Tues - Manhattan

To say that I am like a fish out of water when I am anywhere near a place like NYC is an understatement.  Luckily cousin Carol has been helpful beyond words.  She took me to the LIRR and helped explain which subway trains I would need to get where I wanted to be yesterday, and eventually I did find my way to the Municipal Archives in downtown Manhattan.  The experience was not quite what I had hoped for.  Things were not exactly labeled clearly, and there was nobody at the desk who was available or willing to offer much help.  I managed to find some old films any way, but then it seemed that every other film reader was not working.  And so on.  I won't complain but it seemed like another disappointing waste of time on my part. 

So before making my way back to Penn Station I remembered that the Archives were in the vicinity of where the World Trade Centers had been.  So I walked there, and saw all the construction going on for the Freedom Tower - one of a couple new buildings going up in the area.  Here is a picture:



There is a memorial park nearby where the original buildings were, but I got myself turned around and didn't see it; I wish I had.  Nevertheless I have to admit feeling a sense of disbelief as I was standing on a corner looking up, people bustling all around me.  How could such massive buildings come crashing down?  How terrifying and terrible that day in 2001 must have been and I realize I probably don't even have the capacity to imagine it.  But it felt important to me to be there to pay my respects, and I'm glad I went there.

I made my way back to Long Island with little trouble, and then we adults went out to a late dinner: Carol and her husband Greg, cousin Thomas and his wife Car, and me.  We had a wonderful dinner together and it was fun catching up with everybody.  My Schaefer cousins are really wonderful people.

Today's activities are still in the works as I am changing my mind about going into the city again.  The question is now whether I want to go to Brooklyn.  We'll see.