Just another day in New York....lol

On Tuesday morning we walked down to West 25^th street to the shop called ‘City Quilter’. A lady at ‘Sisters of Stitch’ told me about the shop and said it was worth a visit. It didn’t open until 11 am so we filled in some time at a cafe across the road. When I finally got into the shop I found it was quite a treasure trove of fabrics and patterns. They also had 2 large work rooms for classes. I was very restrained and just bought some New York fabric and a pattern...that’s all! It only took me 15 minutes but by that time the weather had turned from overcast to pouring with rain. Luckily we had an umbrella and a poncho! However the weather had turned bitterly cold as well; perfect weather for watching TV and reading eh??? But we couldn’t do that as we only had one more day after Tuesday before we were moving on.

The fat quarters and the pattern I bought

So we caught the subway to the Ground Zero site. It is now a giant building site but people go into the nearby World Financial Centre and view the site from there and this is what DH and I did. We also decided to have some lunch in the WFC building. Well we bought the baguette in the centre but we sat outside in a lovely area overlooking the Hudson River. Other than smokers, we were the only people to sit outside! I put my scarf on the metal chair so I got a bit of warmth...it was mega cold!!

One of the new buildings on the WTC site (ground zero)

The building site viewed from the WFC

Looking towards the Hudson River from the outside of the WFC

After lunch we walked up the side of the Ground Zero site and crossed another road and eventually found the side street where the Tribute to the WTC (World Trade Centre) Visitors’ Information Centre was. Oh my goodness! What an emotional experience it was! Through wall displays, videos, peoples’ stories, artefacts etc, the story of that day plus the aftermath is retold. We were able to relive the horrors for the firemen and I had not realised how many of them lost their lives. The descriptions of rescuers and survivors of that day were so confronting. There are boxes of tissues placed in a number of places within the centre and boy did I need to use them!! Some people have never been found; it is suggested that they are dust...how awful!







On the other side of the WTC site, is this sculptured frieze honouring the fallen firemen

3 walls of this part of the tribute centre are covered with photos of those who died on 9/11

A steel beam which was recovered from the site

 These boards tell individuals' stories of survival

Boxes of tissues are placed around the centre

Some 5th grade children made the squares for this quilt

A Memorial Board of those killed 9/11

Later we caught a train to Battery Point so we could take our trip to Liberty Island. If possible I think the weather was even colder by now...and of course the wind’s chill factor down on the waterfront was very high and the constant drizzling rain didn’t help either! At the wharf, there is a giant marquee and that is a security point. We had to remove jackets, hats, shoes,  jewellery etc and have everything scanned. So we had to basically ‘undress’ and then get dressed again before we could board the vessel!

Our tickets were just for the boat ride and to walk around the base of the statue and that was still a wonderful experience. As DH said..’ well that’s another US icon we can tick off’! The statue is huge of course and she is so beautiful. The view of the city from Liberty Island is pretty special too! Unfortunately because it was quite late in the day we were unable to use the Ellis Island part of our ticket.

Looking from Liberty Island towards New York

Looking towards Ellis island from Liberty Island

The day that the weather turned impossibly cold happened to coincide with the day that I had to wear my scuffs as every now and then my feet get too sore from wearing my closed in shoes. ( I can wear them for days at a time with no discomfort and then one day...the feet start to hurt!)