When I was in New York on Tuesday

Old Sep 15th, 2001, 02:40 PM
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Kathy
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When I was in New York on Tuesday

Tried to post this twice -- probalby too long -- Part 1 -
 
Old Sep 15th, 2001, 02:42 PM
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Kathy
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People walked out of Manhattan that day. The bridges were crowded with thousands and thousands of people on foot instead of cars. It struck me that it looked like the beginning of the New York City Marathon. I made my way back to my hotel on Times Square, knowing I was not going to be able to drive out of the city that day or night. As I passed Penn Station, which was shut down, I had a hard time getting through the crowds. Those who could not walk out of the city were sitting on the sidewalks wondering what to do next. As I reached Times Square, people stood silently watching in disbelief the banner headlines being broadcast across the billboards. I got back to my hotel and reserved my room for another night, although all I wanted to do was get back to upstate New York. The idea of staying on Times Square was not appealing – as far as any of us knew Times Square could have been the next target. I heard stories from other guests – one sightseer who had at the last minute decided not to go to the World Trade Center that morning. More remarkable, the story of a man who was scheduled to be at a 9:00AM meeting at the World Trade Center who found himself locked in his hotel room. Inexplicably, his hotel door would not open. By the time hotel security was called and managed to get his door open, he was too late for his 9:00AM meeting and the towers had been hit.
 
Old Sep 15th, 2001, 02:43 PM
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Kathy
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I was in Manhattan on business early this week. On Tuesday morning, September 11, I was enjoying a beautiful morning walk to my destination in Lower Manhattan. I was walking down 10th Avenue, between 20th and 21st Street when I was approached by a clearly distraught young woman who asked me if I knew what happened. My first thought was that something had happened in the neighborhood and that she was mistaking me for a neighbor. She went on to tell me that a plane had hit the World Trade Center and that while they were showing it on live TV another plane hit the other tower. She said “I just thought you should know” and walked on. I was completely stunned and confused. In my naiveté, I thought there was a horrible accident, but couldn’t conceive of how two such horrible accidents could have occurred so close on one another. As I turned the corner and started walking west on 20th street, the West Side Highway came into view, filled with rescue vehicles, fire trucks and police cars speeding south. When I reached my destination at the corner of 20th street and the West Side Highway, it quickly became clear that this was no accident. Everyone was desperately trying to reach friends and relatives—it seems that all New Yorkers have friends or relatives working in or near the World Trade Center-- , but communications were essentially shut down. Land lines were clogged and cell phones were not functioning. My own, usually very dependable, cell phone showed a signal, but was totally dead until evening and then would only work erratically.People walked out of Manhattan that day. The bridges were crowded with thousands and thousands of people on foot instead of cars. It struck me that it looked like the beginning of the New York City Marathon. I made my way back to my hotel on Times Square, knowing I was not going to be able to drive out of the city that day or night. As I passed Penn Station, which was shut down, I had a hard time getting through the crowds. Those who could not walk out of the city were sitting on the sidewalks wondering what to do next. As I reached Times Square, people stood silently watching in disbelief the banner headlines being broadcast across the billboards. I got back to my hotel and reserved my room for another night, although all I wanted to do was get back to upstate New York. The idea of staying on Times Square was not appealing – as far as any of us knew Times Square could have been the next target. I heard stories from other guests – one sightseer who had at the last minute decided not to go to the World Trade Center that morning. More remarkable, the story of a man who was scheduled to be at a 9:00AM meeting at the World Trade Center who found himself locked in his hotel room. Inexplicably, his hotel door would not open. By the time hotel security was called and managed to get his door open, he was too late for his 9:00AM meeting and the towers had been hit.
 
Old Sep 15th, 2001, 02:46 PM
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Kathy
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As the day progressed, Manhattan became even more eerily deserted and surreal. Later that afternoon, I walked back toward downtown, and stopped to get something to drink in a café in Chelsea. A young woman was on a pay phone relating her horrible experiences at the World Trade Center earlier that day, seeing fire balls and body parts fall from the sky. She broke down in tears, begging her friend to please just come and be with her. Farther down in Greenwich Village I run into several young people who worked on Wall Street and witnessed the carnage. One young man told me that he worked in one of the buildings nearby and when the first tower came down he decided it was time to get out. He said that the sight was “like a movie”, with “ash and bodies everywhere”. The group was searching for a friend’s apartment. They had been told to get out of their own apartments because there was no water and there were suspected gas leaks and didn’t know when they would be able to return. All they had with them were the clothes on their back and a couple of duffle bags.

Throughout the day and into the evening, smoke continued to billow and emergency vehicles rushed southward to the scene. Walking back to midtown was a dreamlike experience. In Herald Square and Times Square, usually wall-to-wall cars, the few people still out were walking in the middle of the deserted streets, frequently turning back to watch the smoke. Anyone who has ever been in New York City knows how alive the city always feels. On that night it was as if the city was dead.

The following morning, with assurances that outbound traffic was being allowed to leave New York City, I checked out of my hotel with the promise that I could return if I couldn’t get out of the city. Many streets continued to be closed and I couldn’t take my usual route up the West Side Highway. As I made my way into upper Manhattan, I breathed a sigh of relief as I saw the George Washington Bridge and a bigger sigh of relief as I crossed the bridge into New Jersey. On my way up the New York State Thruway I was continuous reminded of what was happening father south as I watched several convoys of military vehicles and emergency vehicles make their way toward Manhattan.

What made the experience more poignant – if it could be more poignant—was that on the evening of September 10 I took the Circle Line “Harbour Lights” cruise around the tip of Manhattan. The evening was strange in itself. Just as we set out, a thunderstorm hit and for some 15 or 20 minutes we sat in the middle of the Hudson River with lightening around us while the Captain decided whether to proceed. The storm passed and we had a wonderful, magical trip, viewing the lighted skyline of lower Manhattan. Little did any of us know, as we snapped our pictures of the incredibly beautiful New York skyline, that the evening of September 10 would be the last night for that stunning skyline and that on the following morning the skyline would all be changed forever as well as our own world view and the sense of security in our lives.
 
Old Jul 1st, 2002, 06:50 PM
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