Some of you may know that we're off on a trip to the wine regions of Spain and Portugal, but we're getting there by a roundabout route: via the QE2 to England, a week in London, and a flight to Barcelona. The QE2 is scheduled to leave New York on Sunday – at least so far.
To make sure last-minute delays wouldn't be a problem, we had made reservations for Friday and Saturday nights in New York. As George Washington University Club members, we were able to stay at an affiliated hotel – five blocks from the World Trade Center.
The World Trade Center Club is also an affiliate, and we were thus able to make last-minute reservations for dinner at Windows On The World, on the 107th floor of 1 World Trade Center, for Saturday night. Even as I was adding a few details about our plans to e-mail to various people, the Today Show broke in to show smoke pouring from that tower, and I watched in horror as the second plane crashed into the other tower.
The Windows Trade Center Club also has breakfast for its members on weekdays, and we had been disappointed that we'd be arriving too late on Friday to take advantage of it. It's likely that the manager with whom I made reservations two days before was on duty, on the 107th floor, yesterday morning.