{"id":25484,"date":"2018-09-11T09:50:45","date_gmt":"2018-09-11T13:50:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/?p=25484"},"modified":"2024-01-17T11:29:34","modified_gmt":"2024-01-17T16:29:34","slug":"where-were-you-during-9-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/where-were-you-during-9-11\/","title":{"rendered":"WHERE WERE YOU DURING 9\/11?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Where<\/div>\n

9\/11\/2001<\/h2>\n

\nI still remember it like it was yesterday. It’s hard to believe that it’s been 17 years<\/strong>…<\/p>\n

\nHere is my story…<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was on vacation…<\/h2>\n

\nWe (my friend and I) had just flown out to Venice <\/strong>the day before (9\/10<\/strong>). We got in late, ate a wonderful meal just outside of St. Mark’s Square<\/strong>, and the very next morning we turned the tv on…<\/p>\n

\nAnd saw video of the first twin tower smoking<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\nThey kept showing the footage over and over again. And we didn’t understand it because it was all in French<\/strong>. We turned the channel, same thing, smoking tower; French. It looked like a movie<\/strong>. We couldn’t comprehend it, didn’t think it was real<\/strong>…<\/p>\n

“What is this? Is that New York?”<\/h2>\n

\nWe finally found CNN<\/strong>, and learned that it was a terrorist attack on New York City<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\nWe sat there dumbfounded<\/strong>. It couldn’t be… New York? It felt surreal<\/strong>. We thought it was some kind of televised show, shooting a film, something made up<\/strong>…<\/p>\n

\nBut as we sat there, listening to the live breaking news, correspondence, chatter, mass confusion<\/strong>, we realized there really was an attack on American soil<\/strong>. It was happening at home.<\/p>\n

And then the second plane hit…<\/h2>\n

\nWe were speechless. Paralyzed. Seeing it happen on live tv… We felt so helpless. Especially being so far away<\/strong>…<\/p>\n

\nWe tried to call home but all the lines were busy. We sat watching the broadcast for hours, like a dreamscape. We watched tv on and off the entire day, still trying to call home with no luck<\/strong>…<\/p>\n

All that day and the next we felt numb…<\/h2>\n

\nWe went walking about Venice, and exactly at Noon, on 9\/12, the entire city stood still<\/strong>. Every place, every store, everything shut down<\/strong> and stopped for a full 5 minutes. All the businesses closed their gates, people halted, paused for a moment of peace and silence. It was all in remembrance of 9\/11 victims<\/strong>. The aura was quiet, calm, and very heartfelt. All around stores and shops hung American flags that blew beautifully in the wind<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Everywhere you looked; red, white and blue!<\/h2>\n

\n\"9-11<\/p>\n

\"American<\/p>\n

\n\"9-11<\/p>\n

A couple days later we traveled to Florence (Firenze)…<\/h2>\n

We ventured around the city and sights, and saw more signs of remembrance<\/strong>, posters, signs, condolenses everywhere we went…<\/p>\n

\n\"9-11<\/p>\n

But not everyone was supportive…<\/h2>\n

\nAs the days progressed, and President Bush retaliated, we felt it across the globe. We ran into protests going on in the squares<\/strong>. Mobs of people with signs and flags… Protesting against Bush<\/strong>. Some of the folks didn’t want to be part of his war<\/strong> (our war)… And it actually made us a little scared to be there, to be American<\/strong>. It was a volatile time. We moved away from the public outcries and stuck to the more touristy areas<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

We didn’t encounter any ill-will, but could have…<\/h2>\n

\nWe were in Florence for 5 days<\/strong> (just like Venice). And the entire time we had no idea whether we would be able to fly back as scheduled, or not (All flights were grounded)<\/strong>. We got lucky though, our flight was one of the first flights allowed back into the states<\/strong>. And it was packed…<\/p>\n

\nAboard the plane were tons of people who had been trapped overseas for a week and couldn’t get back to their loved ones<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\nAnd when we finally did touch ground in the USA, the entire plane erupted in cheers of joy<\/strong>. Everyone was clapping and shouting, happy to be safe… It brought tears to your eyes.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\nTo this day I fully remember the support, and the protests as well. Seeing all those American flags was bizarre<\/strong>… After all, if the attack had been on Italy instead, do you think we would put their flags up???<\/strong><\/p>\n

It really makes you think.<\/h2>\n

\nSure they had a lot of American tourists there at the time, and maybe they wanted to make us feel better… But you know what? It worked<\/strong>. It was touching. Especially at such a traumatic time…<\/p>\n

\n9\/11 is still painful to me<\/strong>. All the footage, the stories, the loss… It’s hard to imagine… I have stacks and stacks of newspapers, memorials, magazines stored away from that awful tragedy<\/strong>. <\/p>\n

\nMy hats off to all those that were affected and directly involved by 9\/11. All those that helped save lives… All those that perished<\/strong>. The red line, the blue line, we will always remember you, the twin towers, and the spirit of the nation<\/strong>. We will stand strong together.<\/p>\n

\nWe have to!<\/strong><\/p>\n

So what about you?<\/h2>\n

\nWhere were you, what were you during 9\/11?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\nLet me know in the comments below…<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

9\/11\/2001 I still remember it like it was yesterday. It’s hard to believe that it’s been 17 years… Here is my story… I was on vacation… We (my friend and I) had just flown out [Read More…]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25485,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-jewelry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25484"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25484\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewelry-secrets.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}