When I got out of the subway just before 9 am, I saw what everyone was looking up at. It was the fire and smoke from the first plane that crashed into the World Trade Center tower (the one below, on the right). I walked to the deli for breakfast, and when I got out, I saw that the second tower was also hit by a second plane, apparently while I was in the deli. While my office, near Canal Street, is not all that far from the World Trade Center, I didn't hear any of the crash noises or the collapse noises later.
For the next hour, we watched from our 13th-floor window at the smoke and flames, and eventually, as the buildings collapsed. I personally only saw the end of the first building's collapse, and I chose to wait until the other one was gone to go back and look. I felt that if I needed to see it, I would see it on TV later. I just didn't want to see it with my own eyes.
The evacuation seemed rather orderly. Within an hour, the streets near the Holland Tunnel were clear.
