Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Trip Report Turning 12 in NYC, a 4-day US history tour; Nov 2024

Day 4
Our last day in NYC but our Amtrak doesn't depart until 5pm, so essentially we have a full day for sightseeing. After breakfast, check out, and leaving our luggage at the hotel, we headed downtown to 9/11 Museum. Even though I have been to NYC dozens of times since 2001, this is my first time returning to that part of the city. My brother and I had gone up to Windows on the World back in the early 1990s. I don't know how busy the museum normally gets, but today (Veterans Day Monday) it was really crowded. I had booked tickets online beforehand so we could skip the ticketing line.

As soon as we entered, a staff member informed us that the movie is about to start, so we chose to watch it first. I had (wrongly) assumed it was an overview of 9/11, but turns out it is about the hunt for Osama bin Laden. If I had known, we probably should have saved it for the end of our visit.

I will say that I appreciated the museum design, but the exhibition space specifically for the core exhibition of September 11 was extremely crowded and claustrophobic. Whereas other areas in the museum is vast and airy, this one was packed and it was difficult to read the panels because there were so many visitors. There is really a lot to see and go through in the museum. Despite this happened over 20 years ago, I still feel like I was not ready to relive that day (and the immediate days/weeks/months that followed). My son had read a number of (age-appropriate) books on 9/11 and he also found the info quite overwhelming. We were at the museum for almost 4 hours. I find the memorial pools outside are poignant and a good spot to reflect. As it was Veterans Day, there were yellow roses placed on the names who had served in the military.

Our next stop was the Trinity Churchyard where we located Alexander Hamilton's (and Eliza's) graves. It seems only appropriate to start and end our trip with Hamilton.

But before we catch our train, we (and pizza for lunch) and one last stop at Federal Hall National Memorial. The current building was a Custom House, but on that site, previously, was Federal Hall where George Washington was inaugurated as the first President of the United States. There is a visitors center, a couple of rooms with exhibitions but one can see everything in 30-45 minutes.

~ that's all folks! I hope you find the report interesting, and thank you for reading and for commenting! ~

If you're interested in knowing more about our hotel, here is my Tripadvisor review. Generally I liked it, and would definitely consider staying there again in the future given its proximity to Penn Station.