RAH RAH RAH !

November 5th, when it falls on a Saturday, marks a special date for me.

In the early afternoon of that day, after having lived just a month and three days in New York City, I had the great pleasure of visiting The World Trade Center for the first time. It would be the first of many later visits. I, however, will never forget that first time.

Wifey and I had set that Saturday aside to specifically visit the World Trade Center. That Saturday, as is the case today, was the eve of the New York City Marathon. On this day, in addition to the average amount of visitors that the city embraces on a November Saturday, the weekend of The Marathon includes many more thousands. Not all of the participants are from the NYC region. And, those who aren't, and their accompanying supporters, tour the city and its venues on this day. The World Trade Center was a very popular destination for them.

We were living in Staten Island at the time. One wonderful aspect of living in Staten Island, is that of useing the Staten Island Ferry to get to the city. On the forward veranda of the ferry, one can appreciate the gradual approach into lower Manhattan. As the ferry draws near, lower Manhattan's skyline slowly reveals itself as the manmade miracle and wonder that it is. Aboard on this ferry ride were many people returning to Manhattan. Many were wearing running regalia and were toting cameras.

A funny thing about runners, is that those who run for the purpose of exercising generally have a healthy look to them. Those who run competitively, however, the endorphin junkies, they seem to carry a gaunt and sickly thin look and build. Human greyhounds. Test them physically and they are off the charts healthy. Take them out on the town to connect with the opposite sex, and they go home alone every time. I feel that they resemble AIDS victims. There were some of both kinds on this boat ride this morning.

When the boat docked, and everyone disembarked onto the Financial District, we hiked towards the towers. It's was a relatively short walk. Without distractions it was ten or so minutes. A few blocks north and two or so blocks west from the ferry station and then the awesome, monumental and exalted view of the two monoliths from street level appeared. It was a daunting scene.

We took pictures, we had the film processed but, the images did not convey the sense of what we saw being there. The two buildings appeared so large and massive from the street below, they seemed to exert their own gravitational pull. We had to go in. After all, it seemed we were being pulled in.

The entire interconnected street level of the World Trade Center complex itself, was nothing less than a shopping mall. One minute we are out on the street admiring an architectural and engineering miracle, the next we are inside a mall that could be set anywhere in North America. A sixteen acre mall all on one level. It was difficult to process the idea that above the tall ceilings of this shopping mall, were two of the tallest buildings on the planet.

Forging forward, and immune to a mall's lure, we read the signs that directed one to the observation deck. We found the ticket booth and we could see that there was a long queue beyond the booth. We asked the ticket person what the approximate wait was to board the elevator up. She said one hour. It was a palatable length. We paid our pre-1993 terrorist attack fee of FOUR dollars apiece and stood in line amidst the psychedelia of nylon, spandex and running shoes and the chatter of different tongues. I remember the wait not seeming long at all because of the conversations that we struck up with several of these visitors. It was a delightful wait actually.

Eventually, Wifey and I got to the front of the line. At the end of this wait what awaited was a walk through a tunnel that resembled some sort of entrance to a Disneyland ride. At the end of this mirror trimmed tunnel was the single purpose elevator that jettisoned to the top of the earth. We entered the elevator. Once the doors closed I noticed that the elevator panel marked its ascent to the top in ten floor intervals. The ride up was approximately 90 seconds and about three ear pops.

When the doors opened at 107, the elevator shaft acted like a wind tunnel. As one stepped off and away from the elevator, a rush of wind would hit you. It was a natural effect created by the long elevator shaft itself. We walked into the enclosed observation area and the first view through the windows was to the east and over the East River.

It was a beautiful clear day. Helicopters and small planes were flying at lower altitudes than from where I was standing. I could see Brooklyn and Queens and out to Long Island. We walked around a little more. I could see all the buildings, and their rooftops, in Manhattan. I could see the end of Central Park, The Bronx and The George Washington Bridge. We walked around a little more. I could see New Jersey and points away in Pennsylvania. We walked around a little more. I could see the entire harbor, The Statue of Liberty, The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge and Staten Island. I could see traffic's approach into The Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel in Manhattan and could see where the traffic exited in Brooklyn. And then I saw the escalator that led to the roof. The escalator that took you three floors higher and outside to 110.

We boarded the escalator and when we both emerged outside to a bright sunny sky.......

It was breathtaking, dramatic, grand, panoramic, picturesque, spectacular, striking, amazing, astonishing, astounding, awe-inspiring, awesome, exciting, hair-raising, heart-stirring, impressive, interesting, intoxicating, marvelous, magnificent, moving, overwhelming, phenomenal, spine-tingling, stunning, superb, terrific, thrilling, stirring, staggering, stupendous, sensational, unbelievable, unreal, wonderful, wondrous, vivid and thrilling.

Following that day, whenever family or friends would visit (and many did), and until the towers were destroyed, going to the top of the WTC was a requisite stop for everyone's New York visit. They all spoke in adjectives afterwards as well.

In addition to the many times I enjoyed visiting The World Trade Center, I also had the pleasure of dining at "Windows On The World" once and had the unusual experience of spending two consecutive over-nights at the 108th floor of the other tower.

Today, all that is like a dream.

*!*

posted by JerryNJ @ 6:33 PM