Feet For The Path: New York City

My initial plan was to summarize each day in New York when we returned to the hotel in the evening. But our days were so full that I was exhausted by the time we got back and the last thing I wanted to do was write a blog post! I'm amazed at how much we fit in just three days in the city!

The second day of our trip was by far the busiest and included lots of walking. We began by visiting St. Paul's Chapel at Trinity Church. This chapel was founded in 1766 and George Washington prayed there after his presidential inauguration. The chapel is near the World Trade Center and provided relief for workers after the 9-11 attacks. We then saw the New York Stock Exchange building on Wall Street and the Federal Hall National Memorial building, where George Washington was inaugurated.

St. Paul's Chapel, Trinity Church

New York Stock Exchange

Federal Hall National Memorial

FDNY Ten House: Engine Ten, Ladder 10;
the only fire station located within Ground Zero
and is just across the street from the World Trade Center

We spent most of the morning at the 9/11 Memorial Museum at Ground Zero. This museum is incredible and very carefully planned out; it is a solemn, quiet place as people see, read, listen, and reflect. We didn't have enough time to experience everything in the two hours we had here; there's just so much (110,000 square feet of exhibition space!). (I wish we had looked at the museum map first instead of immediately buying the audio guided tour; the audio tour was very confusing to follow and wasn't really necessary. We probably would have used our time more efficiently had we seen the map at the beginning.)

The exhibition center, which is located at the original foundation level of the World Trade Center site, is comprised of several large exhibition areas; the most moving for me was the In Memorian memorial section. Photographs of all the victims are displayed along the walls; tables with touchscreens allow you to tap on a photograph and learn more about the person who died. It is a powerful visual display showing how many lives were lost.

photo credit: 9/11 Museum website

Other areas of the museum showed artifacts found and tributes created in response to the attack, the history of the World Trade Center, and a multimedia exhibit describing the day of the attack and the aftermath. There is also a short movie showing the rebuilding process and an area of reflection on 9/11.

Reflecting Pool Outside Museum - names of those killed are inscribed in bronze panels;
there are two reflecting pools showing where the twin towers stood.

Memorial Plaza with Swamp White Oak Trees

"Trying to Remember the Color of the Sky on That September Morning" - artwork by Spencer Finch,
Quotation by Virgil - letters were fashioned from salvaged remnants of steel from the World Trade Center