After a busy day in Mid Manhattan seeing all the landmarks that make New York City iconic, I would visit Lower Manhattan on my second day in the Great Apple 🍎. 

For this day, I had big plans that I couldn’t simply achieve because I woke up a bit later than usual. After almost a whole week of walking around non-stop, I was exhausted. Nonetheless, my main goal was to visit the Brooklyn Bridge, and that I did. With only three days in New York City, I feel like I saw a lot. 

Subway connections to Lower Manhattan were a bit frustrating, as I would think there would be more trains available than they were. After all, it was a Saturday. I believe there were some issues with faulty trains and the time it took me to get to Lower Manhattan was more than I had estimated. It was a bit frustrating to find that the City Hall has a fence all around, so you can’t get a clear view of it when it’s closed. Moving on, I headed to the Brooklyn Bridge. It was a bright, sunny day with comfortable temperatures. The view was amazing, and I felt relaxed despite all the people around. 

Once in Brooklyn, I sat down on a bench at the nearest park, had a quick lunch, and then went to my next stop: Liberty Park. 

My initial plan was to take the boat trip to the Statue of Liberty and then come back to visit the World Trade Center. However, I arrived at around 1 PM to Battery Park and the waiting time for the security check was 2 hours. I figured that I would be coming back at around 5 PM or 6 PM, and that would make it difficult to visit the World Trade Center and the 9/11 Museum. I chose to not make the boat trip, see the Statue from afar and walk up to the 9/11 Memorial.

I followed Google Maps to the former place of the Twin Towers, where now there’s a fountain and the names of all the victims of the terrorist events of September 11, 2001. I was 10 years old when this happened -would turn 11 the very next day- but I remember the news clearly. It’s a heavy atmosphere and there’s a sense of loss that you can feel when you are there. It doesn’t feel like it’s been almost 20 years, it feels like it was yesterday and I know that the images of the news that day might never leave my head.

I wanted to visit the museum, but Google Maps sent me to the “wrong” museum a few blocks away. It’s a smaller place where people who were first responders often go and talk about their experience. I realized I was not in the main museum after I paid my entrance ticket, so I walked around and listened to the story of a first responder who worked for a private ambulance company. He lost coworkers that day and his story is just one of the many that evidence how hurtful events like this can be, and how they leave a permanent mark.

I can only say that experiencing moments like this should only motivate people to spread love instead of hate. To not judge an entire group of innocent people based on the acts of a few. Love and compassion should always win. War -to me- will never be the answer. War has no winners, only losers on both sides. Innocent lives who pay the price of others’ mistakes. When I visited the Dachau Concentration Camp in Munich, I had a similar emotionally-heavy experience and it only pushed me to be more open than ever to diversity and tolerance. I never want to allow thoughts in my head that can have even a minimal trace of hate towards others and their beliefs. 

After visiting the memorial, I walked around the area of Wall Street, entered a nearby church and then went back home. Another long way of frustrating subway connection would await and over an hour would go by before I was in Upper Manhattan.

On my way back I stopped to see the new Vessel building. Its peculiar shape has attracted plenty of visitors since its opening in 2019. It was almost dusk so I sat down for a bit to catch a break before I made the tricky connection back to the main line that would take me to my hostel. There is only one subway line that gets you to the Vessel, so naturally, it gets crowded and I felt like the ride frequency was not the best.

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A post shared by Chase the Feeling (@chasethefeelingblog) on Nov 5, 2019 at 9:14am PST

After the Vessel I would grab a quick hamburger, eat it at Central Park and head back to the hostel. The next day would be my last one in this hectic city and the forecast indicated cloudy and rainy weather. Maybe it was time for a museum? 💭🎨

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