Bagels and memorials

Despite the theory of the airline we still woke up six hours later... perhaps somewhat jet lagged after all!

Anyway we decided it was a good chance to get a head start on the tourist queues. So off we went to the metro station, stopping off for a bagel on the way. When offered a coffee for the first time we had to ask how it worked! A small drip coffee was the order of the day and Jo didn’t manage to finish it, it was rather large for a small! The bagels were also big but so tasty that we wolfed them down anyways.

We got off the metro and found ourselves right outside the New York Stock Exchange not far from the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, our main destination today. It is a beautiful and somber memorial. Two large fountains where the Twin Towers originally stood with all 3000 fatalities inscribed on the outer ledges. Inside, the museum shares the history of the World Trade Centre including why and how it was built - a symbol of world

economics and peace. It was a fantastic structure and showed some incredible engineering. Following were some parts of the original structures that remain and also touching artistic memorials that have been made to honor those who passed as a result of these atrocities.

The last part we spent time in followed a timeline of the day with excerpts of voice, clothing, shop frontage, rescue vehicles and numerous shots from TV footage and photographs. It is absolutely heart wrenching to see how events played out across the country in real time and the dedicated response from rescue services despite the difficulties that they must have had in coordinating so many different crews. Needless to say the tissues provided were much appreciated as the terror and sadness of the events was quite overwhelming.

Another interesting part of this museum is an exhibition that focuses on world events from the 1970's that lead firstly to the 1993 bombing at the World Trade Centre and secondly the events of 9/11. It is so difficult to understand how people can feel so passionately about destroying others and their livelihoods but at least to have some insight into how war and world politics can somewhat inflame feelings of anger and frustration was interesting.

In North America there is debate over whether the memorial and

museum is too soon or too commercial considering the large and widespread impact 9/11 had. From our perspective it still felt very raw 17 years later but I do think that they have done a beautiful job of the memorial and the museum. Hopefully it serves as a reminder to people to show tolerance and patience with others and to always be prepared in terms of coordinated responses and evacuation plans.
Needless to say that some quiet reflection and a warm coffee were required after four hours here.

A quick chilli dog for Michael and then we headed up to Little Italy and China Town for a wander. These bright neighbourhoods are a fantastic show of some of the diverse cultures thriving in New York City. We wandered through a delightful street festival and sampled some large arancini balls for lunch before ordering a coffee in Maori to celebrate Maori Language Week New York Style in a kiwi coffee

shop.

Quick trip back to Brooklyn to do washing, what an experience! Never seen a laundromat so big! Families here with their children for laundry day, others watching the news. And then a power nap!

Plans for the evening were heading up the Empire State Building to get a view of the city at night and meeting some Deloitters in the city. We really went all out here and got kitted up for the evening.

Again we were lucky to avoid any queues and enjoyed a fabulous view from the top of the Empire State Building which in itself as a building is pretty darn impressive. It was built in a year! Inside the building there is a display of how it was built and outside it was fun identifying different spots in the city such as Times Square, Madison Square Garden (in fact not a square from the outside at all!), Grand

Central Station, the Chrysler building and Lady Liberty way in the distance. It’s a great view at night!

From there it was down to Al's place for a catch up. Al worked at Deloitte with Crom and now works for Deloitte in New York. Al's place is typical of a big city, small but functional. The toilet is in a cupboard off the lounge and the shower was in the kitchen. Great timing to be here as Craig, who is also from Deloitte in Dunedin is here. A good night in NYC, but a late night once we made it home after navigating the subway. A great, but long first day.