New York-Day 2

Day 2 was packed with lots of sights to see. We started off at the 9/11 Museam and had a tour. It was very sobering to walk through the museum and see actual artifacts from the Twin Towers. Although there was a sadness to what we saw, there was also a sense of hope seeing how the city has recovered since the 9/11 attacks. After that, we had lunch, and then went up to the observatory deck on the One World Trade Center. Those were some pretty cool sights.

After that, we took a ferry to mid-town Manhattan and visited Times Square, Rockefeller Center, and Central Park. We ended our day eating dinner and taking a cab back to our hotel. We saw tons, and we were sore from all the walking, but it was worth it! I will also add that there was 100% chance of rain for this day. We were really hoping that it wouldn't rain, since we were only there for 2 1/2 days, so I prayed that there would be no rain. I am happy to report that it didn't rain AT ALL! The skies were gloomy and grey, but I will take that over rain any day! Thank you, God!

Starting off at the museum. It was interesting to see some of the original beams and artifacts.

This was really interesting. This Last Column was the final steal beam of the World Trade Center left standing, and it was also the last artifact to be removed from ground zero. During the 9 month recovery effort, this beam became a kind of grave marker, covered with messages, pictures, and mementos placed there by rescue workers and others of people who were lost due to the 9/11 attacks. This steal beam was ceremoniously removed from Ground Zero, marking the formal end to the recovery effort. It is 3 1/2 stories high and is 58 tons. This column was so massive, they actually built the museum around it. I got some more pictures of this later in the museum tour.   

This is one of the original "slurry walls", a surviving retaining wall of the World Trade Center that withstood the devastation of 9/11.

This is a piece of impact steel from the North Tower. It has been determined that this is where the nose of the plane entered the building.

These are called the Survivors' Stairs. During the attacks of 9/11, this stairway served as a vital route to safety for many people. 

This is what's left of the antenna that was on the North Tower.

This was the Ladder 3 fire truck that came to the rescue of the victims during the 9/11 attacks. Ladder Company 3 received some of the heaviest casualties of any fire company in the FDNY, losing most of it's men in the rescue attempt on 9/11. Captain Patrick and his men were last known to be on the 40th floor of the North Tower.

Another view of the impact steel where one of the planes hit.

This is the only piece of  impact steel that you are able to touch in the museum. Look at how much it is bent.

Another view of the slurry wall.

More view of the Last Column

This shirt was worn by the Navy SEAL solidier who shot Osama bin Laden. 

This was really neat. This 30-foot wide American flag hung on a building across from the World Trade Center site. About a month after 9/11, the construction superintendent noticed the tattered flag and had it taken down to prevent further damage. Years later, citizens from Kansas began to be repair and restore the damaged flag by patching it with pieces of other damaged flags from their community. This started a national renovation project to repair the flag.  The flag has traveled to all 50 states. In each state, threads or patches of decommissioned American flags were stitched into this flag to make it whole again. So cool!  

I'll post the rest of our pictures from day 2 in the next post...to be continued!