We had a couple of things planned today with Robert and he\nmet us at 9.00am for the start of as big day. Our first stop was City Hall,\nwhere we were meeting a tour guide for some insights into the NYC subways. The tour started right in front of City Hall\nand we were taken back over 120 years with a mixture of stories, photographs\nand real old hints at how the subway started, where it started and what went in\nto making it the system it is today. Standing\nin Front of City Hall we were shown remnants of the disused City Hall Station. Disused today as its design could not\naccommodate a mass transit system. The\ntrack had too much of a bend in it and the station was too short.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We then walked to the modern City Hall Station and learned\nabout a Guerrilla subway network, that ran using pneumatics, proving to be\nunsuccessful and short lived. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We then walked past City Hall to the David N. Dinkins\nManhattan Municipal Building on Centre Street. \nThe building was originally designed to be host to the newly designed\nmass transit system, with its massive archway entry in the Beaux-Arts style. We\nthen descended underground to the little used Brooklyn Bridget-City Hall\nStation. A station designed to take the\nsubway over the Brooklyn Bridget, but again design flaws of the day stopped\nthis from happening. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Justin our guide was both passionate and knowledgeable about\nhe subway system, we learned during our tour that he had written many academic\npapers on the transit system in NTYC, with a major focus on the Penn Station\narea. He pointed out interesting facts,\nsuch as artworks installed over 100 years ago, that stand in disuse today but\nare a marker to history and the plans from over 100 years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We then catch the subway and get out at a number of stations,\nSpring St, Union Square, Church St. At reach station Justin shows of intricate\nand interesting detail, details that goes unnoticed and passed by 100,000\npeople every day, For example, why\nSporing St has a large letter \u201cS\u201d emblems along the length of the station. People of the day were poorly educated, so\nsingle letters to identify stations helped the uneducated get around. We saw where stations were extended and the\nsubtle difference in architecture and design. \nDisused staircases and doors, that today go nowhere, but some time ago\nwere thoroughfares. We then travelled\n100 years forward and finished the tour at Fulton Street. This modern station,\ndesigned and built following the 9\/11 attacks, is grand in its modern\ndesign. Stainless steel everywhere, a\nmassive and intricate light well is the centrepiece. The size of the station,\nbrining 11 subway lines together was deliberate. Following the 9\/11 attacked, this part of\nManhattan was devastated in every sense of the word. So one way to reinvigorate and attract people\nand businesses back to the area was to provide a transport hub. Fulton St certainly does that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking of 9\/11, that was our next stop, the WTC Centre\narea and museum. We take the short walk from Fulton Street station into the\nworld trade centre precinct. We walk down Fulton Street towards Trinity Church.\nI have experience this new and number of times and it never ceases to take my\nbreath away. The diminutive and ancient Trinity Church is dwarfed as the world\ntrade centre looms large behind it as Fulton Street ends.we enter the plaza,\nbounded by trees and the sound of the memorial fountains grows as draw Near. Robert\nis visibly moved, this was one of the places he was most interested In\nvisiting. He stands at the south fountain and stares into the centre. The Dark\ncentre seems to go on forever. We circumnavigate the fountain and talk about\nthat day 18 years ago. After letting the enormity of the moment settle in, we\nwander the plaza for a few minutes. Robert is then keen to see the financial\ndistrict, but first lunch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We find a local caf\u00e9 and have a quick lunch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The three of us then wander up to broadway and walk the\nshort distance to the Charging Bull. Robert takes some photos before we walk\ndeeper into the financial district, up Exchange St, into Broad St and then Wall\nSt. We stop at the Stock Exchange and Federal Hall. We meet Fearless Girl and George\nWashington before heading back to the 9\/11 museum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s been five years since we\u2019ve visited the museum and it\u2019s\nas moving, distressing and confronting as it was five years ago. It\u2019s also much\nexpanded now, almost overwhelming. We move through the exhibits slowly, from\nthe memory hall, to the major exhibits of fire engines and other artefacts from\nthe day. We then move into the main hall, which takes you on a minute by minute\njourney of the day. I listen to an audio described recording of the exhibits,\nspoken by Robert de Niro, as Mardi and Robert move around taking in the exhibits.\nThe materiel is voluminous and overwhelming. Personal items, voice mail\nrecordings and images from that day. A voicemail from a flight attendant on\nboard flight 93 brings me to tears. After about three hours we conclude our\nvisit. The three of us are both physically and emotionally exhausted. Despite\n9\/11 happening 18 years ago, the event is still a recent memory for us, as it\nmust be for so many others. We emerge almost speechless and walk aimlessly for\na few minutes. We then explore the local area, looking for a coffee\/hot\nchocolate snd snack. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We sit for a while, before heading up to 51st<\/sup> street, where Robert is staying, and find a local diner for dinner. After dinner, we head home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n