In a New York Minute

This house sit went way too fast! We started the Brooklyn house sit last Wednesday and just completed it this (Monday) pm. We head back to the UK tonight on an 11:40 pm flight to London via Lisbon.

Here are some highlights from our brief time in the big city.

First, one last glance at our gorgeous Brooklyn cats.

Last Wednesday, after getting settled into our Brooklyn home, we headed out to take advantage of the gorgeous winter day — 60 degrees! We headed for Prospect Park, but discovered that the nearby Botanical Gardens was having a free-entry day, so we decided to explore that instead. It was good that we got out Wednesday, as the City basically shut down Thursday due to a fast-moving snowstorm that dumped about 8 inches in the area.

The Japanese Pond in the botanical garden

The conservatory building at the botanical garden

Thursday we spent mostly inside due to the weather, so we were eager to get out on Friday even in the chilly weather (highs in low 30s with a crisp wind). We decided to take the subway into Manhatten to visit the 911 Museum and Memorial and then walk back into Brooklyn.

The Oculus, the new shopping center/metro stop to replace the one destroyed on 9/11. It was designed by Santiago Calatrava. Unfortunately, a 23 year old teacher died falling off the escalator after a night on the town.

One of the first displays in the 9/11 Memorial Museum (very well done) is a montage of photos of people watching the events unfold on that day.

A quilt with the names of all 2,997 individuals killed on 9/11 — in NY, DC, and PA.

The museum details the events of 9/11, the recovery/clean-up process, and then the longer-term impacts and rebirth.

I love this quote. The installation is to honor all of the individuals killed in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing as well as those killed in the World Trade Centers on 9/11.

This is one section of the memorial outside of the museum. There are 2 areas where the former towers stood — each surrounded by walls with the names of those who died. The plaza also has a number of cypress trees on it, including the only one to have survived the attack.

It was a brisk walk over the Brooklyn Bridge, and we have done it before, but the views never get old. We also enjoyed watching the tourists (somehow we don’t consider ourselves tourists when we house sit) taking their selfies on the bridge.

Walking towards Brooklyn on the popular bridge

‘Nuff Said. It was pretty sweet to get off the bridge down to where the wind wasn’t quite as brisk!

On Saturday, we ran some errands and then headed to the New York Transit Museum which is housed in a former subway station. The museum provided a great overview of the building of the lines (both on land and underwater), the efforts needed to keep the system running ( or get it back in operation) after both man-made and natural disasters, and showed the history of turnstiles, payment methods, and train cars.