Downtown, the World Trade Center towers have already collapsed. At 45th Street, near 1st Avenue, the sky is clear. On the streets, the exodus out of the city has begun. It's strangely quiet.
This is the view at about 10 am on Tuesday, 11 Sept. 2001. You can see the Turkish Embassy and a view of Queens. Just south of this view, across the street, the United Nations building has been evacuated.
On Second Avenue, in the 50s. Everyone is heading north. The city has been shut down - you can only get out by walking across some of the bridges. There is no sign of panic, only shock.
People calmly, quiety make their way to the 59th Street bridge, to their homes, or to the Blood Center.
That night, I and my friend, Hillary, tried to reach the WTC site to see, to volunteer. You could only get as far as Houston Street. The police had cordonned off downtown beginning at Houston and across the width of Manhattan. If you live below Houston, you have to show some identification to pass through the police line.
This convoy of dumptrucks was on its way to the devastation site to begin the rescue-recovery operation.