A mission to New York

At a distance, and with eyes half-closed (as you do) the MTA New York city subway map looks like one of those diagrams of the male reproductive system, though I'm glad it's not mine. Metaphorically tracing our route through New York today would be strangely disturbing however, so let me stay with the literal.

Decoding and negotiating the ticket vending machines was a return to HAL. A New York-style queue of patiently discontented people (mostly curious tourists making mental notes) formed as we tried to figure out the touchscreen instructions and which way to feed in the dollar notes without them being rejected. Finally armed with four Metro Funcards (more American irony) we thundered into New York in one of those distinctive boxy silver subway trains, emerged into the hazy sunshine and did that Gothic cathedral thing of looking upwards and gawping at the high verticals. It was Yosemite again, without the trees.

Food, a signature motif for our trip, is everywhere here, and good stuff too. We bought tasty filled rolls, cakes, coffee and marched through Battery Park to the Ellis Island Ferry. Street vendors sell all manner of quality and dodgy goods, and who can tell the difference ? It's a public holiday today (Columbus Day) but a low tourist season, and all the New Yorkers were at Cape Cod (we saw them queuing on the Massachusetts Turnpike on Friday) so the Statue and Ellis Island Immigration museum were quiet.

Ellis Island is where new immigrants went to be processed before gaining admission to America. Arriving in crowded and filthy ships and after the initial excitement of seeing the Statue of Liberty they waited days sometimes before disembarking and being subjected to questioning, medical examination and a tense wait for a decision. The place processed up to ten thousand people a day. I found it moving and uplifting, the photos of hopeful people who had fled the privations of Europe to find a new life, much like the waves of immigrants reaching New Zealand a century later.

Of course there were also the six million slaves from Africa, and they were the ones who made it here alive. In addition, a large percentage of the Europeans came as indentured servants, with the interesting exception of New England settlers.

I digress. From the Ellis Island experience to Grand Central Station and a grand architectural experience, as well as a superb Food Concourse, and thence to the Empire State Building, once again the tallest in New York, and a stunning night-time view of the big apple under a full moon.

Finally back to the scrotum and our hotel. Oops, did I say that out loud ?