9/11 Memorial

While the 9/11 Museum is not yet open the Memorial is and stands as a tribute of remembrance of the nearly 3,000 people killed in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

Architecturally it is an 8 acre park with 2 reflecting pools that are placed exactly in the foot prints of the  Twin Towers. Each person lost has their name inscribed on the bronze panels surrounding the two reflecting pools.  Every day white roses are placed along the names of those victims who would have been celebrating a birthday.

The park has been planted with more than 400 Swamp White Oaks which can reach heights of over 60 feet and live up to 300 years.  Among the Swamp White Oaks stands one special tree called the “Survivor Tree”.  This Callery Pear tree was planted on the original World Trade Center plaza in the 1970’s and was found buried in the rubble and severely damaged but still alive. Nursed back to health it has been returned to the WTC site standing just west of the South pool.

The reflecting pools are each 1 acre in size and have 30 foot deep black granite walls where 480,000 gallons of recycled water are pumped at a rate of 4 ft per second or 52,000 gallons per second. The flowing water creates a cascading waterfall which gives off a nice, peaceful background of sound that almost nearly eradicates the sounds of the city bustling around it. Together the two fountains make up the largest man made waterfalls in the nation and are called Reflecting Absence.

In addition to the trees and reflecting pools a new museum is being built. The museum stands today where the sphere once stood in the center of the WTC plaza. I saw the sphere in Battery Park during my visit to the Statue of Liberty. While not complete we were able to look through the windows of the museum and see iconic Survivor’s Staircase and the Twin Tower Tridents.

It was most inspiring to see the large crowds all stand in silence and look down deep into the reflecting pools as if they were looking deep into the soul of America. Each person there most definitely left with a tear in their eye and a sense of pride in their country. While I reflected on my visit I couldn’t help but remember all those years ago when my family and I visited the Twin Towers and rode the elevators to the observation deck on the 107th and 110th floors of the South Tower. I can remember feeling like were in the clouds and watched the planes fly by nearly at eye level. It makes me wonder what those visiting that day must have seen and experienced.

Later in the day I will visit the 102nd floor of the Empire State Building and I look forward to visiting the observation deck of One World Trade Center when it opens in 2015.

Train to NYC

If you have ever been to NYC then you know that traffic and parking in the city is terrible and can make for a very long and stressful trip. Ever since I was a kid we avoided all the honking horns and hunting for a parking spot and or garage by taking the Metro North. Usually we pick it up in the little sea-side town of Old Saybrook where for year I spent my summers. We didn’t always start there though and when we didn’t it was usually from New Haven. New Haven offers express trains so you avoid the stops in each of the little towns and makes the trip shorter.

With that in mind we all converged on New Haven to catch the first off-peak express train at 8:30. That put us arriving at Grand Central Station at 10:30 with plenty of time to wander before our 12:00 appointment at the World Trade Center 9/11 Memorial. The ride was smooth and uneventful and filled with conversations about what we might want to do and see while in the city.

With plenty of time before our appointment we walked for a while and enjoyed central park and the NYC Library where we took a few pictures with the lions. We also walked along 5th avenue and enjoyed the Lord and Taylor window where you could take a picture and have it sent to you.

After the 9/11 Memorial we wandered down to Wall Street for lunch at my favorite Cuban shop and the obligatory photos with the bull. Next we wandered around stopping in a variety of shops as we headed back up town to the Empire State Building. Debbie and I couldn't resist putting on the Asian masks in one of the stores and had a good time with it.

After the long walk we were glad to have express passes at the Empire State Building. Read that entry for more on the experience. Exhausted we decided to catch an earlier train home. On our way back to Grand Central we found ourselves walking past a live shoot for a TV crime show filming. we are not sure which one it was but it was interesting to see

Although we had bought off peak tickets getting on the train was not a problem. We just had to pay a slight additional charge for a peak train. Finding a seat however on a Friday night train out of the city proved a little more of a challenge and we stood for a few stops before finally finding a seat to relax in. This train was not an express train and we made many more stops on the trip back to New Haven.

Below are a few pictures from the train and our NYC adventures.

 

 

Belarusian Candy

I work with a variety of people with different ethnic backgrounds and they often have food that is different or peculiar in comparison to standard American fare. I never shy away from trying something new and when ever given the opportunity I’ll pretty much try anything once.
One of my coworkers is Russian and recently she offered me a few different candies and told me to give them a try. She wasn’t exactly sure which flavor’s they were but thought they were Russian. With a little research online I figured it out before trying them and discovered that they were in fact from Belarus and not Russia.

The two candy bars I tried were made by Kommunarka Confectionary Factory which was started in 1905 in the city of Minsk. From 1957 through 1967 they worked on new recipes for their confections. The particular type I tried was called Gril'yazh na arahise which was developed in 1959. Today the company’s focus is to maintain the traditions of their confectionary art while bringing joy and pleasure to the people.

I tried to different types of Gril'yazh na arahise. The first type was Minsk Candied Roasted Nuts Gril'yazh. This candy bar I can only describe as a mix between a kit kat and a fig newton. The texture of the chocolate was milky and the filling sandwiched between two wafers was like a compacted fig newton cookie with subtle flavoring. This particular flavor was primarily a nutty mixture with almonds and apple being the dominant taste.

The second one I tried was also a Gril'yazh na arahise. It was a Cranberry Candied Roasted Nut Gril'yazh . It had a similar structure but the flavors were mainly cranberry with only a few peanuts to accent the fruit flavor. It too was sandwiched between two wafers and then coated in chocolate.

I would describe both candy bars as heavy and bland in flavor. While each had a unique and definite flavor they were not pronounced enough to really be enjoyed and were muted by the heaviness of the filling. They lacked the light and silky texture I am accustomed to with American candy bars.

The wrappers were bright and playful in nature, clearly aimed at attracting a younger audience, as shown in the pictures below. They feature a dog holding cranberries and a hedgehog holding an apple.