Today, Tuesday September 13 was monumental for the High Street Travelers in NYC. More in a minute...
The destination of our touring was downtown - Wall Street and the Financial district, Battery Park, St. Paul's Church, Trinity Church, Winter Park and Federal Hall. All were impressive and a part of New York that visitors should not miss. Lunch had us back in Mid-town for the opportunity to make the Observatory Experience at the Empire State Building. Located on the 86th floor, the deck affords visitors a 360 degree view of Manhattan Island, the 4 surrounding boroughs and Lady Liberty.
Our evening meal was the theatre district's own Sardis Restaurant, known for their caricature portraits of famous customers and THEN we were off to the Broadway MEGA hit The Lion King!
BUT, the absolute highlight of our day was being the FIRST outside tour group to visit the 9/11 Memorial at Ground Zero. Flowers remained from the families who were just visitors 48 hours ago at the 10th anniversary ceremonies.
The National September 11 Memorial honors the 2,983 men, women, and children who perished in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 AND February 26, 1993. The Memorial consists of two pools set in the footprints of the Twin Towers, surrounded by a plaza of more than 400 trees. The names of the victims are inscribed in bronze around the pools. All but one of the Memorial trees are swamp white oaks. The one that is not is a Callery pear tree, known as the Survivor Tree because it once stood on the original WTC plaza. After 9/11, it was nursed back to health and now thrives again at the site.
A very somber experience, yet left us feeling extremely proud of our American resilience.
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