October 20, 2010

We really tried to get going earlier this morning, but one delay led to another. I think we will just have to accept that we need to keep a certain slow rhythm when we are traveling like this with 3 kids. After a new eggs in a roll breakfast we got going pretty exactly at 11am.

First we had to check out the Halloween decorations in the hotel lobby.

Today’s target was the Intrepid, a previous US aircraft carrier that has been turned into a Sea, Air and Space museum. Marc gave us the tip to check it out.

Those who know me know that I am not the fondest fan of weapons or military organizations. However, they are a part of this world and it’s better to teach the kids about them then let them get all their knowledge from other sources.

I have to admit it was kind of cool to walk inside an aircraft carrier. They are huge structures. The Intrepid was built during the second world war and had around 3000 men in its crew. The museum has an impressive number of airplanes and helicopters on display, including a Concorde, in addition to a submarine.

We first took a walk inside a very special submarine. It had been built in 1958 as a nuclear missile launcher and MAD (Mutual Assured Destruction) deterrent during the cold war. It is a good example of how technological quantum leaps can render an otherwise good design totally useless. There were only 2 of this type of submarine and they were in service for only 4 years.

Here we are on our way onto the submarine. Cruise missile in the center.

1958 high-tech:

I have always thought that military organization often find ways to word themselves around the fact that they are in a business of life and death. However, this sign was a breath of fresh air. No trying to hide the nature of death here.

Design goal of the submarine: To lurk unnoticed in Soviet waters with four 3.8 megaton nuclear missiles (200 times the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs). Have the capability to launch those missiles unnoticed if a nuclear war starts.

Implementation: Battery powered motors that need to be recharged by diesel aggregates every 24 hours. Diesel aggregates need air and thus surfacing. Missiles can only be fired when the boat is at the surface.

As soon as nuclear power was practical to use for powering submarines and launching of missiles under water became possible these submarines became as obsolete as a typewriter.

Next we had a look at the Concorde.

Oh, the Concorde. Sigh. I had long, very long, dreamt about flying in a Concorde. It was the symbol of bleeding edge transportation engineering, together with the TGV, when I was young.

I remember very clearly when I heard on the radio that they were going to stop using the Concordes. I was in a rental car on my way to an office south of San Francisco, where I was visiting our subsidiary. I had been collecting British Airways miles for quite some time with the goal of taking the Concorde and I knew what this meant. As soon as I reached the office I logged in to the BA site and checked availability for miles redemption. I had just enough miles for 2 one-way Concorde tickets. My goal was to be able to do 2 returns and invite my old friend, Jørn Harald, to the plane trip of his life. Now there was no choice but to use them for 2 one-ways. I figured we would just use the miles to get from London to New York with the Concorde and then purchase two one-ways on normal economy back again. I found that there were only 2 dates available, people were obviously hurrying to get the last ones. Both dates were in the same week, only a week and a half before Hélène was due to give birth to our third child. I sat there with the tickets in my virtual hand. All I had to do was click “Purchase with miles.”

I called Héléne to discuss the issue. She did not want me out of the country in July with the possibility that I might not be there for her when our baby was born. I was torn myself and accepted. Well, that was that, I never got to take the Concorde and Jørn Harald never got to know about my plan.

Today, though, I got to walk inside a Concorde. It was even the Concorde with the standing speed record for a passenger plane flight between London and New York; 2 hours, 52 minutes and 59 seconds. It was a special feeling to walk down the aisle of this fantastic piece of engineering, just like it was to walk over the Brooklyn Bridge.

The cockpit:

Just before we entered the plane Hélène told me she regretted not letting me go on that trip. Here she is, acting pregnant:

The museum had an expo of the NASA Gemini program, a precursor to the Apollo program. The return capsule of the Gemini 3 mission was picked up by the Intrepid after 2 astronauts had travelled around the world in orbit 3 times. There was a capsule the kids could try out. Those guys did not have much room.

We went up to the upper deck and had a look at some of the many aircraft that are part of the museum. These are just a few of them:

They had an SR-71 blackbird. A top-secret spy plane that was used to take detailed photos at very high altitudes, much like satellites do today. It was the first aircraft with “stealth” technology, an attempt to make it difficult to detect with radar.

The museum offered several really cool simulators. The boys and I did the “3D roller coaster on another planet” ride which was really cool. The big winner, however, was the flight simulator where you could control your own world war 2 fighter. The simulator box we sat in was very responsive, and if we drove the plane upside down we were hanging upside down! Unfortunately the ride only lasted 3 minutes and felt like 30 seconds.

The museum also had a slightly less frightening row-boat simulator (it did rock nicely back and forth like a row-boat would have done to your movements).

By the time we had seen it all it was getting well past 4pm. We got off our bus at Times Square to catch the subway when Adrian mentioned how cool it would be to see Times Square at night. We immediately changed our plans. Instead of heading home we headed towards Greenwich Village and a restaurant Trine had reccommende for us. There were no free tables at the restaurant but we at least took a picture. 🙂

After a Japanese dinner where the kids really got to test their chop-stick skills

we headed back to Times Square.

Whoa! It sure makes a difference to see it at night. Hélène and I was there only 5 years ago, but as far as I could recall there were way more screens now. The square is lit up by screens like it is the middle of the day. Iseline wanted to go back into the Toys ‘R Us store, but we were not in the mood for another 2 hours in a toy store, -:) We sat down in the stairs at the square and just gazed around us for a long time before heading home.

We really have sore feet now. Being a tourist is hard work 🙂

See you around, folks.

Eirik

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