Day 13 - New York

September 12, 2016

Okay, New York is a bit of a lie, actually our destination today was New Jersey, the other side of the Hudson River. But the Big Apple always sounds better. Learned from BILD, the headline makes it...

For the first time today, we treated ourselves to a real American diner for breakfast. We stopped at Denny's and had a fantastic breakfast. With eggs, scrambled or sunny side up, with sausage, ham, delicious buttermilk pancakes, and so on... simply delicious. We were well prepared for the less than 2-hour drive today.

And early on, we could see the skyline of New York, unmistakable with the new One World Trade Center, which still gives me chills when I remember September 11, 2001. I know exactly what day of the week it was, what I did that day, and how I felt. And for the know-it-alls among you... it was a Tuesday! :-) How many days in your life can you say that about, except maybe the day of a very special event like a wedding or the birth of a child. Today is September 12, 2016, and it's been an incredible 15 years. Still, I'm glad we weren't here yesterday.

Our campground is one of the more expensive ones on our trip, but that has less to do with its size or amenities, and simply and solely with the fact that you have an almost direct view of downtown Manhattan from New Jersey, or if you take two more steps, of the Statue of Liberty. You can cross over by water taxi or PATH train. Since the day was still young, we went over quickly. It was very fast with the water taxi. We treated ourselves to the $6 crossing. We wouldn't have been allowed to drive our RV into Manhattan anyway. The weather is fantastic, perfect for taking photos. The first stop was Brooksfield Place. Right by the water, a great yacht harbor with a department store-like building that only had food. A great introduction to New York. Behind it was Ground Zero. Where the Twin Towers once stood, there are now 2 huge water basins, with water cascading down their inner walls. The names of the victims have been etched into copper plates on the outer edge. The loss must have been terrible for their families, but I can't imagine a better way to provide a dignified memorial. So simple, so beautiful... It was a simultaneously eerie and beautiful feeling. In the meantime, I overheard a firefighter standing in front of a section of the plates, telling his family that he personally knew the Jeffs and Richards mentioned there, and that they were all his colleagues. He told it with a certain pride, but also with the feeling that he must have had if he had to work that day. He wasn't an organized speaker or presenter, he was a regular visitor like we were today, and thousands of other people... A goosebump moment.

Since we were already there, we wanted to see if we could get tickets for the WTC, because we really wanted to go up. The line was surprisingly short and before we knew it, we had spent a lot of money and found ourselves in the elevator. There was a video show on the walls of the lift, similar to the one at Burj Khalifa in Dubai. Then we were at the top. Then a video presentation, showing us pictures of New York in a darkened room. Finally, the screen went up and we had a direct view from the window of the 102nd floor onto Manhattan. A murmur went through the room... Amazing. Just like the 360° view we had two floors down on the Observatory Deck. It's definitely worth it.

Once we were back down, we experienced that days in New York are always a little shorter because the sun simply can't penetrate through the streets due to the deep skyscrapers. We walked along Broadway to Trinity Church, where music and singing were happening and many people risked a little glimpse. Then we walked through the famous Wall Street and missed the bull, or were we just in the wrong place? A bit further, we arrived at Pier 11 and took the water taxi back to Liberty Harbor from there. Our hope was to get a nice photo of the Statue of Liberty, but the boat had such dirty windows that we quickly gave up that hope. The good thing was that we were 'home' super fast. And tomorrow we will visit New York a second time, because there is certainly still a lot to discover.

Good night from home. Your Daniel