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Monday, September 11, 2006

9/11: We remember! / Le 11 Septembre: On se rappelle!



Much has been said already about September 11 and its consequences troughout the World and I will not try to duplicate anyone's effort today. Yes, of course, I still remember that morning pretty vividly. I doubt if anyone in this country - in the World! - ever forgets that day.

Le 11 Septembre est ses conséquences ont déjà fait couler pas mal d'encre et je ne vais pas rajouter grand chose à ce qui a déjà été dit. Oui, bien sur, je me souviens encore exactement de ce matin là. Ca m'étonnerait que qui que ce soit dans le pays - dans le monde! - n'oublie jamais ce jour là.

I will never forget either the breathtaking view of Manhattan from the windows of that posh restaurant, appropriately called Windows on the World. Ironically, security took my bag and my camera before I got up there so I never could photograph that incredible view, but I remember the intense pleasure it gave me to just sit there and watch the sun go down on Manhattan ...

Je n'oublierai jamais la vue magnifique sur Manhattan depuis les fenêtres de ce restaurant chic, appelé très à propos Fenêtres sur le Monde. C'est ironique mais les services de sécurité ne m'avaient pas laissé monter avec ma sacoche et mon appareil photo alors je n'ai jamais pu photographier cette vue incroyable, mais je me me souviens du plaisir immense que j'avais eu à regarder la nuit tomber sur Manhattan de là haut ...

Let me just leave you with the cute story of that French guy, Philippe Petit, who in 1974 broke into one of the Twin Towers overnight when it was still partially in construction, went up to the very last floor, rigged his gear to walk a tight rope between the two buildings and did it the following morning for about an hour, just because. Of course, he was arrested, but he was also copiously cheered by the New Yorkers that morning. Check out the video of his interview (requires Quick Time) and the transcript on the PBS website if you want more details. By the way the PBS documentary about the Twin Towers from which that video comes from was very well made and I highly recommend it.

Je vous laisse avec l'histoire sympa du Français Philippe Petit qui, en 1974, monta en plein milieu de la nuit jusqu'au dernier étage de l'une des Tours du World Trade Center encore sous construction, passa la nuit à y attacher son équipement et qui le lendemain matin devant des New-Yorkais ébahis mais enchantés marcha à la corde raide pendant une heure entre les deux immeubles. Philippe Petit fut arrêté, bien sur, mais aussi largement applaudi ce matin là. Malheureusement les liens que j'ai pu trouver sur Philippe Petit sont tous en Anglais, on se demande bien pourquoi. Essayez quand même la video de son interview (il faut Quick Time) et l'article de PBS si vous voulez plus de détails. Le documentaire de PBS sur les tours en question était d'ailleurs très bien fait et je le recommande vivement.

(As usual, the accompanying photographs to this post are not uploading. Will try later.
(Comme d'habitude, les photos pour accompagner ce billet ne veulent pas monter. On essaiera plus tard.)

(Update: Came back later to upload. Still no go on the pictures, sorry. Fucking frustrating.)
(MAJ: Revenue plus tard pour telecharger les photos. Ca marche toujours pas, désolée. C'est vraiment chiant!)



* * * * *
Additional Resources:

Photographs of the Twin Tower from PBS.

To Reach the Clouds, book written by Philippe Petit.

6 Comments:

Blogger Elisabeth said...

Thanks for sharing other stories (and the best one, ever - the Philippe Petit tight-rope walking feat) about the Twin Towers. I will never forget the two times I visited them, once in August, 1974, and once again in the summer of 1984.

5:47 PM  
Blogger Tomate Farcie said...

Elisabeth: No, you won't! I left you a comment on your blog about that (same as the one below).

Dr. Denton: It's different for everybody. Some people feel it helps to go down there and see for themselves and some don't see the point.

I watched a documentary yesterday on PBS about "rebuilding," the proposed Memorial, the guided tours, etc. Apparently there is a even a little "museum" on site showing original pieces, including a piece of plane. They were saying that generally, there is not a dry eye in the room.

On the anniversary of 9/11, I go home "early," get together with my box of kleenex and my television and I watch the documentaries while going through my photographs and books of NYC ... alone. It's a private thing.

I wasn't even sure I wanted to blog about it this year, and then I thought I'd tell people the Philippe Petit Story, because it's positive and not very well known by the public.

The way I feel about it now is that there is nothing more to say about 9/11 that hasn't been said already. Everybody's still wounded, but we have absolutely no choice but to move on.

12:31 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Rien à dire de plus sinon que ces images nous resterons gravées à tout jamais.
Merci de nous montrer les tours sous un autre angle.

1:32 PM  
Blogger Eric said...

One, possibly, controversial question (althouhg I do not want it to be taken that way), what companies/people would be brave enough to work in the new towers?

9:46 PM  
Blogger Olivier said...

Merci pour ce rappel, et de raconter l'exploit de Philippe Petit.
Bonjour tristesse en cette connerie humaine des attentats.
J'ai un ami qui a reussit a sortir vivant des tours, mais depuis il est gravement malade et commence a perdre la vue.
Il existe a NYC au St Vincent's hospital un 'Wall of rememberance', a voir ca donne le frisson.

11:28 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Bonjour,

d’après moi les jours à Bush sont compter et il essait par tout les moyens d’effacer le passé mais le mal est fait et la vérité va le rejoindre avant la fin de ces jours.

Lien vers vidéos sur le 9/11 ici -> http://tv.boutick.com/videos.php?id=vid46

1:37 PM  

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