We are staying in Manhattan and our hotel is located two blocks from the Empire State Building so we have used that as our reference point. We are only one block from Madison Square Gardens and Penn Station so catching the subway was an easy chore this morning. We took the subway to the other side of the Brooklyn Bridge and walked back to tour lower Manhattan.
We visited the site of the World Trade Center's twin towers and were amazed by the void left behind. The area looks much like any ordinary construction site, but when they are finished construction it will be interesting to see. The buildings in this part of New York are situated so close to each other that from a distance it looks like one mass. It is not too hard to imagine the panic that must have set in on 9/11 because of the location of the towers. There was actually no place for the people on the ground to flee to - water not far away and nothing but tall buildings surrounding them.
We saw nothing but suits and power lunches on Wall Street. Since 9/11, visitors have not been able to tour the Stock Exchange - in fact, nobody can get very close to the building as it is blocked off.
We walked for what seemed like miles and ended up at the Staten Island ferry terminal in time to take the ferry past the Statue of Liberty. If you take a different ferry you can tour the statue and Ellis Island, but the line to obtain these tickets was blocks long.
We ended today's tour with a walk through some historical areas of lower Manhattan and had an early supper on Stone Street, not far from where George Washington bid farewell to his troops. The weather was fabulous so we were able to eat outside and people watch.
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