As
predicted, the day was cloudy and by 11:00 am a light drizzle began to
fall. Our plan was to take the Staten
Island train to the ferry dock and the ferry to Manhattan. The Staten Island Ferry is free and takes you
past the Statue of Liberty. It dropped
us off at the Seaport and we walked from there to the Financial District and
the new 9/11 Museum on the former site of the World Trade Center Twin
Towers. It was raining a little harder
now and we were walking into a fairly strong wind (Arthur was about 175 miles
north east of NYC). I found it hard to
complain though, since this is the first rain we have had to deal with during
the day on this entire leg.
We
bought tickets to the museum and had about an hour and a half to wait before we
would be able to enter. The rain dissipated
a little and we walked a couple blocks west to the Hudson River. We sat down in a new shopping and
entertainment complex (under construction) lobby area for a while before it was
time to get back to the museum. If you
get to New York, you should definitely spend some time in this museum. The building is built on the footprint of one
of the towers and the exhibits are located at its foundation. You can see elements of the original
construction and steel beams that were bent from the intense heat.
The
exhibits walk you through the timeline of the day itself, plus the 1993 bombing
in the World Trade Center garage, the clean-up, new construction, terrorism and
more. There are artifacts, pictures,
audio and video recordings. We spent 3 hours inside and could easily have spent
another 3.
By
the time we left the museum around 6:00 pm, the rain had stopped and the sky
was clearing. We started walking east
and found a bar/restaurant to eat in, Mudville 9, on Chambers Avenue. They served chicken wings, burgers, salads
and sandwiches. No seafood today. From there we walked towards the Brooklyn
Bridge on the East River, where the July 4th fireworks were going to be. I was a little disappointed that they were
not going to be in the harbor, as they had for the past 5 years.
It
was getting very crowded on the streets and we weren’t sure where the best spot
was to see the show. We went further
south than the bridge and found a “Pier Party” on a street blocked off. There was a large screen on one end, music
and drinks. We walked another block
south to John Street and saw the Macy’s fireworks set-up on the shore. It looked like some kind of credentials were
required to get in, so we stayed across the street. FDR drive was above and in front of us and
that looked like the perfect place to be, but we had no idea how to get up
there because the NY Police had barricaded many of the streets and sidewalks in
the area.
The
fireworks began and one set was directly in front of us, so that was
great. Another set to the right was partially
blocked by a building. There were some
closer to the Brooklyn Bridge and we had a somewhat obstructed view of
those. When the show was over we walked
back to where the party was, but it was over.
We went inside the Ambrose House to have a drink and wait for the crowds
to die down. Hardly anyone was over 30
there!
Our
harbor host had given us a schedule for an Express Bus home, but we waited 20
minutes or more and no bus came. By now
it was 11:30 pm and we decided to get to the ferry port for the midnight ferry
rather than wait any longer for the bus.
When we got off the train, we could not find the cab stand, so ended up
walking a mile back to the boat. It was
1:30 am before we stepped back on deck.
Although we were bone tired, our very memorable day in NYC was well
worth it.
No comments:
Post a Comment