Thanksgiving in the Big Apple, part 3

After our morning bus tour of Central Park, Trinity Church and the cemeteries, and Wall Street, we began our walking tour of Ground Zero and the 9/11 memorial. Our guide for this part of the tour was fantastic and shared some of his personal connection and experiences of that day. I highly recommend taking this guided tour if you are in New York. Keep in mind, however, it does require a good amount of walking, so wear comfortable walking shoes, and dress for the weather.

I've included a couple of links in the following narrative. They are very very informative and give  much more detailed information that I possibly could on the first firefighters on the scene and the building of the memorial.

Across the street from the World Trade Center was FDNY Engine Company 10. These were the first firefighters on the scene on 9/11.

 

The Sphere, which once stood between the twin towers, is the only piece of World Trade Center artwork to survive the 9/11 attacks. Badly damaged, it now sits in Liberty Park overlooking the 9/11 Memorial.

Before:

After:

The Memorial is breathtaking. It is stunning and beautiful and poignant and will break your heart all at the same time. 

The pool, called Reflecting Absence, is amazing. Everything about it was thought out to perfection with so many nuances and specific meanings that I don't think can be fully appreciated without a guide. (Please see link above, The Memorial). Around the pool along the top of the surrounding wall, all the names of those lost are etched into the bronze. Even the order of the names is important as they are all in order of how they were connected in life. Not only was every little detail was thought out, but families of the victims were consulted as well.

This colorful Callery pear tree, is called the Survivor Tree. In October 2001, a severely damaged tree was discovered under the rubble at Ground Zero, with snapped roots and burned and broken branches. It was removed from the rubble and placed in the care of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. To everyone's surprise, it thrived and was returned to the Memorial in 2010. 

After the memorial, we headed to the museum. Immediate "awe" as you walk in. Incredible pieces of history that survived the attacks and will forever be reminders of how vulnerable we are every day.

These pieces are part of the antenna you see in the photo at the top of one of the towers. 

Credit...

You can get a size comparison of just this one piece by the person entering from the right of the photo.

Again, size comparison between the man and this piece of steel girder. For huge chunks of steel to have folded like this shows just how immensely hot the fires were.

Mangled fire truck.

The Last Column was the final piece of steel to be removed from the World Trade Center site, marking the completion of the nine-month recovery period. A symbol of resilience and marker of loss, it now stands in the Museum's Foundation Hall bearing its memorial tributes.

The Oculus. This is the World Trade Center terminal station, the transportation hub of New York City, located in the World Trade Center.

Before heading back to the bus, we stopped for a coffee to warm up a bit.

Later, we had dinner at the Westway Diner. The Westway Diner is the place where the Seinfeld show was born, so it is famous for that (I guess. LOL I've never watched the show and had no idea this diner was a thing until our guide told us.)

After dinner, our final activity of the day was a Broadway show, Come From Away. Now, if you read my facebook you know I was pretty apprehensive about seeing this, particularly following our day of touring Ground Zero and the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. I couldn't imagine how such a tragedy could be turned into a musical. Well, I'm happy to say it was nothing like the write-up by our tour company and I highly recommend seeing it if you have the chance. It was very well done and we enjoyed it. I'm sharing pics I found online as there were no pictures during the performance of course. 

 Cast

Next post: Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and The Rockettes Christmas Spectacular.

Be back soon!