"New York City" a New York City Travel Page by ZanieOR

Living in a lovely small town isolated from the rest of the world in the mountains of Oregon, my idea of "getting away from it all" is going to the city. And there's no city like New York City!
I've only been there twice, and now that my daughter has moved back to the west coast, I'm not sure when I will be back. But I will be back!
I love all the people (none of whom know me), the energy, the vibrancy, the things to see and do.
I hate to admitt on my two visits, I never even left Manhattan (except to NJ), and barely scratched the surface of what I wanted to experience.
And you never know what you will see.
My most recent trip was tied up with the tragedy that occured there on 9-11-01.
I already had a visit planned to New York City at the beginning of October 2001 - actually to visit my daughter who was living in NJ with side trips to NYC - when the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center occurred.
In fact my daughter, who was working then in Secaucus right across the river, actually saw the second plane hit.
So the NYC I visited was a city in mourning and definitely wearing its heart on its sleeve. I got into conversation with a number of New Yorkers - once sitting on some steps waiting for a bus. At that time a lot of Americans and others were afraid to travel on airlines, especially to NY, so visitors/tourists were being welcomed warmly. Somewhere I have a newspaper account I wrote of my impressions for the Travel section in the East Oregonian Sunday paper and will put it here.
Ironically on my first trip to NYC with my son (from Christmas to New Years Eve, 1999) one of our tourist
stops was the World Trade Center.

I did have a story I'd written about my trip to New York in this chapter but decided to move it to a travel logue which seemed more appropriate. This photo is the one that speaks to me about the sorrow that was still so raw in the city and nation when I visited NY.

I got off my tour bus because of course it was not traveling to lower Manhattan during my visit -- the streets were blocked off -- and walked many, many blocks to get as close to Ground Zero as I could. It was as if I was drawn ...
Battery Park was all blocked off but I could see still see Lady Liberty, a tiny ghost in the distance.
On my next trip to New York City visiting the Statue of Liberty and paying my respects is number one on my list of things to do.