Sunday. Sunny. Windy. Cold. Very quiet in NYC. Our mission today - to see the site of 9/11 for ourselves. We caught a taxi, early in the morning, and were driven down to the bottom of Manhatten island. Several things struck me. The area is enormous. They're building 5 new condo/office towers. The footprints of each of the twin towers are now giant reflecting pools, each an acre in size. The space fenced off for the new construction is several acres across and down. It's huge. And very quiet. There is no evidence on the other buildings of what took place. The turn-of-the-century church is still intact. The buildings that would have been across the street are free from scars. The only architectural casualty seems to be a monument located at Battery Park, across from the statue of Liberty that imploded because of the heat from the explosions. The first fire station that answered the call is located literally across the street. On its wall is now a large brass sculpture honouring those who lost their lives.
I'd like to say we stayed reverent for the rest of our day, but we didn't. The rest of the time before heading back to the airport was filled with more walking, shopping, and lunching. And watching in awe as people actually paid money to sit in the open air on a freezing cold December day to ride across the water to the Statue of Liberty. Better them than me. Wall street, which still had its barricades in spite of the Occupy'ers recent departure, is actually more of an alley than a street. I had pictured something more impressive for the centre of North American business.
We had a wonderful weekend. Happy Anniversary my love.
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