More New Yawk Deets

Virus Watch, 2009:

Iain woke at 6:30, very fussy. We had to wait until 9 to talk to the doctor, so we killed the time trying to entertain Mr. FussBudget. We got an 11am appointment, which was a bit of a conundrum since we are also waiting for the computer repair people to bring Mommy a new laptop screen. Happily, they canceled (surprise!), so the Dad could come along to the doctor.

In the PM, Iain spent an hour napping, 2.5 hours screaming his head off, then 45 minutes being completely normal, followed by more napping (which is what he's doing right now). I managed to get some milk, water, yoghurt, banana and cherry into him. Honestly: people decry bribing your kid, but at this point I would really love to be able to bribe him. "Son, if you'll drink this bottle I'll get you a pony. Really."

In other news, I forgot to mention a couple of things about the trip to NY.

1. We saw Tyra Banks. Seriously. We were walking along (me, my cool F&M colleague and a very hip fella from LA) downtown and passed an SUV with two or three big security dudes. There, either getting out of or into the car (?) was Tyra herself, looking lovely in a maxi-dress and long, luxurious tresses.

It seemed pretty cool until we heard that another group ran into Joan Rivers and got their picture taken with her.

2. On Monday, we spent the morning at Ellis Island. Normally, you tour what's called Island 1. That's the main hall, museum spaces, etc. But we hooked up with a historic preservation organization to tour Islands 2 and 3, which are the old hospital buildings. They're not open to the public because they're in a state of decay ("Don't take off your hardhat! The ceiling could fall at any time!").

The tour led us through the main hospital, which served people who would probably get better and who had non-contagious diseases. It included a surgery and a variety of wards. One, for "psychotics," had a caged-in back porch. Like a cage.

Island 3 was a second hospital, this one for infectious and contagious diseases. The infectious ward took the last room, the point on a long rectangle. It looked out over the harbor, so people who were dying of various infectious diseases lay there watching the Statue of Liberty. Other wards, for things like measles, offered far less to look at, but the survival rate was much higher.

It was very interesting, and strangely quiet for a major tourist destination. Returning to Island 1 and walking through the museum sections proved jarring - so many people! But the hospitals are an important part of Ellis Island's history, and I hope that the restoration effort succeeds. They're raising money in a climate where historic preservation is not a high priority, so I wish them luck - they'll need it.