The morning started with Peter taking Ben for a bike ride in the Park to see all things in the north. Apparently it was good. We then jumped a cab and took the FDR Freeway to the Tenement Museum for our tour about ‘Irish Immigrants’. After that we dropped in for a ‘snack’ at Katz's Deli which was by this time of the day (1pm) absolutely jam packed! The warm pastrami on rye sandwich was just as sensational as usual and so huge that Ben and I managed to wise up and share one (but with a pickle each!)
Today the wind had settled sufficiently to allow the spire to be placed atop One World Trade Centre. This most spectacular of memorials now stands 1776 feet high and (because NY State law has been changed to ensure that this will be the case) will forever be the tallest building in NYC. We were fortunate enough to have chosen to book tickets to see the 9/11 Memorial today (of all days) and Peter and I looked forward to seeing the progress that had taken place since we had been in January.
Ben on the other hand went with a different emotion running through his mind. Unbeknown to us, the last time Ben had visited ‘Ground Zero’, prior to today, was just week after 9/11/01. Ben arrived at JFK and tried to take the subway to his hostel in Harlem. After becoming (very) disorientated in the subway he emerged at Vesey Street and came across the still burning mass of twisted metal. We allowed him his time alone staring into the voids that sit at the centre of the most sombre of places. The 'Survivor Tree' is doing fine.
Next was the crossing of the Brooklyn Bridge! I always enjoy this walk as it is a great thrill to see the NY skyline from the east and I have grown to enjoy watching jaded New York cyclists frighten the living daylights out of the tourists who insist on moving into the bicycle lane with one eye in their camera or better still two arms out stretched with their iPhone precariously perched and ready for the plucking. There’s nothing quite like the look on their faces as they stand dumbstruck when the call “bike” rings out two metres from the impact zone and the cyclist is doing a good speed! Have I lived here too long? Am I enjoying the blood sports of Rome too much??
In order to quell this distinctly ‘undesirable’ desire, I focussed on my other favourite thing to do on the Brooklyn Bridge – photo bombing! Now I write this quietly as the very mention of word ‘bomb’ (even in print) here in the US tends to ring alarm bells and can result in the arrival of men in black suits to one’s door, but it is way too much fun to resist. Americans have never heard of this most Australian of customs but tend to pick up the nuances quite quickly once the technique is revealed to them. Now if only they’d catch on to ‘choc bombs’ at the movies we’d be set!
After this Ben and Peter went on the see ‘The Book of Mormon’ while I went home to do the house work and make the dinner and put the kids to bed….only joking! I went home to watch the new series of ‘The Real Housewives of New Jersey’! Still joking - honestly.
The last picture today is a tribute to the construction workers at the 9/11 Memorial site. This guy was really shy initially but when I explained what I wanted to do with the photo he was proud to represent the men and women who are rebuilding this place. Good effort buddy - Keep up the good work!
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