Day 2: Orientation and Contemplation

This morning the NC pilgrims met with the other pilgrims from NYC. I was delighted that the New Yorkers didn't write us off as hillbillies from North Carolina, and I'm certain to have many more New York friends after this trip. We introduced ourselves, explained our calling to Taize, and learned more about the monastery. Trinity furnished a delicious lunch of authentic New York Pizza, salad, and extra sweet tea for the Southerners.    

After lunch we toured the 911 memorial and museum. What struck me the most emotionally about the museum was its size. The architects designed the museum to capture the enormity of the twin towers as an escalator (probably the longest escalator I've ever ridden) took visitors down to the foundation and bedrock of the towers. The eerily cavernous basement was a museum of artifacts and timelines that interpreted the horrific events on Sept. 11, 2001. The exhibit seemed endless and was emotionally draining for everyone--particularly for the adult chaperones who were working in offices adjacent to the towers. The tragic phone calls and images were, and still are, part of their concious and living reality. The museum really brought the attacks, still a fuzzy memory from my classroom in second grade, into perspective and focus.

After the museum we ate dinner (Chipotle, yum!)  and strolled New York. We sat on bean bag chairs in the suave Seaport. It's 10:01 and my feet are exhausted. No wonder advertisements for podiatrists are plastered on buildings all over the city! Looking forward to the new adventures tomorrow will bring. 

-EJS

Overlooking the tower's foundation. This picture can't begin to capture the vastness of the space and the silence, which was like a vacuum of sound. 

I was really intrigued by the artifacts that survived like this staircase. 

The only known surviving window of 

43,600.

Enormous elevator motor that was used to take people to the top of the Twin Tours the morning of September 11, 2001.

The museum was artistic and sculptural. The careful attention to aesthetics and design were evident throughout. 

One of the first paintings of the American seal. The eagle looks more like a wild turkey--probably from the supplications of Ben Franklin. 

If you can read this, it's a really funny translated product description. "So gentle and mellow offer admiring feelings of gracious lady..."