remember 9/11

Me in the insane Times Square

Next month will be the 10th anniversary of September 11. Ten years! I still remember where I was when it came on the news. And I'm not even American. I'd actually hadn't even given a thought to visiting Ground Zero when I was in New York last week. Today when I went back to Newseum, I started back at the 9/11 display. Straight away I noticed something I missed yesterday, which really made me aware just how blasé I'd become. On a bench near the wall of front pages was a box of tissues. It took me a second to work out why it was there. Then instantly I felt horrible for not comprehending just how significant the event still is for people here. And I should. It's still very real. Aussie troops are in Iraq because of it. I spent a bit more time at the display and watched a video interviewing some of the journalists who were working that day.

I was looking at a display on the freedom of press in other countries (Finland is rated as having the most free, North Korea the worst) when one of the employees asked if I'd like to see inside a TV studio. They have a couple of studios at the Newseum that are hired out, but that guests can look inside when they aren't filming. The studio I went in was being used by Al Jeezra English in a few hours. It's different from most studios in that it has a window, the view being the Capitol Building. The floor isn't attached to any of the walls, meaning if someone was drilling on the street, the vibrations might be felt on the walls of the building, but not on the floor, therefore not affecting the cameras.

The other displays I had left to see was a collection of photos taken by the Presidential photographer. My favourite was a picture of Lyndon Johnson howling along with the family dog. There was also an interactive floor, where you can can answer questions about what you would do in certain situations to learn about ethics in journalism, and a game where you have to interview people to get a story. I did quite well in both, which was comforting. After finishing the interview game, I was told my the computer that "I will go far". Good to know.

My bus back to New York left at 2.30pm so I headed back to Union Station to get to the bus stop. I'd spent just over another two hours in the Newseum and I still could have spent more. There were a lot of short screenings that I hadn't watched and would have been interested to see. If anyone is in DC, make sure you go there. It has everything: history, current events, media! My heaven!

The bus ride back to New York took a little longer than it should have. Not helped by the fact the bus left 45 minutes late. But there was free wifi so I passed the time online. Back in New York I picked up my luggage and walked to my new host's place - both stops were only a couple of blocks from where the bus dropped us. My new host is Jeremy. A Texas native who moved to New York about six years ago. He's travelled a LOT and got into Couchsurfing while he was travelling and now hosts to give something back. It was about 8pm when I got there so we headed out for dinner. Jeremy was great at telling me where to go, where not to go, where to eat, where not to eat: all the things you miss out on when you're travelling alone. It's always great to get a local's perspective. Despite the fact he does not like Times Square, he took me there so I could see it at night. He used to work around the corner so began to dread the place when stepping out to grab a coffee meant going to war with a sea of tourists. I thought the place was pretty crazy during the day, but at night it is insane. My first thought was of the power bill! It was spectacular, but also intense. We battled the crowd for a couple of blocks and then turned off to walk back to Jeremy's place.

View from the top of Jeremy's apartment building