October 22

By Al

Today, we went back to the Intrepid.  We had tickets to go on the Concorde.  You need special tickets to do this because only so many people can go on at a time.  We also were going to go to see the Enterprise Space Shuttle.

As most of you probable know, the Concorde Aircraft was a cooperative venture between the French and British government.  Thus, the name.  It flew from Britain and France to the United States, as well as other countries.  However, the first passenger flight was in 1976.  The last flight was in 2003.  There were 20 Concorde airplanes produced.  They made the flight from Britain or France to the United States in about half the time of other commercial flights.  However, they never made a profit and had to be subsidised by the British and French government.  Still, it was fun to go on board and pretend for just a few minutes that you were flying across the Atlantic and faster than the speed of sound.

We were surprised at how small the interior space was.  But, the luxury was there.  Nice, but small, seats.  We saw a menu and it would have been first class in any restaurant.  The service was supposed to be exceptional, even for those days when airlines had some service.

A pretty tree changing color along the Hudson River.  Back home in Minnesota most of the leaves would be gone by now.

The Concorde.  Notice the people under it.

Here we are on our way to France.

This is half the passenger compartment.  The back half is closed off and only the front half is used for tourists.  
When in service, the seats would not be covered with plastic.  This is just for the tourists also.

Looking toward the cockpit.

Sally in the cockpit.  It was pre-computer, so there are switches everywhere.

The back end of the space shuttle.

The front end.  They have a platform at the front end that you can go up and see more of the shuttle.  You cannot go inside or look inside.  This building is an air tent, that is a tent held up by air pressure, much like the Metrodome.  In Hurricane Sandy it collapsed and some of the electronics was damaged.

Sally and I and our friend the big space shuttle.

Another view of the flight deck of the Intrepid.

Another view.  The water is the Hudson River, which really isn't a river at this point, but that is another story.



That evening I went to the Russian and Turkish bath.  I had bought a Groupon for this establishment.  I like to take sauna's so I thought it would be fund to try out a bath house in New York.  It is coed, so everybody wears swimsuits.  They have several steam room and sauna options.  It was a slice of New York life.