holly wynn: Adventures in NYC, part 3

Wednesday

“If you’d been there…and we were…”

Because we have great hair, Bonnie & I got the day off (from this super hard job of free makeovers & all expense paid trips) to see the sights! We slept in & even though the day started cold & rainy, we decided to head downtown to try to see the 9/11 Memorial. I’d looked online a few days before we left for our trip to try to get passes but the website said they were “sold out” (it’s free, but you do have to reserve a pass) till late October. With all the super tall buildings in NY, you can be right near something sometimes & not even know it. We walked downtown & suddenly the One World Trade Center (aka The Freedom Tower) was a block in front of us. As we got closer we could see all the construction surrounding the building of the north memorial reflecting pool as well as the new trade center buildings. Lots of construction! You really can’t see what’s going on behind the fences (where the south reflecting pool & the construction of the north pool is). All you can see are the mirror-covered buildings. One map we were looking at called it a reflection of absence. As we were walking around the construction site we decided to “pull over” and try to find the museum or visitor center on our map. Well we literally pulled over into the doorway of the 9/11 Tribute Center. As we were standing in the door, a woman inside opened it and asked if we were there to buy tickets. I honestly don’t remember much of the conversation because it all happened so fast! It was a little before noon—the woman asked if we wanted to buy tickets to come in & see the museum or if we wanted the ticket that included the walking tour led by a survivor or family member. And did we want a pass to go into the memorial—it’s free—included with the walking tour. “Yes to all of those,” we said!

We walked thru the museum that had a timeline beginning with the 1993 attack on the WTC. It had some items from Ground Zero as well as a room with pictures of every person who was murdered in the attack. Did you know their death certificates list “cause of death” as homicide? I learned that today. After the museum, we went to grab lunch quick before our 1:15 memorial tour. We dined in yet another Irish Pub—it faced where the WTC Towers had stood. Seeing the businesses and streets that fan out from the WTC site makes it easy to imagine what & where people ran thru as the towers collapsed & the cloud of dust enveloped the area. The whole memorial “tour” is best described (I think) as arriving at a party early, before the host is ready for guests. It’s so new there’s very poor signage as to where to go or what to do. We finally found the entrance, walked right in, waited in line for a few minutes at the security checkpoint before being redirected to walk right in. We literally were walking in coned & fenced off areas thru this construction site. The memorial itself was pretty cool—all the names & seeing where the people worked was very moving. The center of the pool is so deep you cannot see it’s bottom. And it was very not crowded! They must be limiting the number of people they let in at a time in order to maintain the ambiance of the area.

After about a half hour, we walked over to where we were to line up for the walking tour. A teeny little older woman, probably in her late 60s, early 70s (family—think Grandma Betsy as a New Yorker) greeted us & checked our names off the list. She (along with another tour guide—a gentleman in his mid-60s probably—who brought up the rear of the tour) led a group of 18 of us around the construction site and up into some of the surrounding buildings. I didn’t know that the WTC was actually a group of like 7 buildings that were connected by walkways over the streets. Our guide, Chris, was a hoot--she was a fast walker, would bounce when she talked & would make snide remarks at the other tours we saw. She'd say, "he's making money off this--they'll escort him out of the building soon." She'd also holler at people on the streets, "Could you guys like move so like we could get through!" You wanted to stay on her good side! She liked Bonnie & I & told us she'd never seen real men before seeing some Texas Rangers with their hats & pants that weren't sagging to the ground. She would stop on different corners or windows overlooking the site & tell us what happened on the morning of 9/11 & show us pictures of what the place we were standing looked like after the attack.

At the end of the tour, our guides shared their own stories with us. Frank (the male guide) shared with us about how he worked in one of the buildings surrounding the site and what it was like on the morning of 9/11 knowing something had happened but not know what. His sister also worked in a surrounding building, but happened to be in the south tower that morning. After the attacks, all the family members went gave DNA samples hoping to be able to help identify the remains of someone in their family who’d been killed. He also talked about the process of how hundreds of missing persons reports were done after 9/11 were done. He said he would go down to the site everyday until one day his sister’s picture was up on the wall—they’d been able to identify some of her remains. He said he & his family were among the lucky ones—that 39% of families who had a loved one there weren’t able to have proof that their family member had died. There were 11 people in his sister’s office building who had happened to be in the towers on 9/11 and we were able to see the memorial that building (American Express) set up with his sister’s name on it.

Chris (the feisty, teeny little woman) told us her story—she had retired from the NYPD in July 2001 and went back to school to get another master’s degree in psychotherapy—basically a mental health responder after a disaster and then began volunteering with the Red Cross. She told us that she wasn’t able to get to the WTC until September 12^th and spent the next several weeks standing next to first responders and rescue workers making sure they didn’t freak out. She told us about her PTSD and health conditions she suffers from because she didn’t get a mask to wear over her mouth & nose until the second week she was there. She also told us how she still deals with anger, not only at the “bad guys” as she kept calling them, but also when people who weren’t there or directly impacted (like all the Tribute Tour Guides are) make decisions about things that affect them—from their health care to which surrounding buildings were allowed to rebuild and which building’s land was morphed into the memorial instead of being allowed to rebuild. She kept saying, “If you’d been there on 9/11...and we were…” She didn’t seem to be anti-memorial, but just mostly angry at people trying to make money off of or commercialize a place where so much loss occurred. It was hands down the best way to spend 4 hours today! If you’re going to NY, look up the Tribute WTC Center. You won’t regret it!

After the tour was over we walked about a block further south to Battery Park hoping to see the Statue of Liberty. Multiple people had recommended taking the free Staten Island Ferry that goes right by the Statue of Liberty & then back again. We were wiped out from all the walking we’d done, so sitting for a while sounded good! The ferry was totally worth it! Takes you away from downtown so you see the skyline & right past the Statue. Then you get off, get back on & come back & see it all again!

We walked back to the hotel, Bonnie bought some boots on the way and we decided to have dinner in the hotel restaurant. We split fish tacos & then decided it was time for a hot shower & bed! We left about 7:30—just as people were coming in for cocktails before dinner. Don’t these people know that it’s healthier to eat early?!

On the agenda for tomorrow: