Busy Yesterday, Lazy Today

Today is Monday. The internet is working again in the apartment. Jim is sleeping in this morning. I hope we didn't overdue it yesterday. It was a busy day.

Yesterday afternoon we took a bus to Battery Park, a 25-acre park located at the southern tip of Manhattan. There is a path you can walk that hugs the water and in the distance you can see Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. We watched ferries depart full of people going to see Lady Liberty. Aside from an occasional man trying to shove brochures in your face to take a ferry ride, our day was peaceful and pleasant. We walked through the park and stopped at the many statues along the way.

"The Sphere" is a 25-foot bronze statue that stood in the plaza area between the World Trade Center towers for 3 decades. The artwork was meant to symbolize world peace through world trade. After the attacks on September 11th the sphere was recovered from the rubble and was relocated to Battery Park.

Six months after the attacks it was formally rededicated with an eternal flame as a memorial to the victims of 9/11. It remains today as an icon of hope and the indestructible spirit of this country. It has become a major tourist attraction, due partly to the fact that it survived the attacks with only dents and holes.

The Immigrants is a sculpture celebrating the diversity of New York City and the struggle of immigrants in this bigger than life bronze sculpture. The statue depicts figures of various ethnic backgrounds and time periods including an Eastern European Jew, a freed slave, a priest, and a worker.








While strolling through the park there were musicians and street dancers. Everybody working for a tip. When we stopped to take a break we noticed a squirrel running along the ground with a paper bag in his mouth. We watched him climb a tree and jump from tree to tree until he got to a nest in a tree. All the while he had this bag in his mouth covering his face. It's amazing he could see where he was going. It was probably a female squirrel.









After we left the park we walked for about 15 minutes to the One World Trade Center. Obviously we could see it from Battery Park so it wasn't hard to find our way. It is the tallest skyscraper in the Western hemisphere, and the sixth-tallest in the world. As we approached the grounds there were a lot of people walking around. Everyone was quiet and very respectful. It was a somber feeling to see the names of all those who perished that day. It was a very beautiful memorial. The two reflecting pools covered the exact footprints of the Twin Towers. The names of all the victims of not only the 2001 attack but also the 1993 attack were etched in bronze along the walls of the pools.

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There was one lone tree that stood out from all the rest, the Survivor Tree. This callery pear tree survived the attacks of 9/11. The tree was discovered in October 2011 at Ground Zero. It was severely damaged with broken and burned branches but was removed and put in the care of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. After its recovery it was moved to the memorial site in 2010 and remains there today as a reminder of resilience, survival and rebirth.

While walking back to Battery Park to catch a bus back we passed the National Museum of American Indian. It was free so we popped in for half an hour. Like all museums you need a full day to visit. The small section we looked at displayed wonderful old artifacts some dating back to A.D. 300. This was one museum worth visiting.

 I am so glad Jimmy was able to see a different side of New York City beside the filthy streets full of trash and dog poop.

We took the bus back closer to Upper East Side and got off to walk to a restaurant Jim has been wanting to visit. It is called Treadwell and there was a craft beer he wanted to try. We stopped in for a bit and a bite to eat. Nice place.

That was yesterday. Today we stayed in all day and around 4:00 I had to get out and stretch my legs so I went to the post office to check the mail. I also went by a possible future place to rent. As I was standing on the street looking at the apartment the most adorable bulldog full of personality walked by. I struck up a conversation with his owner. The poor dog was missing a lot of hair on his back. She told me he was a rescue and had been kept in a cage for most of his life somehow losing his hair. She named him Ray for a ray of sunshine. He is a lucky dog now.

I tried to get a good picture of him but he was so excited I was paying him attention that he kept knocking me down. This is the best I could do. On my way back home I passed two different homeless men sleeping on the street. Even in the Upper East Side there are homeless people. This one guy had his shoes off, a cigarette in his hand and an empty small bottle of liquor by his side...SAD.