From Las Vegas, I flew directly to New York for a client meeting and to spend time with my brother. I flew into Newark and couldn't believe the traffic back up in the Holland Tunnel at 1 a.m.! Luckily my meetings weren't until lunch time, so I got to sleep in a bit, and I woke up to a beautiful day in lower Manhattan with views of Freedom Tower and the river (with New Jersey behind).
Thursday I had meetings and went with my clients to a New York Yankees game. It was the final game of the Subway Series against the Mets, and the Mets won 4-0. Since many of the people with us were Mets fans that worked out just fine! After many years of watching Freedom Tour being built from my view from hotel rooms, I finally went to tour at Ground Zero. The day was gorgeous and the tribute was beautiful. The foundation of each of the towers is a water fall/reflecting pool. Around the outside are the names of all of the 9/11 victims. They are grouped according to relationships: first responders from the same unit; employees from the same company in that tower; the victims from the Pentagon; the victims from the Pennsylvania plane. I walked the grounds but did not go inside of the museum.
Later in the day I ventured to Midtown with my giant carryon bag (I packed for 6 days in an overstuffed carryon) to meet up with Ryan at his office. Since I was lugging that bag, we decided to just head to Queens to his condo and decide next steps from there. His unit has a great balcony and building a beautiful rooftop from which I snapped a lot of pictures. He and Tarek took me out for a delicious Greek dinner and gourmet ice cream in the neighborhood. I continued my culinary quest on Saturday morning with a Brooklyn bagel (plan with bacon, honey, sriracha schmear. We rode bikes to the East River to eat them. It was a lovely first visit to their new home in New York!
