nyc part 2

Finally, we make our way to lower Manhattan and are on the way to the 911 Memorial.  We can see it ahead!

 We're getting closer!

 And then, what happens but the Occupy Wall Street folks start marching right in front of us!  Great drum beat countered with the horn honks of pissed off taxi drivers.  All very exciting.  Traffic again came to a dead stop.

 It's hard to get a focus on anything because everything is happening at once, and moving fast.

 At least we know that we're headed in the direction that we think we want to go ...

 Then there is the problem of parking.  For some reason, we thought that we could find a parking space on the street, like we used to do years ago.  But the rules are complicated.  We found a spot with this sign with many contradictory messages.  I called over a cop to ask him if that meant we could park there.  He said he didn't know, he was from Brooklyn, but he wasn't going to tell me that I could park there.  So we drove around some more and found a lot.  $15 to park for a couple of hours sounded like a deal.  I came to the realization that NYC is a jungle with its own rules.

 John was impressed with this bike lock ...

 The 911 Memorial doesn't officially open until 2012, but they have a couple of places where you can see stuff and buy souvenirs.  They were crowded and somewhat unimpressive.  It was more exciting to be in the streets and looking at (or walking around) the actual site of Ground Zero.  I was in NYC in October 2001, while the site was still burning and there was ash and debris on the sidewalks, and in many ways it still seemed the same.  A big empty space surrounded by the hustle and bustle of NYC.

This is the main building that is going up (I think) ... but there are others as well.

 These are displays in one of the 911 Memorial "stores" ...

From here, we got distracted with the Occupy Wall Street-ers -(next post) ...