They're really not there anymore. I watched both the towers fall live on television and have seen it replayed countless times, but it's still a shock the first time you drive into New York and they're not there. Heading for the Lincoln Tunnel on I-95, it was obvious where they were supposed to be. More than two years after the attacks it was still a little unsettling that they weren't there.

Ryan suggested a quick weekend in the city and no sooner had we decided on going that we learned a friend of his had an extra bedroom we could use. The only thing better than a weekend in New York is a cheap weekend in New York. We'd be there only one night though, since Ryan would have to work next week.

"Something between Vegas and Disney."
Turns out Ryan's friend lives on Central Park West and is amazingly kind and welcoming, a nice surprise that made us want to just hang out in her apartment rather than actually see New York. But after a late arrival and later morning, we set out toward Times Square just a few blocks away. This was my first visit to New York in about ten years, so you can imagine how surprised I was walking down Broadway. My last New York trip was while I was still in school at Syracuse and at the beginning of Guiliani's cleanup. What was a grungy neighborhood trying to fix its act had become something between Vegas and Disney. In fact, Disney's ABC studio with its distinctive curvy news ticker sits in the middle of it all.

Of course I've seen all this from various camera angles, but it was interesting to see how it all fits together. David Letterman and CNN a few blocks north. MTV on the northwest side of the square. ABC and TGI Friday's to the east. NBC of course, the original network presence on Times Square with its big peacock over the jumbo TV that you see at the end of Nightly News.

"Billboards the size of skyscrapers."
I didn't, though, get that feeling of being at the center of the world. Times Square on TV looks like every bit of energy on the planet is focused on those few blocks. News tickers dash across buildings, giant TV's flash programs nobody can or cares to hear, billboards the size of skyscrapers loom overhead. Taxi drivers plow their way through traffic. Maybe it's because it was a Sunday, or because it was night when the neon takes over, or because things just look cooler on TV. But it's still a spot unique in America... and so far as I've seen... the world.

I'd ridden nearly every subway system in the United States except for New York's. It's dizzying combination of letters and numbers, colors and shapes were enough to make me think I had no hope of finding my way around. But Ryan and I dived in and survived. We took the blue train from Times Square to World Trade Center. They really still call the station "World Trade Center."

You walk out of the station straight into what's come to be called "Ground Zero," the enormous crater left after the remains of the towers were hauled away. It's been cleaned up enough now that it's not all that emotional. It's difficult to imagine the enormity of what went on here. The concrete sidewalks, asphalt streets and road signs have all been replaced. Most of the surviving buildings next door have been shored up, cleaned up and look as good as new. Even the enormous metal fence around the site ads to the feeling that everything here is just as we always wanted it to be.

"A very American notion."
There's no longer anywhere to get an unobstructed view into Ground Zero, at least not that we found. You must look through the metal fence at an angle that doesn't allow you to see much. Not that there's much to see anymore. Everything seems to be done, the site waiting for us to decide what we want to do with it. I hear the plan is build a tower that will be the world's highest. A very American notion that, while not my first choice, is an inspiring idea. For a few years the World Trade Center made New York home to the tallest skyscrapers in the world. Their replacement will give the city that distinction once again.

It's only a few blocks from the World Trade Center site to Battery Park, a small green space on the southwest tip of Manhattan that I think was built on land reclaimed from New York Harbor. It's now home to "The Sphere," the big stylized metal globe that stood on the plaza of the World Trade Center. It was dedicated in the 1970's as a symbol of world peace. Amazingly it survived, battered and torn, when the towers collapsed around it. It was cleaned up and placed in Battery Park. Oddly, a sign in front calls it a "temporary memorial," yet the same sign goes on to mention the "eternal flame" that's been lit at its base.

From Battery Park it's not far to Wall Street, where I saw the New York Stock Exchange for the first time. It's a rather unremarkable neoclassical building that happens to be right next to Federal Hall, where George Washington was sworn in as America's first president. Who knew? His statue look out from the front step almost directly at the stock exchange.

We headed back for Washington around dusk, which made for a brilliant drive through Times Square. You haven't seen Time Square till you've seen it at night... or better yet, when there's still a tinge of blue in the sky. Amazing. With no paper map I sat in Ryan's passenger seat navigating with his laptop computer and street map program. We probably looked a little odd, but after a couple of missed approaches we found the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel and the road home.