New York, New York

December 3, 2008 - I flew from Salt Lake City to New York City with the executive team from my company and another person on the events staff. It was my first trip to the Big Apple, and we were only in town for not quite 48 hours. We stayed at the Park Central Hotel which is just off of Broadway between Central Park and Time Square, and right across the street from Carnegie Hall. It took us almost three hours to get to our hotel from the time we landed. After dinner at Rosy O'Grady's - a fish and steak house - several of us decided to wander through the city that was just beginning its night life. Our first stop... Time Square.

Time Square is everything that it appears to be in the movies and at New Years... I'm reasonably sure that my brain actually stopped functioning a few minutes after we got to Time Square - I think it was suffering from sensory overload. There are literally thousands of moving lights and ads... It was kinda funny to feel like I was having trouble keeping up! My hotel room faced out towards Time Square, so it was kind of cool wandering around the part of the city that would be my night light for the next two nights. This is the Time Square tower that has the infamous disco ball that drops on New Years...

One of the things that I didn't get to do was to see an actual play or musical in the Broadway theater district... But I'm sure I'll be going back, if only to add "Saw Broadway play on Broadway" to my list of personal adventures. I was surprised at how many different theaters there were... The musical and play ads greatly contributed to the brilliance of Time Square.

The Tree Lighting Ceremony at Rockefeller Center was happening the night we arrived. We originally attempted to get to the Ceremony, but it was SO crowded that you couldn't even access many of the blocks around the Center. We wandered past Trump Tower, Tiffany's, the biggest Build-a-Bear Workshop I've ever seen, the Apple store (which was made out of glass and ridiculously cool), and the south end of Central Park. It started getting really cold, and the sidewalks were getting really crowded (and stinky) as people put out their day's garbage bags... so we called it a night.

I woke up early the next morning and met Taylor (the other events staff member) for breakfast. We wandered past Good Morning America, Bryant Park, the Empire State Building, and several street vendors before we found a Europa Cafe. After breakfast, we headed over to the Rockefeller Center again where we could see the tree, the Pond (skating rink), and Prometheus (statue of the Greek Titan that brought fire to man).

Taylor and I walked back to the hotel in time to meet the others from our team as they were heading down to lower Manhattan. We took the subway (which was dirtier, noisier, and creepier than the BART I grew up with) toward Battery Park where we were able to wave at Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty across the New York Harbor. We also walked around the artillery battery compound (where the park gets its name) where we saw some street performers from Brooklyn. The Sphere, once located in the Tobin Plaza at the World Trade Center, is temporarily serving as a memorial for 9/11 with an eternal flame. It will be moved back to its original location upon completion of the new towers, but will likely remain in its damaged form to serve as a further memory of the attacks.

From Battery Park we walked up Broadway toward Wall Street. I had heard of the Wall Street Bull before (a large bronze sculpture of a charging bull located in the middle of Broadway at the end of Wall Street), and I am familiar with the concepts of Bull and Bear markets. The Bull is a symbol of aggressive financial optimism and success, where the Bear is generally the opposite... What I didn't know was the tradition associated with the Wall Street Bull itself - if you call it tradition. Maybe superstition is more accurate. Imagine my surprise when I - unsuspecting - approach the Bull and find a crowd of people gathered around the rear haunches of the Bull. At first I kind of stood there like an idiot (most likely with my mouth hanging open and everything) when I realize that all of these people are taking turns rubbing their hands on the big, bronze Bull's testicles. Taylor, noticing that I'd stopped moving, turned to look at me and laughed, no doubt guessing all of the random thoughts and questions going through my brain. He took pity on me and explained that people believe it is good financial luck to rub the Bulls balls (a bit crass, I admit), and with the market in its current state of affairs, more and more people are jumping at the opportunity to increase their financial luck... even if it means a little public embarrassment. I'm guessing that the Bull wasn't quite that shiny in certain areas a few months ago...

And no... I'm not joking.

We continued north on Broadway and crossed over to Trinity in order to make our way up to Ground Zero, our next destination. It is powerful to imagine what the Twin Towers must have looked like... filling the giant void in the middle of a very tall city.

Walking past the focal point of the 9/11 attacks was, in a word, sobering. I had expected it to impact me, but not nearly as deep as it actually did. We stayed mostly on the south end of the World Trade Center area, where the fire station that was the first emergency response on site is still located, still manned, still serving, and (as the fire trucks now say) still standing.

Across from Ground Zero is the Trinity Church. I love the movie National Treasure and watching it was how I gleaned the only real information I had previously about the building. Upon entering, I realized very quickly how powerful a role it played as a sanctuary during the aftermath of 9/11.

Throughout the church were monuments and "artifacts" from the 9/11 attacks. There was an American Flag that had on it printed names of every individual that was lost in the attacks. There were uniforms with plaques telling about how the service men - firemen, police officers, and other volunteers - had taken breaks in the church, a relief from the relentless search for survivors across the street in the rubble of fallen skyscrapers. Perhaps the most powerful display at the Trinity Church, however, was a rack covering in strings of origami peace cranes, assembled by Japanese New Yorkers shortly after 9/11... The plaque on the display explained that many of the individuals that assembled the crane tapestry were survivors themselves of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki attacks during the end of World War II.

Outside the Trinity Church, facing the World Trade Center, is the Trinity Church Cemetery. Located within the Cemetery is the Bell of Hope, presented to the people of New York City by the Lord Mayor of London and the Archbishop of Canterbury on September 11, 2002. It is rung each year on the anniversary of the attacks and also at times that commemorate significant national and international events. It is a symbol of hope during hard times and an encouragement toward peace at all times.

After our visit to the Trinity Church, Taylor and I went back to our hotel where we set up for the meeting that was the purpose of our business trip. We went out to dinner later that night after the meeting was over, and flew back to Salt Lake City the next morning. It was a very short trip, but one that will be powerfully etched on my memory. It was fun, exciting, and touching... all at once.

Some other fun things that I learned in New York, New York.

• East coast oysters are a ton better than west coast oysters.
• Not all of the buildings are as tall as we think they are... In fact, in many ways Manhattan is just like many other cities across the United States.
• Never buy Cashmere anywhere else except from a street vendor in New York City. It's the same thing and a TON cheaper.
• New York City really isn't that much colder than Utah.
• True "New Yorkers" must eat out everyday because you could never buy (nor afford) everything you need at one of their city markets.
• So-called California drivers have NOTHING on New York cabbies. Yes, they really are as crazy as Hollywood portrays them.