Sonya's Blog - Day 122 - Ahh, New York!!!

Sonya's Blog - Day 122 - October 22nd - Ahh, New York!!

I am not going to lie to you, this commute will be painful. It is expensive and will take forever. It is $20 each, each way (except for Isaac who is 1/2 price). That is going to add up quickly. We made sure that the kids had their schoolwork with them because they can do that on the train. With 4 hours of traveling coming our way, they need to use the time wisely.

We made it to the train on time and bought our tickets. The train had lots of seats available and we had no problem getting all set up. I was hoping there would be tables, but no such luck! We had a table on our Boston train and it is very handy. We got all settled in and the kids got straight to work on their school work. This first train is about an hour and forty and then we transfer to a second train, but that one is only 10 minutes. Everything worked out really well and it was easy to figure out the transfer. These are actual trains, not subways, so not as many running and easier to figure out.

Our stop in New York was Penn Station. This is a massive station right beside Madison Square Gardens. As soon as we stepped on the street, hawkers were trying to give us pamphlets for their various touristy things. Having been in New York I knew to say, we have ours already and move on. Blake did stop to talk to one guy, but he just wanted the map. We needed to find the visitor's centre for our bus tour (there is more than one tour company - maybe 4 or 5 that do the hop on hop off bus). It took us right near Times Square, so we managed to trade in our passes for the bus tickets and see Times Square.

After goofing around in Times Square for a bit we left to find a bus stop for our bus. We finally found it and there was a huge line-up. We got in line and waited. We didn't get on the first bus, but then managed to get on the second bus. Our tour guide had a very strong Brooklyn accent and he told colourful stories with his narrative. He was very good, but he talked with his hands so it was sometimes hard to hear what he was saying because the mike got too far away from his mouth. We took the bus through many areas, the Flatiron building, the Empire State, No-Ho, So-Ho, Chinatown, etc. We decided to get off at the stop near the World Trade Centre because we wanted to see the area. When I was last in New York, there were still huge pits and they were just starting to build One World Centre. First we came upon St. Pauls and visited it. Many people were worried about this church when the buildings came down on Sept. 11th because it is so close to the site. It suffered no damage and became an area for first responders to rest and be fed. The wrought iron fencing around the church ended up being covered in missing person posters, which turned to memorial sites as it turned from a rescue mission to a recovery mission. They have small altars set up inside the church to describe the various tributes that sprung up in and around the church. There is a bell outside from England that says "forged together in adversity - September 11, 2001.

We then walked over to the Trade Centre Grounds. They are still building, so it is a massive construction zone. It is a pretty amazing sight now. They have two huge memorial pools, the south pool and the north pool which are where the original towers stood. Each pool has names of the victims of Sept. 11th engraved around on bronze plaques. These are not just the victims in New York, but also of everyone on the planes and from the Pentagon attack. One side of the South Pool also has all of the first responders names engraved on one side. This side was covered in roses and lilies.

We received a tour with our Explorer Pass and it was through the 911 Memorial Museum. The tours are offered by people who were affected by 911. There is also a museum with individual stories. We went and signed up for our tour, had a quick late lunch and then went back to the museum. We were able to look through the museum quickly and then our tour started. Our tour guide was a retired fireman, who worked for the utility company at the time of the attack (he had been retired from the fire department for a few years by this time). He took us on a walking tour of the memorial sights and plaques, then over to the pools. He told us the history of the towers and why they were built, through the 1993 attack in the basement of the North Tower, and then through 9/11. He was working just North of the Trade Centre when the first tower was hit. He heard the explosion and could see the flames billowing out of the building. He then saw the second plane hit and rushed out to his car. He went over to the nearest fire station to see what he could do. This was the first time in the history of the New York Fire Department that they had a Total Recall. This means, that unless you were too sick to move you had to report for duty, even if you were on vacation. Due to all the firefighters signing in for duty and everyone being out of the station except for the firefighter that was running Command Central, he needed help taking account of who was coming in and their badge numbers. Our tour guide did that for a bit, but then the towers fell. He felt like he needed to get on the ground and help out where he could. Due to the fact that he worked for the utility company he could get near the site. He described what he saw and where he tried to help out. The heat was amazing coming off of the sight, due to stuff being buried and burning beneath the rubble. For months things smouldered beneath the rubble. There were many horrible sights to see, but the worst for him was hearing the fireman's alarms going off and not being able to get to them and help out. When a fireman dons his breathing apparatus, there is a motion detector attached to it. As soon as the fireman stops moving, the alarm sounds. They could hear these alarms going off beneath the rubble, but couldn't get to them.

There was another volunteer tour guide and she worked for Zurich. Zurich lost 4 employees from her office on 9/11 and she gave a little biography of each person. She talked about her experience that day and the evacuation process for her.

To wrap up the main tour guide talked about how they forged forward and built the sight back up to what it is today. The design of the One World Tower plays tribute to the 2 tours that fell. It is square at the bottom, as it moves up it goes into a triangular shape and then farther up it is octagonal, representing the 8 sides of the tower's that fell. At the top it is square again. The first 19 stories (?) are all for defence and are secured. The tenants do not start until the 20th story. There were lots of details.

​We thanked our tour guide. He gave our kids a little chat before we left, he was wonderful. Had lived in New York his whole life and saw many changes and great devastation. We really enjoyed the tour and hopefully the kids learned a lot.

We walked to Battery Park area afterwards. There is a harbour walk and then Battery Park at the end. We walked along the Harbour walk for a bit to check it out and see the Statue of Liberty. We are probably going to take a cruise out to her later in our week, but it was a little peek at the famous harbour. Blake then wanted to check out Wall Street since we were so close. It took us awhile to find it. Blake was looking at the map the bus company provides, but it isn't to scale or completely accurate. We finally found it after I had mapped it out, but we took the long way around. We then tried to find the Bull, which we had walked right by, but on the wrong side of the road. We couldn't see it though, due to all the busses and the traffic. We thought it would be right beside the New York Stock Exchange, but it was not. We walked around and around and didn't have any luck.

We then decided to try and get on another bus to finish our tour or do another tour, or just to get back to Penn Station. A bus was going by and the guy let us on in the middle of the street, he was stopped in traffic anyhow. Well, we did not move very fast and it took an hour and 1/2 to go 2 KM's. We ended up getting off the bus near Rockafeller Plaza and walking the rest of the way. We just made our train, which was good because the next train wasn't until 2 hours later. As it was we didn't make it back until after 10 and we caught the 8 PM train. We met a girl on the train that has just started her first job as a Production Assistant with Fox News. She commutes everyday from Otisville (the train stop we are using). She gets up at 5 AM and then catches the 8 PM train home (the one that gets into Otisville at 10 PM). That is a crazy commute.

Kizmet had a good day. All of the employees wanted to walk her, so she made lots of friends. They have offered to watch her for all of the days we are in New York, so that is very handy. She was excited to see us, but we were not very lively. We did all give her a cuddle and a walk and then we all went to bed.

Sonya