems to me, that it's okay to have a socialized postal service, but socialized medicare leads to violent debate. Interestingly, every Canadian to whom I mention the incredible cheapness of the USPS has instantly made the same observation. Though I would love to have an affordable, non-dysfunctional postal service, I'd rather have universal medicare.

for the academics

Via: Online PhD Programs



Their data is from the US mainly, but it's unlikely to be very different elsewhere.

Truro to Lunenberg, then home

On our drive from Truro to Lunenberg we saw a mastodon on the side of the road, so, we of course had to stop. You see, they found a mastodon skeleton near Stewiacke, "Halfway between the North Pole and the Equator", at confluence of the Stewiacke and Shubenacadie River. (One of RJH's favorite pastimes on this trip was "make the Toronto girl attempt to pronounce maritime place names". I fared miserably and was advised not to refer to places by name in front of locals). Actually, what we saw was a very cheesy little tourist trap named Mastodon Ridge (scientific value: extremely dubious). But, it gave RJH an excuse to photograph me with the 'Mastodon'.




Yes, it's the least-welcoming Flintstones playground of all time: "Play at own risk" and "DANGER: Do not climb this house". (Caveat: the Mastodon in question was, apparently, 20 thousand years old, and while the arrival of the earliest peoples in North American remains subject to debate, 20,000 years ago is generally considered much too early... and I'm not even going to comment on the Flintstones nature of the building and ahem, vehicle.)



Then, we continued to Lunenberg, where we were able to have lunch and take some photos.








Here, the lobster don tams, rather than sou'westers. Regional variations in lobster headgear is what it's all about.



Then we drove to Halifax airport, which proved to be very challenging. We were behind the World's Most Cautious truck driver for most of the way on a single lane road. Nonetheless, we made it on time, and got our boarding passes with help from the aggressively friendly ground staff. One security officer addressed me as "m'dear" and the other as "sweetie" which seemed a bit much. Does being in Nova Scotia mean this is standard?

It was a great trip.