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June 2, 2012  Day 22                                   Total miles to date:  511.67

Today was totally focused on seeing New York City with Quest and Moor $tuff. We took a 40 minute train ride from Croton to Grand Central Station, and from there took a subway into the Battery Park area.  We walked to the South Street Seaport area and spent the requisite wait time in line at TKTS to get tickets for “The Best Man”, starring James Earl Jones, Candace Bergen, John Larroquette, Eric McCormack, and Angela Lansbury.  Bill and Skip wandered down to the harbor on the East River and looked at boats while the rest of us waited in line! 

One WTC under construction

One of the two pools with victims names inscribed in bronze on wall

From there we stopped for a quick lunch and then walked back to the World Trade Center. We had passes to view the 9/11 memorial at 2pm.  The memorial consists of two pools with waterfalls that are set in the original footprint of the Twin Towers.  The names of the victims are inscribed in bronze on the low walls around the pools. Construction continues on 1 World Trade Center which will be the tallest building in the US at 1776 feet. 4 World Trade Center and a museum that will preserve the history of the events are also under construction.  In the heart of the area by two pools is the Survivor Tree, a Callery pear, which was planted in the 1970’s on the original WTC site. After 9/11, workers found it in the wreckage having been reduced to an 8’ stump. It has been nursed back to health and stands 30 feet tall. It was returned to the site in December 2010 and remains a symbol of resilience. The beauty and magnificence of this memorial is hard to describe as it captures the incredible loss and survival of 9/11/2001. It will ensure that we will remember.

The ABC Network building

Times Square

We then took another subway into Times Square which on a Saturday was buzzing with tourists.  Restaurants, theaters, television stations, and shops, all seem to compete for the largest neon display of advertising.  It is an exciting, noisy, busy environment but we managed to find our way around and blend in with the thousands of other tourists.  We had 8pm theater tickets for “The Best Man” a political drama which we enjoyed!  After the play we literally made a dash through the crowds that massed the sidewalks to catch the subway back to Grand Central and from there a train to Croton. We arrived just before midnight and hailed two taxis to take the exhausted six of us back to our marina.