Today we decided to go to the 911 Memorial and museum. We have now seen it in all 3phases. We saw the horrible sight of the empty hole that became known as “Ground Zero”. Last year we saw the Memorial and this year we were able to see the museum. The museum houses some incredible artifacts of the tragedy such as large sections of support girders that were mangled as if they were just a child’s broken toy. Fire trucks and equipment destroyed by the aftermath of the collapse of the structures (see attached). There were numerous samples of items recovered from the wreckage serving as evidence of the many lives lost in this national catastrophe.
We also viewed videos that I thought were very poorly done (i.e. interviews with George W. Bush, Rudy Giuliani, and Condoleezza Rice) but others that were much better. There was one exhibit that brought me to tears (I know, I know, you are saying a Bugs Bunny cartoon can bring me to tears). This short (5 or 6 minute) show described the voyage of United Airlines Flight #93. That was the plane that took off from Newark and when the passengers learned of what happened at the World Trade Center Towers they stormed the cockpit forcing the terrorists to crash land in Pennsylvania preventing further destruction. There were phone calls played and described from the passengers and flight crew that were heart wrenching. One in particular really got to me, it was from a flight attendant leaving a message for her husband, children and family. Prior to viewing the presentation there was a disclaimer saying that some of the more disturbing calls were not included. If these were the mild ones I am glad they left out the others.
After leaving the Memorial and Museum we headed back uptown and found a few things that you just don’t see in LA. We found some road and caution signs and an incredible dessert (see attached photos). After that dessert I need to go to the gym tomorrow or buy new pants.
I hope all is well back home. We are dry but very cold in NYC. We have practiced our Spanish with people from Mexico, Ecuador and Argentina the past 2 days. To each of them we said that the highlight of our trip is coming soon when we see our girls in España.
Until tomorrow.
Robert
Robert Reiss Travel Blog and Other Ramblings 