As I mentioned, we found out that OBL had been "taken care of" as soon as we got into a cab after touring the ESB. Here is a picture we took as we were leaving.
When we got back to our hotel, I think we finally realized that we were in a very special place to be hearing this news. We immediately turned on the television. People were starting to gather at the WTC site, as well as in Times Square. We decided to simply watch from our hotel room (it was about midnight NYC time at this point) and were amazed by the scene. The most touching was, of course, the firefighters at ground zero. They were smiling, but it was far from a party. It was a celebration, but with tears.
We headed back to the WTC area the next morning. It was eerily quiet. There were quite a few people there but it was far from a circus. We paid our respects, prayed, then went to grab some lunch and do some last minute site seeing (we really packed SO much into those four days - we walked down to Battery Park, then headed back up to grab another slice of pizza, which was a MUST DO before we left!)
We found ourselves with about two hours until we needed to leave for the airport. We decided to go back to the WTC area, primarily to look for a book for the boys. We both love history and what better place to find information to help our boys understand what happened on that day. What we found as we stepped off the subway was overwhelming. There were news crews EVERYWHERE, people standing in the streets all around the fences that were up around the construction of the memorial site, people sitting on the benches, curbs, everywhere. There were policemen standing guard around the perimeter of ground zero - not to keep people out, there were TALL fences doing that job. No, these officers were there out of respect and honor. There were people, what we assume to be family/friends of those lost that day, sitting in front of the church, weeping. There were flowers and notes being left all around. We will never forget that day and seeing a tiny glimpse of the horror that city endured. Most of all, we'll never forget 9/11.
Of course, we couldn't help but think of those lost since that awful day, too. All of the brave soldiers who have fallen fighting as a direct result of this attack. We were directly affected by this, as unfortunately, so many people in our great country have been. We will never forget.
And because I love this picture, and I want to end this post on a happy note, because our trip was A-MAZING, here is my sweet hubby eating a cannoli before we left. YUMM-O!
