Part 11 Carnegie Hall NYC last day 9/11 Ground Zero Memorial and Museum

The subway was right near our hotel, so after packing and storing our luggage, we rode it down to City Hall. Today as I am writing this journal during COVID19 quarantine, I wonder who is riding the subway. But on Tues Feb 18 it was jam-packed! And weird because almost everyone was wearing noise-canceling earbuds and looking at their screens, so no one looked at or talked to each other (except us).

When we got out at City Hall, we walked toward a very old church with an adjacent cemetery and then saw this weird-looking building that turned out to be "The Oculus." We went so far indoors that we had to come back up to street level. There's The Oculus in the background...

Here are Lora and Karyn standing on the plaza near the entrance to the 9/11 Museum. The Memorial was to their right -- holes in the ground where the twin towers used to be with waterfalls flowing into them and the names of victims who perished carved around the perimeter. Very sobering!

And then to our left, the new World Trade Center towering 1,776 ft. taller than the buildings that were knocked down, with an Observation Deck on top where you could see the rivers, Statue of Liberty, etc. just like the one I used to love to go to at Windows on the World before September 11.

It is hard to do justice to this place in words. Since our time was limited, friends had told us not to linger very long at anything until we got to the revolving doors of the "historical exhibit" that walked you through re-experiencing that day from beginning to end. But even though we didn't stay long, a couple of things made a lasting impression on me.

One was where the remains are interred behind a beautiful wall of blue watercolor paintings, all in different hues. Each one was painted by someone as a memory of the color of the sky that day. I've always wondered whether each of us sees "blue" the same way. It was beautiful to see all the different blue papers covering that wall that were each unique but still all "blue."

I had forgotten what a marvel the construction of the Twin Towers was at the time they were built. Conceived when we went to the Moon in the late sixties, seeing everything about their original construction gave new perspective to the twisted wreckage displayed. The years of thought, creativity and effort that went into building something that was knocked down in a few hours.

The memorial to those who perished was unforgettable. Photos of each person. A running loop of audio from friends and relatives describing each individual. Mementos of who they were as people: one guy's ski goggles, a woman's knitting.

It hasn't been 20 years yet and I realized how much I've forgotten and how complacent I've become when walking through the historical exhibit. It was interesting experiencing the event from others' viewpoints: from people on the planes to those in the 2nd tower before it was hit to the first responders. I couldn't listen to the voice mail and answering machine messages that had been left for loved ones who didn't live to hear them. And Karyn was stunned by a video wall of dust and debris rushing down the street towards her that I must have missed.

There was much more to see and experience than we had time for in three hours. But I don't think I could have taken more than that in the same day. I would go back if I have the opportunity. It was striking how many people were there that day who wouldn't have been alive when it happened. For me, it would give someone a good sense of what that day was like if you had been.

And then we got back to our hotel to catch the bus and our bellman shared that 2 firemen in NYC passed away while we were there of complications from having responded to the attack that day.

The trip to New York to perform at Carnegie Hall for the Director of the Tabernacle Choir in a patriotic concert on Presidents' Day evening was everything I hoped and dreamed it would be, and more. Especially as today I sit at home, self-quarantined, hoping to minimize the effects of the COVID19 virus on our community, state and country.

We were very lucky and blessed to have had this experience.