#5 A place that you have traveled to.

  I have been to many places that I love and truly enjoy.  I think that New York city was probably one of the most memorable.  Ray and I ended up going for 5 days.  I needed to go for my work to do some SEC training so two of the days I spent in classes while Ray roamed around the city by himself.  We stayed in the Millenium Hilton which is directly across the street from the World Trade Center.  We were there on September 11, 2000.  We did all of the tourist stuff, went to Times Square, watch some Broadway plays,  took a double decker bus tour of the city, saw the Empire State Building, The Statue of Liberty, and Ellis Island.  We also took the ride up the elevator in the World Trade Center to the lookout deck.  The whole trip was amazing - I was surprised to find myself in that huge city.  It is everything and more that it is portrayed to be.  My favorite part of the whole trip was going to Ellis Island and finding my grandparent's names on the wall of people who came through New York from another country.  The stories and displays there are heart wrenching and amazing.  My gratitude for my grandparents and for all of the people who immigrated to this great country was enhanced. 

Near our hotel there was a little park where these groups of retired men would meet every morning to play chess, there was also a deli just down the street that had the best food, across the street was a donut shop where we ate breakfast one morning.  We experienced the every day life of so many people in the short time we were there.  New York is a diverse, BIG, and exciting city. 

It was with great dismay that we witnessed the bombing of the World Trade Center and the destruction of so many areas surrounding those buildings.  We thought about those  men in the park, the deli that served us the wonderful meals, the donut shop across the street, and of course the hotel that we had stayed in just one year before.  As I said at the beginning of this blog I have traveled to many places and experienced a lot of great things but the memory I hold of New York and the people there is enhanced by the terrible attack on 9/11/2001.  I haven't been back to see the destruction but I know that many lives were lost, many families disrupted, and the security I felt during those autumn days in New York will never be the same again.