We ended the day with more Sinatra: “Start spreading the news…”, but I’m getting ahead of myself.
The day began with climbing on the “4” subway train and heading to the 9/11 Memorial. I wasn’t quite dressed for the weather; I arrived at the memorial about 15 minutes before opening time and got drenched in a downpour. In a note of irony (or something), I bought an umbrella in the museum gift shop and saw no more rain all day. I guess I’m prepared for future rain.
The memorial was absolutely splendid. I found myself near tears, and at least at one point thinking I was going to throw up. The mass destruction, misery, and sorrow described were overwhelming. Sadly no photography was allowed of the bulk of the exhibits, so you’ll need to take my word for it.
The palate cleanser was across the street, in the whitest shopping mall I’ve ever seen. I caught some late breakfast there, then took a walk down the hill to Battery Park (Dana and Graham will recognize this. This park used to contain a part of the “ring of fire” meant to protect the mouth of the Hudson River. No emplacements to run around on though).
My plan was to catch a view of the Statue of Liberty there; I did, but discovered the telephoto lens on my phone wasn’t nearly good enough. So, I got the senior price on the boat ride out to the statue and to Ellis island and went for a short cruise. The statue was great, and the views of Manhattan and of the Brooklyn Bridge were nice too. Anyone want to buy a bridge?
I ran out of time and could not spend as long on Ellis Island as I wanted. I was really struck by how much a sacrifice immigrants made as they came to America, with no guarantee that they could stay. I hope we value our citizenship just as much.
Back to the hotel on the #5 subway, just in time to head to Yankee Stadium. We didn’t get there quite in time to get tonight’s bobble head, but saw a really good game; Yankees won (prompting the Sinatra song), but the Royals had the tying run on third base at the end. Close, exciting game.
No game tomorrow, but the bus takes us to Cooperstown and the Baseball Hall of Fame. Really excited about that…more then.
