The train station is only a 10 minute bike ride from the marina so we caught a train to Grand Central Station.
You can get on any of the subway routes and go to just about anyplace in the area. We purchased a Metro “Fun Pass” for $8.25. With it we could travel the subway as much as we wanted in 24 hours. And believe me, we got out moneys worth!
We headed down the hallway toward the train we wanted and passed this wall along the way. It is completely made of mosaic and is much longer of a wall than my photo shows. I wonder how many hours of work were involved in this?
We had to go down a very long escalator to get from street level to down where the subway system runs.
Our first stop was Ground Zero. Once we figured out what train to take and where to get off, it was just a matter of waiting. Our track had some entertainment going on which was fun to listen too. They had a cardboard box in front of them and people would throw in money. Just turn up the volume and click on the arrow in the lower left corner to enjoy.
Same track but it gives you an idea of what it’s like down in the subway. Click on the lower left arrow to see. Rush hour by this time was over. Not the case when we left the city though. Then this same scene was a sea of people and the cars were jammed full.
Ground Zero. 50,000 people worked in the towers and an additional 150,000 visited the towers each day.
It was enclosed with a screen making it impossible to actually see in. The building being constructed is the first tower being rebuilt. There were many people taking photos and standing and staring. It was a very powerful sight and many memories of pictures we saw of what was happening that day came flooding back.
We walked through a Tribute Museum across the street from Ground Zero and next door to Ladder 10 Company. This is one of the many fire stations to respond that awful day, and lost six of its crew in the line of duty.
The museum had artifacts on display. This is a portion of the window of the one of the airplanes that hit the tower. There were stuffed toys, car keys, photo id’s…..
One wall had flyers displayed on it. They had been posted by loved ones after the attack. They all had a photo and a list of any identifying features. It was heart wrenching to read through them. Some were maybe found, but most were disintegrated in the heat and by the crushing rubble.
A memorial plaque listed the names of all those from American Airlines Flight 11, United Airlines Flight 175 and all those at the World Trade Center who were killed in the attack. So many, many names.
There were walls filled with photos of those who had been killed.
We left feeling quite emotional. The attack now felt very personal.
From Ground Zero we walked to the Federal Reserve Building to take a tour. Once there we learned you need to apply for tour a week in advance. I guess so they had to check you out. So that was a disappointment. But, we should have done our homework.
So we walked to the United Nations Building.
We didn’t want to stay for the tour so just wandered a bit. Ross bought a Snickers Bar in gift shop. He commented that it tasted the same as any other Snickers Bar. Okay. Guess he expected some type of international flavor to it.
One area we viewed was a gallery of photos submitted by photographers. It was entitled “Democracy is….” This photo was submitted by a man from Iran who I imagine has a death sentence on his head by now. It caught my eye, especially after visiting Ground Zero earlier.
The wording above it read, “Democracy is….the state of being free to act and look different from the way others do.”
May not be how I would describe it, but I can certainly see his point by his photograph.
A wall of stained glass by the meditation room.
We hopped back on the subway and made our way to Central Park. There were many tour guides with rickshaw bikes who would take you for an informative ride through the park.
Hundreds of New Yorkers were out enjoying the wonderful fall day.
John Lennon lived in an apartment building across the street from this entrance to the Park. This was some type of tribute to him and flower petals formed the peace sign.
We were running out of gas and ready to return to the boat. Ross studied the Subway map one last time and then we found our way to Grand Central Station, hopped our train, and fell asleep. The nap gave us just enough energy to ride our bikes back to the boat and order some pizza delivered.
