FDNY May We Never Forget

 

FDNY - The Brave

September 11, 2001

World Trade Center

10 Years Later ...

On the tenth anniversary of 9/11 attacks of the World Trade Center, The Pentagon, and the thwarted attack that ended in a field in Pennsylvania, America once again saw images from that terrible day as they watched the television specials, viewed images and videos online, or attended ceremonies across the country.

We too watched once again.  In some cases, we had not seen the footage before since we had been in Paris on a cruise at the time of the attacks.   We didn't see the events live in 2001, but did watch CNN when we returned to the ship.  The majority of passengers with us were from New York since the Trans-Atlantic cruise we were on was scheduled to return to New York.

  

These images are from an album, Visiting Ground Zero, which we have posted on our Facebook Fan page from a visit to New York prior to a cruise to Bermuda in 2008.

They are part of a tribute "FDNY Memorial Wall" at the  Ladder Company 10 fire station which is just across from where the World Trade Center once stood.   These firefighters were among the first responders that day.

We can only imagine what thoughts went through their minds as they looked up at the World Trade Center towers which were ablaze.   Debris was falling all around them as they headed inside the building to attempt to extinguish the blaze and save the lives of people trapped in the towers.    

There were several events this past week to honor the 343 FDNY members killed on Sept. 11, 2001, as well as the 57 who have died in the past decade due to World Trade Center-related illnesses.  For more information on these events, see The Official Fire Department, City of New York website.

Our sympathy goes to the families of the fallen FDNY members.

We suggest adding a pre-cruise stay in New York should your plans find you departing from one of the New York ports.  It is easy to get around New York by public transportation.   If you have not been to Ground Zero before, we suggest you consider that in your plans.

NCL Dawn Bermuda - Pre-Cruise New York

Our 7 night cruise to Bermuda on Norwegian Dawn sailed from the Manhattan Cruise Terminal in New York. As usual, we arrived the day before the cruise and stayed at the New York LaGuardia Airport Marriott Hotel. We chose this hotel due to the proximity to the cruise port and also because it offered a shuttle service to and from the airport and the hotel.

After claiming our luggage, we called the hotel and arranged for the shuttle to pick us up outside the baggage claim area. The weather was quite warm with overcast skies. At first we debated about venturing out from our hotel at all, but after talking with the Bell Captain at the hotel, who encouraged us to complete our original plans, we headed for the World Trade Center Ground Zero site.

It is possible to get to Ground Zero via bus and subway. The hotel sells the MetroCard, so we purchased them there and took the hotel shuttle back to the airport. From there, we took the M60 bus to the Astoria Blvd subway station where we took the N train to Canal Streeet. Note that on weekends, the W train doesn't operate, so it's necessary to go this route and then walk a few blocks to the WTC site.

There are obviously many things to do in the New York City area. You might be wondering why we chose to go to what will become the site of the Freedom Tower, a memorial to the World Trade Center disaster. For us, it seemed very fitting because Sepember 11, 2001 was our 25th Wedding Anniversary and we were on a NCL cruise in Europe. We learned about the terrorist attacks while in Paris, France. Most of the passengers on our cruise were from the New York City area, since the cruise was a Trans-Atlantic crossing which had been scheduled to arrive in New York at the conclusion of the cruise.

As the mural on the Firehouse wall says, "May We Never Forget". Visiting the site was a very moving experience for us. Before then we had only seen pictures on TV and in print. Seeing it in person gives one a different perspective. When visiting New York, I'd recommend this visit if you are so inclined. Additional pictures will be posted on our Cruise Vacations website once we have time to process them.

We walked back towards the subway, stopping at City Hall Park before returning to our hotel. We got back to the hotel just in time because it started to rain while we were having dinner.
The next morning we had breakfast, checked out of the hotel and had the Bell Captain call a limo for us to go to the pier. About 30 minutes later, we arrived at the pier, checked in, and got onto the ship. I'll continue from here in my next post.