New Jersey and New York City

Wednesday, 10/14 - Arrived in New Jersey at Tom's brother's house.  The weather is definitely turning colder and the leaves are falling everywhere.  We parked in his driveway, unloaded all of Mom's stuff, and got her settled in her new digs.  Cathy is a great cook and made homemade chili for dinner.

Thursday, 10/15 - A catch up day - Laundry, blogging, email, and planning for the tours on this stop.  Due to the massive traffic in New York City, we decided to do the two NY trips on Saturday and Sunday while the traffic is lighter.  On Friday, we can see the Edison home and lab here in New Jersey.

Friday, 10/16 - Cathy joined Tom and I in a tour of the Thomas Edison's property in Orange, New Jersey, about 21 miles from their house.  It was much larger than I expected, with many buildings in the laboratory complex.  His home was closed until 3, so we will not be able to see it.  We went to the largest laboratory building (it was 3 stories high).  On the main floor, we saw his library and his desk. When he died (at the age of 83), his wife locked it up.  When he would have turned 100, she unlocked the desk and donated it to the musuem.  His projects were stuffed into cubby holes.  It seems he never stopped working.  Here is his desk and library.

Edison Library

Edison Desk

We then quickly went up to the third floor where a docent (a man in his late 70's) gave us a talk on the phonograph.  They had many in the room.  He told us that Edison himself thought the phonograph was one of his best inventions.  We walked downstairs to the heavy equipment room and then through long hallways of many inventions behind glass.  I had no idea he was so diverse and so prolific - from the light bulb to office machines to the movie camera.  While we were looking at one of these, the docent from upstairs pulled me aside and asked me to follow him down the hall.  I did, and he took me to a photograph of Edison taken in 1915 with a group of men who had convened to help the Navy during WWI.  He asked me if I recognized anybody else.  I immediately pointed out FDR on the lower right, and he look at me surprised.  "Hardly anybody recognizes him at the early age," he said.  I told him we had just visited the FDR home and Library 2 days earlier, and he just nodded.

 As soon as we got home, I looked up the fact that Edison had filed 1,093 patents in the US and over 2,300 worldwide.  He was truly a work-oholic.

Saturday, 10/17 - Charlie (Tom's brother) drove us into NY City to the Frick Collection on 5th Avenue and 70th.  I am glad we were not driving!  Mr. Frick made his money in the coal and then steel industries and became very wealthy.  Then he partnered up with Andrew Carnegie to run the steel business until they parted late in his life.  He always had a love of portraits and landscapes, and in his 50's he began to collect artwork of the masters of the Renaissance.  His home was built from 1913 - 1915 and the street floor was always intended to be a museum.  The family lived on the 2nd and 3rd floors.

The artwork is one of the best collections I have ever seen (including public museums).  He had 7 Gainsboroughs, and many other famous painters - Reynolds, Rembrandt, Renoir, Titian, Goya, Degas, El Greco, and many others.  The house is light and airy and gives lots of space between the paintings.  In one room, the walls were covered with the most beautiful french Fragonard paintings (about 10 panels  floor to ceiling size)  They were purchased by Mr. Frick from the J.P. Morgan estate after his death in 1913 for $1,250,000.  That was a lot of money in 1913!  There were also landscapes, sculptures, furniture, and ornate clocks.  It was a feast for the eyes.  I could not take pictures inside the museum, so I bought a book of the museum.

Sunday, 10/18 - Charlie drove us into the city again - this time to visit Ground Zero and the new Memorial Park and Museum (opened 5/2015).  The grounds, reflecting pools, and the buildings take your breath away.  Here I could take pictures.

The New Tower

New York Skyline from the freeway in NJ

Names grouped by where they were
The New Tower in back

Flight 175 names

Looking Up -see the window washers?

North Tower Reflecting Pool -New Tower in left rear,
Museum in right rear

Falling Water in South Pool.
It looks like diamonds in the sun

Entrance to subways

We went into the Memorial Museum.  I was surprised to find out that there were 6 floors, 2 above ground, and 4 below.  The two top floors are for administration, a cafe, and a museum store.  The actual museum is all underground underneath the original two towers.  Here is the original cornerstone of the Twin Towers. 

Cornerstone of original towers

The North Tower (with the radio tower) was hit first.  Here is a good description of how it happened. 

The North Tower is hit

a steel girder

Ladder 3 Firetruck with front demolished

Here are some of the artifacts:

footing of North Tower.
Can you see the base of the pool above?

Reflecting pool base above.

The Reflecting pools were built exactly in the footprint
of the original tower.

Vesey street sign

The Survivor Stairs

Hundreds of the people in the building escaped by way of the Vesey stairs.  Because they were covered, the survivors were protected from falling debris, and were able to get out.  They were called the "Survivor Stairs".  These granite stairs (about a 60 foot section) were moved from their original site to the museum.  The damage to the stairs happened during the clean up and moving process, not due to the attack.  

Everything in the museum touched your soul.  It was very hard to come out of there without a tear in your eye.  Quite an experience.

Monday, 10/19 -Another catch up day.  Shopping for groceries, mail, email, etc.  Great dinner by my sister in law, Cathy.  She has treated us with great Italian meals.  Charlie has been a wonderful chauffeur, and we really appreciate it.  Mom is settled in at their house, and we are preparing to leave tomorrow morning.