The Angry American??

I use Toby Keith's song title because this blog takes me back to Ground Zero and the events on the 11th of September 2001, the song was written quite quickly to remember those events. Though as it turned out, instead of an angry America, we find one which has achieved poise and inspiration in its memorial of those events.

We left Bloom's after breakfast and walked the 10 yards to the M103 bus stop where we waited a few minutes for the bus to take us downtown to Park Row.

We got off the bus and walked past the New York County Court House, the US District Court for New York and the New York Supreme Court these impressive building will be familiar to viewers of Law and Order and other police procedurals set in New York as well as plenty of films too.

From there it is a short walk across Foley Square to the New York Municipal Buildings and to City Hall and City Hall Park all of these in their own way are well worth a walk past, and we have plenty of photos of them on Flickr starting here.

Part of the reason for visiting this part of town, apart from the fun of a 20 minutes New York bus ride, was for Drew to get to see a building whose shape so astounded him 4 years ago that he needed to check it was still there. The building is called New York by Gehry and it is indeed a very strange shape as I hope you can see.

From here we walked west towards our main target of this morning. The memorial to 911. The World Trade Centre has always been a very emotive place for me. You will see them playing a huge part in the background to the photo of my sister and I in 1997 - yes we once looked that young!!

In 1999 when I spent a week here I went to the South tip of Manhattan and began to work North, I stopped for a coffee in 1, World Trade Centre and then saw that it was possible to go to an Observatory at the top of one of the two towers. I did go up and that view of New York and the story of the City which was depicted there I found very moving. 

So when on the 11th of September 2001 the twin towers were attacked and came down I felt it as a personal thing, having been in one of them less than two years earlier. I can remember now that feeling that it could have been me. So in 2002 when we again came to New York I went to see the devastation, this area of town was still full of dust and debris at that time. Indeed St. Paul's Chapel, though still full of dust itself, had the first signs of an exhibition which reflected on the events of a year earlier. 

One World Trade Centre - 2011

Back in New York in 2004 and 2011 we saw the ways the City was coming to terms with the events of 2001. By 2011 the signs of new beginnings were evident with the temporary museum of 911 and the memorial pools taking shape. One World Trade Centre was, as this picture from the time shows, starting to take shape. 

Southern Memorial Pool 

Northern Memorial Pool

Now in 2015 the building and the memorial pools are complete, so we took our time to walk around. The two memorial pools are the exact footprint of the two towers - a time to remember and a time to pray for all those who died. No words can capture the emotions I feel as I see, in my minds eye, the buildings that once stood where these pools now are.

One World Trade Centre - 2015

The One World Trade Centre is now complete and looking very impressive. The memorial pools act to show that the world will remember these events for a long time, the building acts to show that out of disaster can come new life, progress and growth. Drew would say "Don't be maudlin" but I was touched more than I could have imagined.

I think at that point there is no more that can be said about this place - but only to remember and pray.