Canada, Québec, Québec City, Uncategorized

Quebec Winter Carnival 2020

Lauren

The Quebec Winter Carnival, or rather the Carnaval de Québec, is held annually in Québec City, Québec, Canada. At one time, it was the largest winter festival in the world. It’s been held annually since 1955 and intermittently before that since its birth in 1894. It boasts of events like street parades, ice palaces, snow sculptures, food and bars, ice skating, sledding, and unique activities like ice canoe races and ax-throwing. The Carnaval’s famous mascot is Bonhomme (who we were lucky enough to get a photo with our first night!), and he also shows up on the Carnaval’s effigy, which is a pass to get into many of the events.

Courtesy of Quebec Winter Carnival website

The 2020 dates were Friday, February 7, until Sunday, February 16. We went from Tuesday the 11th until Friday the 14th. I went with two of my college friends, and we started the drive up from southern Maine around 1 AM Tuesday.

Day 1 – Tuesday

We were driving through most of the night, covering about 300 miles (approximately 482 km) over about six hours. We arrived in Quebec City around 8 AM and went downtown and immediately saw familiar sites like the Fairmont Le Château Frontenac and the shops along Quartier Petit Champlain.

We couldn’t check into our Air BNB until noon, so we decided to find a small breakfast place. We landed on Creperie & Cie 5.0 right on Rue de Petit Champlain.

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After a quick trip to Walmart for some groceries, we checked into our Air BNB and went right to sleep! We woke up around dinnertime and were shortly out the door to head downtown near the Plains of Abraham area to begin exploring the Carnaval. To be more specific about location, here is the description according to the website: “The sites are located in the heart of Old Quebec. The main sites are the Parc de la Francophonie, Place Assemblée-Nationale and Place George-V, but some activities take place elsewhere.”

During the weekdays, most of the Carnaval is only open until 9 PM, so we were only there a couple of hours. We also had missed some of the events, like the opening parade and ice canoe races and wouldn’t be there for the closing parade. But, there were still plenty of festivities going on!

We started at an area referred to as “Jos’ Camp Presented by Videotron” which has some virtual reality games, outdoor bars and food stands, ax-throwing, and the Christie North Slope. As we were walking around, we spotted Bonhomme!

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We listened to some of the bands, took a snow tube down the Christie North Slope, and a few minutes before close, decided to get in line and try our hand at the ax-throwing!

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Day 2 – Wednesday

Day 2 was our spa day. My last trip in Quebec City (which was with two of my friends, one of them being an attendee on this trip, too), we had gone to the Strøm Spa Nordique, which was heavenly. So, we decided it was a must-do on this trip, too! We got there right after opening around 10 AM and stayed until around 6 PM.

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The spa is a mix of indoor and outdoor pools, hot tubs, saunas, cafes, and resting areas, with options to add on massages, body treatments, facials, and hand/feet treatments. All of us did the traditional thermal experience (pools, hot tubs, rest areas, etc) and two of us (myself included) added on body treatments. I did a volcanic body scrub, which was fantastic. The three of us also added on the Laga flotation bath, which is a large salt water pool with a density that matches the Dead Sea, so you float effortlessly.

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Photo courtesy of https://www.stromspa.com/

After a relaxing day, we were off to the Air BNB to have dinner and prep to go back out to visit some other Carnaval sites, but of course, we had to make our first Tim Horton’s stop of the trip first!

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Next, we headed back downtown. This time, a few blocks over and in front of the Parliament Building at Place de l’Assemblée National. This is the location of Zone Loto-Québec, which is home to Bonhomme’s ice palace, the ice slide, the PIXEL experience, another SAQ Bistro, and a common place to have a Bonhomme sighting!

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Place de l’Assemblée National

Entrance and beginning to the Ice Palace and Loto-Zone

Exploring PIXEL

Checking out the ice and snow sculptures

Taking a trip down the ice slide

Drinks and hot chocolate from the SAQ Bistro

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Souvenir shopping

After 9 PM, we headed back to our Air BNB after a long day!

Day 3 – Thursday

We woke up bright and early and headed to Restaurant L’omelette for breakfast!

Our Thursday destination was the Hôtel de Glace (Ice Hotel), another iconic site about 40 minutes outside of Quebec City in Saint-Gabriel-de-Valcartier. This annual site is a large “hotel” consisting of dozens and dozens of intricate ice sculptures and actual hotel rooms that can be rented – completely made out of ice.

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After our trek back, I decided to stay in and take a nap while the other two hunted (unsuccessfully) for a sugar shack a few towns out. After dinnertime, two of us went back out to the main Carnaval area, but after a little while there and it being 12* F (about -11* C), we decided to call it a night and went back to the Air BNB and defrosted for the night.

Day 4 – Friday

Our last morning, we headed back to the Quartier Petit Champlain and explored some of the shops along that street and surrounding ones.

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After sufficiently stocking up on maple-flavored, -themed, and -scented items, along with additional souvenirs, we made our way back to the car. This is when we discovered – *gasp* – a parking ticket, which we probably very much deserved as we had been parking pretty riskily the entire trip. Ah, when in Canada!

After one last Tim Horton’s stop, we were on our way back to Maine!

Sad you missed it? Mark your calendars for February 5 to 14, 2021!

Pennsylvania, United States

Eastern State Penitentiary

Lauren

October 31 – November 5, 2019 

Our next site on Friday was the Eastern State Penitentiary, which used to be the most famous and expensive prison in America.

Tickets are $14 for adults, $12 for seniors, and $10 for students and children when purchased online or at the Philadelphia Visitor Information Center, and a few dollars more purchased at the door. Admission includes an audio guide which is about an hour’s worth of material and brings you through major sites. Then, you are able to go through on your own.

We spent almost three hours there before they closed and told us we had to leave as we were still walking around (whoops), and we could’ve spent hours more there. It was super intriguing, and there are so many exhibits. There’s an online 360 tour that can be viewed here.

ESP opened in 1829 and was the first of its kind intended to genuinely induce penitence (“true regret”) in criminals. The architect, John Haviland, believed that the building should “strike fear into the hearts of those who thought of committing a crime.” While prisons at the time tended to use physical violence, this prison model intended to end this type of punishment and rather institute measures to force prisoners to reflect on their crimes and have that sense of true regret.

They used punishment measures like isolation and sensory deprivation, such as no light or sound. Its model was controversial and was based around “confinement in solitude with labor.” The type of building and model was soon used around the country. This type of prison system was referred to as the Pennsylvania System. The alternative model was referred to as the New York State’s Auburn System. People from all over the world visited ESP to learn about the model and institute it when developing new prisons. There was significant opposition, which lead to the eventual abandonment of the model slowly.

Most of it is within the walls of the prison with almost completely original ruins or some are mildly renovated. There are some separate exhibits like “Prisons Today.” There are also artist exhibitions spread throughout. You get to visit cells – some are complete ruins and some are renovated to look how they would’ve at the time – as well as areas such as the hospital, the death row area, and Al Capone’s cell (who spent eight months in the penitentiary in 1929).

Shaped like a pinwheel, over time, more cell blocks were added in between, with the last one being Cellblock 15 (Death Row) in 1956. In 1913, the Pennsylvania System stopped and the prison used more traditional (and less cruel) measures of criminal justice and imprisonment. For example, in 1924, inmates were allowed to eat together in a group dining hall for the first time. At its height in 1926, it held 1700 inmates. Finally, in 1970, ESP (now named the State Correctional Institution at Philadelphia) closes and has been deemed a National Historic Landmark. It had been operating for 141 years.

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Before renovation

One of the main exhibits is called “The Big Graph” which is a 16-foot tall sculpture analyzing data about multi-country incarceration rates over time.

There is also “Prisons Today,” which is a fairly in-depth exhibit around the United States and its criminal justice and prison system. It goes into issues such as the War on Drugs, as well as issues of class, gender, and race. As of 2017, Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site has defined their purpose as preserving history and also addressing and interpreting criminal justice reform in the United States – and globally. This is primarily addressed in the exhibit, Prisons Today: Questions in the Age of Mass Incarceration, which opened in 2016.

Friday Evening

To finish up the night, we headed out to a club for a second attempt at a decent evening out. I can’t even remember the name of the club, but it was a good time (super pricey though), and there was a cool local band covering hits. Also, side note, this photo with Kristina has random girls in it who jumped in on our photo, so no, I don’t know these people.

Pennsylvania, United States

Liberty Bell

Lauren

October 31 – November 5, 2019 

Starting off day two, we slept in, had breakfast, and then headed into downtown Philadelphia. We began our visit at the Philadelphia Visitor Information Center.

We had planned on starting off with Independence Hall, but we found out that tickets are required certain times of year (March-December). They do tours 9 AM – 5 PM, but they suggest arriving between 8:30-10 AM to get tickets for that day. We were there before noon, and tickets were gone for the day. You can reserve tickets ahead of time for $1, but other than that option, tickets for entrance and the tours are free.

We decided to start by visiting a site across the street. The State House Bell – now known as the Liberty Bell – used to hang in the original Pennsylvania State House (Independence Hall). It was ordered to be built in 1751. It has an famous crack and displays the message “Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land Unto All the Inhabitants thereof.” This message became an inspiration to abolitionists seeking to end slavery.

It is now displayed in its own structure across from the Visitor Center. There’s a small museum with a history of the bell and its iconic history as you walk towards where the bell is displayed.

The Liberty Bell weights 2080 pounds (943 kilograms) and is made primarily of bronze. The famous crack actually started much smaller and was widened as an attempt to fix it so it could ring again. Some people believe it was rung to signal the signing and reading of the Declaration of Independence (on July 4 and 8, 1776, respectively), but there is only evidence that it was rung to mark the Stamp Act tax repeal.

After admiring this historic and iconic American symbol, we headed outside to find our next site to head to. We got a ticket for the Philadelphia PHLASH, which is a $5 day pass that brings you around a downtown loop. This was a great deal and saved us on Uber and parking fees.

 

 

Pennsylvania, United States

Arriving in Philly & The Franklin Institute

Lauren

October 31 – November 5, 2019 

My trip down to Philadelphia was a bit wild. My plan was to drive to Logan Airport (about two hours south) and park there, but upon finding parking to be $50+ a day, I made a last minute (at 1 AM) decision to take a Concord Coach bus down. I quickly ordered tickets, and then after arriving at the Portland Transportation Center, I found I had ordered South Station tickets and not Logan Airport, so it was a mad dash to fix that before the 3:15 AM bus! I am awful at packing ahead of time, so I was left to pack around 9 PM and of course it was a whole process, so I ended up not sleeping. I have a whole intriguing montage of the packing process on my travel Instagram account @wanderlustadventures97 (see highlight “Philly ’19 pt 1).

I headed on over to the Portland Transportation Center and stopped at Denny’s for a good ol’ breakfast with myself seeing as I had emptied out 90% of my fridge and most importantly, needed coffee.

The bus ride down was uneventful, and I slept for most of it. Probably with annoying snoring due to my current allergies/congestion. I fell asleep on the plane before it even took off, too! I was also asleep long after it landed and was the last to get off the plane, forgetting my  personal item under the seat. I ran back to get it and apparently that is NOT okay, and I was roasted by a flight attendant about that and told me to never do it again. My response, “Hopefully it doesn’t happen again.” My favorite and most intriguing part of this trip was that I needed to wear a face mask because I was on steroids (which lowers immune system). It felt wild and embarrassing, but that’s the price you pay to avoid the flu.

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After landing, my friend came to pick me up, and we drove about 20 minutes back to her house in Wallingford, PA (about 20 minutes outside of center Philadelphia). This is one of my sorority sisters that I was active with when I was in college. I had never visited her before (and never been in Philadelphia or Pennsylvania either) so it was bound to be a fun adventure from the beginning.

We got settled in, and while my plan was to take a nap, I decided I wanted to hit the ground running and head downtown.

We stopped to have brunch that would soon become a favorite for the week, Tom Jones, a local small-town diner.

My friend recommended us starting with the Franklin Institute, which is one of many museums in the science and culture-rich center of Philadelphia called the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Pricing is a flat rate of $23 for adults with additional costs for escape rooms, special exhibits, or the IMAX theater.

The Franklin Institute, created and named after Benjamin Franklin, is the most visited museum in Pennsylvania and top-5 tourist destination in Philadelphia. Founded in 1824, it is one of the oldest and currently one of the largest and leading science centers in the United States. The museum reaches over a million people each year and provides hands-on learning around science, research, culture, and innovation.

There are three floors, with most of the exhibits densely packed on the second floor.

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Photo courtesy of https://www.fi.edu/
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Ben Franklin statue located in the lobby of the museum.

“Giant Heart” exhibit, complete with a heart that you can walk through and mimic how blood goes through the arteries and lungs.

“Your Brain” exhibit

Miscellaneous exhibits

After visiting the museum, we walked around the parkway a little and enjoyed the area.

We headed back to Wallingford and then got ready to go out for the night. With it being Halloween, we wanted to find some fun event to attend. There was strong winds and rain, so a few things were actually cancelled. We got tickets to a ’90s party at Punch Line Philly and drove out there.

To be honest, it was a bust. There was almost no one there. But, it was still fun because we walked around and saw a different area of the city. We also did stay at the club for a little bit and enjoyed some music.

Then, we went back home for some very very much needed sleep.

New York, Pennsylvania, United States

Upcoming November Trips

Lauren

I’ll be having a busy November with two trips! These were both quickly planned and fairly unexpected!

My first trip will be to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (USA). I’ve never been here before, and it’s been on my list. I have a friend who lives there, and I planned on going when a cheap flight sale came around. I got an email from jetBlue about a Halloween sale, and I booked a round-trip ticket for $78. Pretty lit. I’ll be staying with my friend, and we’ll be exploring Philadelphia by day. BeFunky-collage

The Philadelphia trip will be October 31-November 5, and then a few days later on November 10, I’ll be heading to New York City (USA) again with my mom! We haven’t done a trip together recently. We did fly to New Jersey for a concert when I was in late middle school or early high school, but that’s been the only “far-away” trip anytime recently (and that’s been about 10 years!)

We’ll be doing a few of the same things I did on my last trip, like the Statue of Liberty and Immigration Museum, but also some new adventures as well. I planned the trip around the 10th American Beatbox Championships which I’ll be going to myself on Sunday night (our trip is Sunday – Tuesday). I went to ABC back in 2017 with Brady. Maybe I’ll make a back-dated post about that trip someday (and perhaps New Jersey, too).

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Our flight is fairly early Sunday, and then late afternoon back on Tuesday. We’ll be flying into LaGuardia, which is an airport I’ve never been to. But, we’ll be flying out of JFK, which I’ve been to a couple of times.

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We’ll be staying in a hotel because, like last time, when looking at costs of AirBNBs and transportation to central areas, a hotel is fairly comparable. We’ll be staying at Pointe Plaza Hotel, which seems fairly nice and in a good location for things.

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Here’s to November!

New York, United States

Wall Street & NY => Maine

Lauren

August 10 – 12, 2019 

I only had a few hours until my flight, but I wanted to explore one more thing. I was already in downtown Manhattan, so I decided to check out Wall Street, NYC’s financial distract. I simply walked around and took a few photos before my couple hour subway ride back to JFK Airport.

Federal Hall National Memorial. Statue in front is George Washington. This building, located at 26 Wall Street, served as the first meeting place of the Congress of Confederation and was where the Stamp Act Congress met to draft their message against “taxation without representation.” It was also the the first meeting place of Congress as it is now and was where George Washington was sworn in as president. It also served as New York’s first City Hall.

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New York Stock Exchange, located at 11 Wall Street. The world’s largest stock market.
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40 Wall Street. Owned by Donald Trump as of the early 2000s.

Next, it was time to make the trek back to the JFK Airport.

After that adventure, I got checked into the airport quite a bit early (perhaps 8:00 PM?) and hung around for a bit, got dinner, called a friend. And then, it was time for the flight back to Maine! It was a bit delayed with take-off, but the flight only ended up being around 45 minutes, so I was back to Maine right around midnight. Until next time, New York!

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New York, United States

Ellis Island & Immigration Museum

Lauren

August 10 – 12, 2019 

The next part of my day Tuesday after visiting Liberty Island and the Statue of Liberty was going to Ellis Island and the Immigration Museum. Entrance is included in the ferry ticket from Statue Cruises.

The museum itself is huge, plus there’s other parts of the island to explore. You could easily spend a whole day there if you were really interested in every part and exhibit of the museum. I did an overview and visited most of the exhibits using the included audio guide. I probably spent about three hours there, but I felt like I missed so much detail and analysis! I did see a lot, though.

The ferry takes you from Liberty Island to Ellis Island.

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Approaching the Island via ferry.

The island is shaped a bit like a “U” and the ferry enters and docks in the middle. The museum is to your right as you exit the ferry.

Photos courtesy of Encyclopedia Britannica and Wikipedia

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Entrance to the Immigration Museum. Photo courtesy of AARP.

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The history behind Ellis Island is pretty cool. It originally was a military fort and detention center. In the 1900s, it was an immigrant processing center and also had medical quarantines. Over 12 million immigrants entered through Ellis Island, and it’s estimated that 40% of US citizens can trace at least one ancestor who entered through here. When the “era of mass immigration” slowed down, the Island was primarily used for detention of immigrants who were to be deported. During the time when it was an immigrant processing center, only about 1-2% of immigrants who came through were deported. If they were, it was primarily due to illness or disability. Immigrants went through a long processing time, complete with interviews and medical screening.

The Island closed for this purpose in 1954. The buildings began to deteriorate and collapse, but in the decades to come, there were plans to restore the Island for historical purposes. They kept parts of the building the same, such as the main hall in the main building and the original floors in a few of the rooms, but much of the museum had to be restructured and rebuilt. They also have displays with some of the original items from the the processing center. It reopened in the late 1900s as a museum.

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The Great Hall: one of the spaces that was restored to look nearly identical to its original form. First photos courtesy of History.com.

Original floors in one of the exhibit rooms. Followed by exhibits of some remaining items taken from the deteriorated building. Last image is an exact replica of the court room in its original location in the main building.

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There’s so much more history on Ellis Island and the Immigration Museum that I simply can’t do justice! Read more about the museum and its exhibits on the National Park Service website.

Next, it was time to take the ferry back to Battery Park, New York. It ended up being super sunny that day, and I didn’t realize this until I was already on the islands. If you’ve kept up with my travel blog, you know I have a chronic problem with getting sunburned. The ferry wait ended up being pretty long because there was too many people in line for the first one, so I ended waiting an additional 20 minutes for the second one.

I made it back to the main land, and then it was time to find a short final adventure before my flight back to Maine!

 

 

New York, United States

Statue of Liberty & Liberty Island

Lauren

August 10 – 12, 2019 

Tuesday was my last day in NYC as part of my short three-day trip. I started the day by packing up my small bag of things and heading down to the lobby of the hotel for breakfast and a leisurely cup of coffee.

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Today’s adventures were going to the Statue of Liberty/Liberty Island and Ellis Island. For this, you buy a ferry ticket for Statue Cruises which provides you a roundtrip ferry ride and entrance onto both islands and both islands’ museums. Entrance into the Statue of Liberty pedestal or crown is separate, though. I purchased pedestal access. Crown access was not available (typically, you need to purchase this 4-6 months in advance). Something important to note is that Statue Cruises is the only legitimate place to buy tickets for the ferry and the islands. There’s plenty of scammers on the streets. statue

The ferry route looks like this:

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Photo courtesy of Statue Cruises

After arriving in Battery Park and crossing through Battery Place, the security screening to enter the ferry was pretty intense and similar to airport security. One thing I did not realize was that the 10:00 AM referred to my entry into the pedestal, not my ferry time. I was still able to get into the Statue, thankfully. The ferry leaves every 20 minutes from New York’s Battery Park and a bit less frequently from New Jersey’s Liberty State Park (see departure schedule).

There were strict regulations on the size of bags (thankfully I packed light because I had all my luggage with me after checking out of the hotel that morning). Even so, you couldn’t bring any bags/purses/etc into the Statue, but there were lockers available (make sure to bring quarters!). No food or drinks were allowed, and they searched for anything relatively sharp or weapon-like. They also had metal detectors. After the three-part screening process, you were able to board the ferry.

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It was perhaps 15 minutes until arriving at Liberty Island. This island has an extensive history and most recently was Fort Wood, a defensive fort that was constructed with an 11-point star to mark the perimeter. It was completed in 1811 in preparation for British invasion. It received its name following the War of 1812 after Lt. Wood who was killed in the Siege of Fort Eire.

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Arriving at Liberty Island

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In the 1880s, it was selected to be used to house the Statue of Liberty, a gift from France that was delivered to the US in pieces and formally unveiled on October 28, 1886, to mark the American Centennial. The stone walls of the fort were used as the base for the Statue, but the rest of the military fort was removed. The 11-point star base outline is still present and can be seen clearly when one is atop the Statue pedestal or crown.

The statue was designed by Frederick Bartholdi, a French sculptor, and framed by Gustave Eiffel (who also designed the Eiffel Tower).

I had a ticket to go up to the pedestal, which is 89 feet (27 meters) tall. It’s 215 steps from the lobby to the pedestal, but an elevator is available to the pedestal, not to the crown. From the pedestal to the crown, it’s 154 spiraling steps! Only for the brave at heart to make the trek up there.

Looking up at the Statue from the pedestal. Check out this video.

Views from atop the pedestal.

There is also a Statue of Liberty Museum on the island which shows the history and also holds the original torch (which has since had to be replaced) as well as a few other pieces of the Statue that have been restored over the years. There is a small museum in the lobby at the base level of the Statue, which is where the original museum was. Now, there is a larger museum that exists on one edge of the island with more artifacts, displays, and history about the Statue.

Replicas of the face and foot.

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Other cool facts:

  • The seven spikes on the crown represent the seven continents and oceans.
  • The tablet in the left hand is inscribed with Roman Numerals with the date of the Declaration of Independence.
  • The Statue of Liberty is now a green color due to oxidization.
  • The Statue weighs 450,000 pounds (204,116 kilograms).
  • The full name is Liberty Enlightening the World.

After exploring the museum, I went over to the ferry line, realized I forgot my bag, ran back to the lockers, and back to the ferry line, and still had a good amount of time before the next ferry arrived. As it came into port, I got excited for the next adventure: Ellis Island and the Immigration Museum!

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Skyline of Manhattan, NY, departing Liberty Island and heading to Ellis Island. Perhaps my favorite photo from the trip!
New York, United States

Museum of Jewish Heritage & Sunday

Lauren

August 10 – 12, 2019 

On Sunday morning, I started the day by going to The Museum of Jewish Heritage. Their current exhibition was Auschwitz: Not Long Ago, Not Far Away, which was a chilling title given the current political climate particularly in America.

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The museum exists to educate individuals about Jewish life in the 20th and 21st centuries – before, during, and after the Holocaust. They have a range of permanent and special exhibitions in addiction to the Auschwitz exhibition. Ticket prices vary depending on whether or not you wish to see that exhibition. Hours, general ticket prices, and visitor information can be found here. Special exhibition ticket prices can be found here.

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More than 1.1 million people were murdered in Auschwitz between May 1940 and January 1945. It was the largest Nazi-run concentration camp and was located in Poland. A vast majority were executed almost immediately upon arrival. Out of 1.3 million deported there, 1.1 million were murdered – primarily through means such as gassing, shooting, exhaustion, starvation, disease, or medical experiments.

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Entrance to Auschwitz II-Birkenau. Photo Courtesy of http://www.mjhnyc.org/

“Featuring more than 700 original objects and 400 photographs, the New York presentation of the [Auschwitz: Not Long Ago, Not Far Away] exhibition allows visitors to experience artifacts from the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum on view for the first time in North America, including hundreds of personal items—such as suitcases, eyeglasses, and shoes—that belonged to survivors and victims of Auschwitz. Other artifacts include concrete posts that were part of the fence of the Auschwitz camp; fragments of an original barrack for prisoners from the Auschwitz III-Monowitz camp; a desk and other possessions of the first and the longest serving Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss; a gas mask used by the SS; Picasso’s Lithograph of Prisoner; and an original German-made Model 2 freight train car used for the deportation of Jews to the ghettos and extermination camps in occupied Poland” (About the Exhibition).

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Garden of Stones

The Rest of the Day

After I finished at the Jewish Heritage Museum, I got a bus ticket for CitySightseeing New York, which is a common practice so that I get an overview of a city I’ve visiting. I actually regretted this this time around because it was a whole lot of time spent in traffic with not a lot to see at least in the first tour I took, which was the Brooklyn (and part of Manhattan) tour. The next day, I had plenty planned, so I didn’t have time to use the other tours, and I was too tired to stay up for the night tour. So I wasn’t necessarily super pumped about doing this, but I hadn’t ever driven around Brooklyn, so it was nice to see. But, if I had to do it again, I would’ve chosen another tour if I only had time for one. We did get to drive over the Brooklyn Bridge, as well as see the United Nations building, so those were two highlights.

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After the bus dropped me off about 10 blocks or so from Times Square, I decided to walk over there. I’ve been there before, but I had time and decided to wander. Well, I also regretted this a little bit because I hate walking in crowds, and it honestly took me over an hour to get to where I wanted to go, which wasn’t that far.

After visiting a couple shops and deciding I wasn’t going to go all the way to 42nd Street, I turned around to get to the subway station, which I ended up not being able to find after about a half hour of walking. So I turned back around and ended up having to go to the 42nd Street subway stop anyway. Times Square is the picturesque New York City, but in my opinion, at least for me, once you’ve seen it once, you’ve seen it. And I was ready to get out and be able to walk at a decent pace again without dozens of people smushing me! After I got on the subway, I had a somewhat long train ride back to the hotel, but when I got back, I watched some TV, relaxed, and headed to bed after a long day out on the town.

New York, United States

The Museum of Sex

Lauren

August 10 – 12, 2019 

On Saturday afternoon, after breakfast at the infamous and bougie Russ and Daughters, we headed to the Museum of Sex, an interesting choice but why not! It came up on the list of “Things to Do in NYC” and caught our attention, so we took an Uber on over to the museum which is in Midtown Manhattan on Fifth Avenue at 27th Street.

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Tickets are usually $16.50, but we got an online $5 off discount code. They also have a student, senior, and military $3 discount with valid ID. Additional costs apply for their amusement games towards the end of the museum, though.

The Museum of Sex describes their mission as follows:

The Mission of the Museum of Sex is to preserve and present the history, evolution and cultural significance of human sexuality. The Museum produces exhibitions, publications and programs that bring the best of current scholarship to the widest possible audiences and is committed to encouraging public enlightenment, discourse and engagement.

The museum opened in 2002 and was the first of its kind in the world. Its first exhibition was NYC SEX: How New York Transformed Sex in America. Since, they’ve had over 30 exhibitions and 6 virtual installations all tied to their mission of open discussion around sexuality. They currently have over 200,000 artifacts, including “works of art, photography, clothing and costumes, technological inventions and historical ephemera” and a research library and multimedia library.

The museum also has a gift shop which includes some gag gifts, memorabilia, and a wide array of sex toys. The gift shop is off to the side, while the exhibits start with a staircase, and once you enter the first exhibit, you go through each one in order. You have to go through each one to be able to exit the museum. We stopped by the gift shop first because it was first on our left. People from the public are able to stop here without buying a ticket, and it has an additional street entrance. While there were plenty of people giggling and playing around (there were a few bachelorette parties going on, something the museum hosts frequently), there were some serious customers and some very helpful staff committed to guiding people in exploring their sexuality.

The main exhibition was Stag: The Illicit Origins of Pornographic Film. I have some videos of this, but it got removed from YouTube, so I’m sure it would also get removed here. I will include a few photos here that should meet community guidelines (hopefully?). So the Stag exhibition covers pornographic films from the early 1900s until the late 1960s, showing mostly short, black-and-white, anonymously produced films, which were referred to as “stags.”

“Stag parties” were screenings of the films and mostly attracted middle-class, heteronormative, white males. They would gather in legion halls, fraternities, or brothels and drink and watch the films together. The stag era is significant in highlighting cultural and social norms of the time, such as pornography being illegal for quite some time, homosexual depictions being illegal for even longer, male-pleasure focused films, and a degree of shame around sexuality.

The next exhibit we stopped by was Punk Lust: Raw Provocation 1971-1985 which looked at punk culture and the way it used language around sexuality to break through cultural, social, and gender norms of the time. I found this exhibit a little harder to follow and not quite as interesting as the Stag exhibit, but it certainly had some interesting artifacts.

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Next, we went through Super Funland: Journey Into the Erotic Carnival. You start with a panorama movie and then into exhibitions around world fairs from pre-industrial Europe to the 20th century that were centered around sexuality.

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Photo Courtesy of http://www.museumofsex.com

Next, we walked by the Jump for Joy: Bouncy House of Breasts and through some of the amusement type games, which were very funny to watch people play. We didn’t participate in any of them, except one game which we were asked to test out before it went public. It was basically a reverse whack-a-mole where you grabbed, um, a phallic item in a “glory hole” type setting, and the person who could grab the most won. It felt very weird but was also a fun experience to just be open with the idea of it.

That pretty much finished up our adventure! This was a super interesting and unique experience. If you have time, check it out! Buy tickets here.

The Hotel

Next we headed out to grab dinner for my brother, Erik, before he headed out to a concert. After that, I headed to my hotel, the Wall Street Inn. Comparing Air BNBs and hotels and factoring in breakfast and transportation costs, it ended up being about the same cost for me to get a hotel room, so I went with that. I spent about two hours scrolling through Air BNBs and hotels, so I was pretty pumped when I finally had one narrowed down. The Wall Street Inn, as the name would suggest, is right in the heart of Wall Street, which is in Lower Manhattan. This worked well because it was close to the main places I was going (a few museums and then the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island). NYC is so big that it’s normal to spend a couple hours on the subway depending on where you are in what borough, so I was focused a little bit more on the location for the trip than I usually do.

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Photo Courtesy of http://www.thewallstreetinn.com/

This is basically exactly what my hotel room looked like. It was a bit outdated and dusty to be honest, but I would rate it 3.5/5. For the cost and the proximity to where I was going, it was worth it. I got settled into my hotel for the night and went to sleep pretty early. I had barely gotten any sleep the night before and had had an early flight, so I was out like a light!