Day 12 - New York, New York

It is Monday, June 11 and a bit dreary this morning.  We had plans to get together with family today; however, that was cancelled due to illness.  We are very dissappointed but we wish our Uncle the very best and pray for good health.

After breakfast, we crossed the Hudson River via the ferry to Manhattan.  The first thing we wanted to see was the 9/ll Memorial.  It consists of two pools set in the footprints of the original Twin Towers.  Thirty foot waterfalls - the largest in North America - cascade into the pools, each then descending into a center void, which is 50 feet deep.  The water comes from the Hudson River and returns there.  The names of the victims are inscribed in bronze parapets around the pools.  The museum has not been completed yet.  When the entire site is complete, the surrounding plaza will include more than 400 swamp white oak trees.  The trees were selected from nurseries within a 500 mile radius of the three attack sites.  It is still a very emotional place even after eleven years.

The master plan for the site calls for a spiral of new towers around the eight-acre Memorial.  The building in construction now is of 1 World Trade Center, which at l776 feet will be the tallest building in the United States. At this time, they only have one more floor to add.  4 World Trade Center will rise 72 floors and stand 977 feet tall.

We then took a double decker bus to tour the city.  We got on and off many times to either eat, drink or sightsee. 



Trinity Church is only blocks from where the Twin Towers stood.  It was used to help many people after the 9/11 disaster.  There was no damage to the building.  It did take two years to clean up the debri from the grounds.

There are many outdoor markets, statues and, of course, hotels.  The Waldorf Astoria has been in New York for ages and is very elegant - note the clock in the lobby.  Of course, there are the Trump hotels as well.
 

There is so much to see, such as the United Nations, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Rockefeller Center, Grand Central Station and Strawberry Fields in Central Park.

Here we are at Time Square with the Crystal Ball in blue.  It changes colors every so many minutes.  There is the Empire State Bldg as well as a very narrow one.  The last picture is a wall of tiles painted by children in memory of all 9/11 victims.

We only had the one day to spend in Manhattan so thankfully we've been here before as there is so much to see and do.  We could have spent more time in SOHO and Greenwich Village.  As we drove by on the bus, we saw a lot of fun shops and restaurants but we leave tomorrow for Massachusetts.  This is a great place so I hope you can make a trip and see all the sites of this great city.