Downtown

Today I venture out on my own. A good tourist, heading to the sights down town.

Ground zero and the memorials. At present no museum open, so whilst tasteful and evocative, it's a bit strange. The church though, where they ran the rescue and clearing up from, is far more powerful and thought provoking.

This is the Freedom tower going up on the site. Apparently lower than the twin towers though it towers above the rest of the skyline. It's hard not to be impressed by all these buildings.

Brooklyn bridge, Wall street and the Staten Island ferry out to see the lady with the lamp. The knee is doing well in and gets brownie points and extra icing for its pluck.

Down town is very interesting. Little snippets of history on the buildings; so many of them built in the early 20th century, and by the 1920s skyscrapers already going up. Fascinating imagining the swashbuckling in the 16 and 17 hundreds, with ports on both sides, Washington's capital, and the signing of the bill of rights. It's not quite what I'd thought it'd be. Ellis islands and the millions of arriving migrants. Of course you're learning something new everywhere you go, but intriguing in making you think a bit deeper than Hollywood.

The morning, a palaver of changing flights and arranging doctor's appointments. It's very dull, but the grind in the joint is horribly recognisable. I've put aside notions of a DRC consultancy in honour of the last time I went to a remote village with a knee problem and ended up stranded for a week, in agony and unable to walk. Everything is done with utmost caution.