New York City Memorial Day

 

Hope you all enjoyed the Memorial Day Weekend.  Our family went to New York City.  First time for all of us.  We were only there for three days but they were packed days of trying to experience as much as we could.  

Our main goal was to visit the 911 memorial.  With Terry being a fire chief and our SIL Tim being a firefighter they wanted to visit and honor the first responders that gave their lives that day during this tragic event in our country.

The 911 memorial is a tribute of remembrance, honoring the 2,977 people killed in the terror attacks of September 11, 2001.
The focal point of the memorial are the two pools each nearly an acre in size.  They sit where the former North and South Towers stood.  The museum is built underneath these pools where the towers once stood.

Around each of the reflecting pools are the names of the 9/11 people who died as a result of the 911 attacks.

This is a picture of the Survivor Tree that was discovered after the wreckage from the attacks.  You can read about it below.

 

Terry and our SIL Tim wanted to leave their fire department patches under the tree to honor those that gave their lives that day. Visitors can leave a prayer or statement in remembrance.

This is the first responding fire station.  It is literally right across the street from the towers.  Ladder company 10 lost 5 brave firefighters that day.

In the museum there are a lot of the first responders vehicles that were destroyed on the sight of the towers when the towers began to fall.

This wall comes with a lot of controversy.  Behind this wall are all the remains of the people killed that could not be identified. Many people feel the decision to put the human remains of the 911 victims in the basement is "disrespectful and offensive" while many people feel this is a place of honor for the victims that died here and people can pay their respects when they visit the museum. 

This is a memorial wall with a picture of each of the people killed in the 911 attacks.

St Paul's Chapel, located a short distance from the World Trade Center miraculously survived the attacks and became a center of relief and support of workers in the aftermath.  For nine months recovery workers could take refuge. The workers were provided food, rest and comfort here.
It is a small historic church and grave yard that did not have any damage with all the disasters around it.  That gave me chills.

Grand Central was absolutely beautiful.

The chandeliers were my favorite!!!!

Of course our granddaughter Charlotte loved visiting the two story American Girl Doll store in Rockefeller Center.

Our 19 month old grandson was a trooper through the family trip.  He loved the subway and the buses.
We got in over 15,000 steps per day walking to all the wonderful landmarks and sites.
Figuring out the buses and subway was great to get to everything we wanted to see.
When you have 9 of us it was the fastest and least expensive way to navigate this wonderful city.

I was worried about visiting New York City on a holiday that it would be too peopley" for me lol!  It really was not.  My blogger friend Kim (Exquisitely Unremarkable) that lives outside of New York City told me traditionally the city clears out on Memorial Day to head to the water.
She was right it was not crowded.
We were able to hit the 911 memorial, the Empire State Building, Statute of Liberty, Grand Central Station, Times Square and some fun things for the kids.
The girls and I went to the Lipstick Lab to formulate a special unique lipstick just for each of us.
We hit the Central Park, Bryant Park.
M&M Factory
Ice Cream Factory
There was something for all of us on this family trip.

I was amazed at how much we could fit into three days.

Hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Weekend. 
Hugs,
Kris