There is a constant cacophony of car horns around Grand Central Station and our hotel. However, this morning it had fallen silent. We opened the curtains to a bright sunny day and an empty 42nd St. We could see traffic cones and runners on the street. I wondered if it was an Open Streets or ciclovia day. I googled street closures and the date, and found an NYPD website with a huge list of streets closed for the return of the New York half marathon after two years of it being cancelled for the pandemic. 25,000 people were expected to run.
We went downstairs to head to Bryant Park for breakfast. We walked along 42nd St. watching the runners and it dawned on us that we were not going to be able to get across the street to Bryant Park. When we got close we asked a police officer who sent us through the subway station at 6th Avenue. There were no signs in the subway station, nor anyone to open the gate so as a crowd of people gathered, one person jumped over the turnstile and opened the gate from the inside to allow everyone to walk through. Probably no one in the crowd was planning on getting on the train. We all just wanted to get to the other side of the street. When we went back in employees were allowing people through the gate. After wandering around aimlessly for a while we found our way up to the park side.
We had breakfast at Pain Quotidian . It was delicious. The skating rink and Winter Village are almost completely dismantled now.
After finishing we headed back down into the subway to get back to the other side of 42nd St. There were signs to Times Square so we just walked all the way to there underground. This is called the 42nd St. connector. The two subway stations are connected by walkways as well as by train.
We saw these beautiful mosaics as we walked through the tunnel between the two stations. The artist is Nick Cave and the piece is called Each One, Every One, Equal All.
We emerged at Times Square to see even more runners going through the area which normally has rather restricted motor vehicle access with the plazas and bike lanes carved out of old road space, but had no vehicle access at all today.
When we finished looking at Times Square we went down into the subway to head to the world trade center. There were a lot of runners already finished waiting for the train. The first prize was $20,000.
The World Trade Center subway station is a modern clean one compared to some of the others in the system.
We visited 9/11 Memorial Park which has two huge fountains where the two towers used to stand.
The names of the victims are inscribed around the edges.
The streets around the park are closed off to motor vehicle traffic and some of them are heavily fortified as if another attack, from the ground, is expected.
The Koenig Sphere, a 25 foot bronze sculpture stood in the area before 9/11, and was recovered from the rubble at Ground Zero, and installed at the World Trade Center in Liberty Park in 2017 in memory of those who died on 9/11. The damage that the sculpture incurred was left when it was reinstalled.
There is also a 9/11 Memorial Museum on the site.
After that we visited the Oculus Transportation Hub. It is home to 12 subway lines, the World Trade Center PATH station, and dozens of retailers. It has access points across the entire 16 acre World Trade Center campus.
It was designed by Santiago Calatrava who designed the Peace Bridge in Calgary, the Galleria at Brookfield Place, and the Mimico Creek pedestrian bridge in Toronto.
The shape of the structure from the outside is meant to symbolize a hand releasing a dove. It’s orientation aligns with the sun’s angles on each September 11 from 8:46 AM, when the first plane struck, until 10:28 AM, when the second tower collapsed. Its central skylight fits this alignment and washes the oculus floor with a beam of light.
A mural has been painted on the metal structure that houses the Oculus’s cooling and operating equipment.
As we continued exploring the area and looking for lunch we passed St. Paul’s Chapel which was built in 1790, and undamaged when the twin towers fell, even though it is right across the street from where they were.
We found lunch at the Shake Shack in the Fulton Center. It has numerous subway lines running through it and a voluminous open area in the center. The wait to order and pick up the food was long, but once we finally got to City Hall Park to eat, we very much enjoyed our burgers and fries.
From there we decided to walk to Washington Square Park. On the walk we passed through TriBeCa (triangle below canal), which seemed to have a lot of people engaging in the sale of counterfeit purses, belts, watches, and sunglasses.
It was quite obvious as we got north of Canal and entered Soho (South of Houston), which seem to be a very popular shopping destination.
The line to get into Prada stretched around two sides of the building!
We spotted another weed truck just as we passed from Soho to Greenwich Village. New York University and Washington Park are in Greenwich Village.
We found coffee and sat in Washington Square Park to enjoy it. It was astonishingly busy with the smell of marijuana wafting in the air as we sat and walked around.
I’ve noticed that even the street musicians here have gone high tech for their donations. They’ll have a QR code that takes you straight to their Venmo account to make a small payment to them, or like this guy, he has it written on a sign.
From there we walked to Union Square Park, which is where we started walking yesterday. At that point we got on the subway and headed back to the hotel.
After a rest and figuring out where to pick up dinner we headed out to Pokiworks for another delicious meal.
I can’t believe I’ve been here eight days and have only one more day to explore. I think I’ll do that on the bike tomorrow. I’ll also have to get a Covid test, which hopefully will be negative, and assuming that it is, check in tomorrow afternoon to fly home on Tuesday
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