An Amazing Day in NYC

Editor's note: The second-year Lambton College Digital Photography students are on a five-day work study visit to New York City. Follow our daily blog about the adventure. Each day students will share their thoughts on the experience. Please join us as we experience New York City

Day 3 By Eric Davison and Seth Myers

They say that everyone remembers where they were on 9/11.  Those of us in the group who were old enough to remember the events of that day are no exception.  Personally, I remember sitting in my first year anthropology class at Trent University when the teacher mentioned that something had happened in the US.  It wasn’t until I got back to my residence that I learned the full extent of what had transpired.  Unfortunately, I arrived just in time to see the live footage of some of the victims jumping to their deaths from the towers (something that caused me to experience nightmares at the time), and those images have become permanently burned into my memory.  As you can imagine, it was a pretty heavy start to our day.  If you’ve never been to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, we highly recommend it, if you are visiting New York.  The amount of wreckage, artifacts, and collected memories (it’s interactive, so you can even share your own via recording studios and written digital messages) that have been preserved is staggering, but also quite haunting, so be prepared.   We spent about 2 hours at the museum, and we still ended up having to rush through parts of it to keep to our schedule because there is just so much to see.

Luckily our day wasn’t all doom and gloom.  After the 9/11 memorial, we made our way over to Broadway and St Paul’s Chapel.  Churches are usually an excellent place for photos—especially when they are so old.  As beautiful as the chapel was on the inside, there was some construction and maintenance going on, which made it difficult to take a lot of pictures.

After St. Paul’s we checked out Trinity Church since the two churches are so close together.  There was a service going on inside, so we walked around the grounds before lunch instead.  The light here was pretty amazing at that time of day, and the grounds house the only remaining active cemetery in Manhattan.  I’ve always enjoyed photographing in cemeteries, especially when they contain such old grave sites.  This cemetery is actually the burial place of Alexander Hamilton and his grave drew a lot of crowds (probably due to the popularity of the Broadway show “Hamilton”).

            At that point we took a break for lunch.  I’ve yet to eat food that wasn’t delicious here.  You can pretty much stop in any of the little restaurants and delis and have a good meal (which we’ve done every day so far).

            Our afternoon was a busy one.  We made our last church stop at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and this time we made it inside.  The interior (and exterior for that matter) is pretty majestic, and luckily there was no work being done here, so we were able to take a lot of photos.  It can get a bit crowded inside, despite its immense size, but it’s well worth it.   We also visited the National Museum of the American Indian (another amazing old building filled with art and artifacts), followed immediately by the MoMA (Museum of Modern Art).  MoMA is the home of such works as Starry Night by Van Gogh, and The Persistence of Memory by Dali, so it’s pretty much a must see in New York.  Some of us also had a good time people-watching in the sculpture garden, as the museum draws people from all over the world.

            Today was probably one of the longest days we’ve had so far (we left the hotel at 7:45am), and despite the sad start, it was also an amazing one.  I’m overtired, I’ve walked farther in three days than I have in the last three years, I hurt pretty much everywhere, but at this point, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Trying To Remember The Colour of the Sky” at the 9/11 Museum in Manhattan.  Thousands of artists from around the world were asked to paint a water colour square that depicted the colour of the sky on 9/11 as they remember it.  The quote from Virgil reads: “No day shall erase you from the memory of time.”

A man watches a video depicting the Ladder 3 fire truck from the FDNY on 9/11, the remnants of which have been preserved and are on display at the 9/11 Museum in Manhattan.

Makeshift memorial hung on a fence in front of The World Trade Center in New York City on Friday, October 14, 2016 in memory of the fallen.

The morning sun shines through the "The Oculus" the new World Trade Center transportation hub.  The unique center designed to look like a bird being released from a child's hand,  just recently opened.  Photo by Richard Beland

Commuters and shopper move through "The Oculus" the new World Trade Center transportation hub.  The unique center designed to look like a bird being released from a child's hand,  just recently opened.  Photo by Richard Beland

Foundation of the World Trade Center in New York City on Friday, October 14, 2016 uncovered in their original placements.

Emily sits on a post to rest outside the new trade center in New York City on Friday, October 14, 2016 to get her legs a rest.

Bryce takes photos as a statue holds his head in New York City on Friday, October 14, 2016

Man smokes cigar with friends outside National Museum of Native Americans in New York City on Friday, October 14, 2016.

A Geometric New York City building outside subway station in New York City on Friday, October 14, 2016.

Inside of St. Patricks’ Cathedral in New York City on Friday, October 14, 2016

Street biker taking a break from his commute in New York City on Friday, October 14, 2016 to check his phone.

Our group pause outside the Museum of the American Indian for a photo during an Amazing Day in NYC. 

Instructor Dave Chidley gives a thumbs up to paparazzi Seth Myers inside the “MoMA” in New York City on Friday, October 14, 2016