9/11 ground zero.

[OLYMPIC]

I went to New York last year for the first time and visited the WTC site and even though it's now a massive building site i was overwhelmed by the scale of it.Also visited the museum that they have which has items recovered from the site including one of the windows from the 2 planes,the first hand accounts of events there is unbelievable.

Has anyone else on here visited the site and if so what are your thoughts about it.

[keithd]

i shall report back in 3 weeks, going there in a fortnights time and Ground Zero is high on the list of places to visit

[dubai_phil]

I went to New York last year for the first time and visited the WTC site and even though it's now a massive building site i was overwhelmed by the scale of it.Also visited the museum that they have which has items recovered from the site including one of the windows from the 2 planes,the first hand accounts of events there is unbelievable.

Has anyone else on here visited the site and if so what are your thoughts about it.

 

Been about 3 times now, first was about a year after. Just hits you as you get to the chapel on Broadway and the whole experience is just very sad

 

BTW for those heading there the other reason to be there is Century 21, probably the best outlet shop in the world

[saint lard]

I visited there approx 1 year after,quite a moving experience.

 

I just moved along the fence looking at the photos of lost loved ones,that was when the scale of what happened really hit home.

 

I took some photos whilst visiting the site,i did feel slightly uneasy in doing so,i chose to do the photos in black and white as opposed to colour,they are some of the most thought provoking and atmospheric photos i have ever taken,particularly the one of the iron girders that were in the shape of a cross/crucifix.

 

If you go to NYC take a trip to Battery park,where you get the ferry to Liberty island,there stands a large metallic sphere that was once in the central "courtyard" between the towers,it is still recognisable but carries the holes,dents, and overall damage that was created when the towers went down,i found seeing that also quite poignant.

[OLYMPIC]

I agree that it feels strange that one of the main tourist attractions is a place where just under 3000 people died,what i found worse was people trying to sell pictures of what had happened as the planes struck at the site but the police get rid of them fairly quickly.

Battery park is deffinatley worth a visit and you are right that sphere is a quite impressive when you consider the damage that happened around it and yet it survived.

[saint lard]

 

 

Not the best pic,but gives you an idea.

It's been made into more of a memorial now i believe.

[Nexstar]

Went to NY for the first time in June and went to ground zero and the museum.

 

Ground zero is obviously just a large building site but the museum was very moving, with videos of the building of the towers and the friendships of the people that worked there. And then to various item found in the rubble, such as a plane window, 2 melted police hand guns and pictures.

 

I had watched many programmes about 9/11 but it was just something very different reading someones account and thinking how it happened just outside of where i was. Went to battery park a couple of times but didn't actually see the sculpture, or atleast didn't realise the damage was a result of the collapse.

 

I also found it unbelieveable to think about how the towers stood in the middle of the financial district when looking from the rockafella centre (69 floors), with the towers being a massive 110 stories.

 

Dubai Phil: I thought centruy 21 was a terrible shop

[SaintSparky]

Visited NYC in the Easter of 2001, visited the WTC and did the then usual tourist bit of going up to the observation deck and the roof of tower two. Went to the shops including Century 21, it was cheap as chips so purchases were made. Stood between the two towers and looked up. Gave perspective to what happened in the September.

 

Have not been back to NYC since though would like to, however may wait until they have finished rebuilding.

[Junction 9]

I went to ground zero in 2006. I not sure how it made me feel really. Quite thought provoking I suppose, but it didn't really have that much affect on me.

[Guest Hacienda]

I used to travel to NYC every 10 days in the early - mid 90s. I went back for the 1st time since then in 2004.

 

The 1st thing I noticed was the great big "hole" in the skyline. It made me cry.

[toofarnorth]

I went in 2004 and it is just so hard to fathom that there were two really large buildings there. Very moving place.

[dubai_phil]

Went to NY for the first time in June and went to ground zero and the museum.

 

Ground zero is obviously just a large building site but the museum was very moving, with videos of the building of the towers and the friendships of the people that worked there. And then to various item found in the rubble, such as a plane window, 2 melted police hand guns and pictures.

 

I had watched many programmes about 9/11 but it was just something very different reading someones account and thinking how it happened just outside of where i was. Went to battery park a couple of times but didn't actually see the sculpture, or atleast didn't realise the damage was a result of the collapse.

 

I also found it unbelieveable to think about how the towers stood in the middle of the financial district when looking from the rockafella centre (69 floors), with the towers being a massive 110 stories.

 

Dubai Phil: I thought centruy 21 was a terrible shop

 

Not really the right place to discuss shopping, but it is a place you have to rummage and work hard at and depends on the time of year whether they have the current UK season in stockl at half price.

 

The whole going there thing as many have said brings the true tragedy home. That day will always live large, getting home, watching Sky/CNN in disbelieve and actually crying a bit when you saw the towers come down.

Living here and running the local office for an American Multi-National was also tough in the days following, an employee was on one of the planes, he was taking his fiance to Hawaii for their wedding, the other guests were all in the air at the time. Very sad.

(The company set up a special trust fund and raised almost a million US$ in donations in the first two weeks from employees friends, family, suppliers and customers)

Also the tales of lucky escapes and people marooned in the US and New York especially for a week with no communications to tell their loved ones they were ok

For us it caused huge worry and an outpouring of support for my people that we never had before or since for our business, suddenly the fear of retaliation or "bands of crazed fanatics" ransacking offices became a real worry, we spent hours making plans to evacuate staff, get emergency visas for something like 20 nationalities to relocate to Ireland. The Irish Embassy in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) and British Embassy in Dubai were absolutely fantastic, and although it sounds a bit kitsch these days, the email strings and messages of sympathy and support were amazing.

 

(Shame the French bought the company and threw all that history away - ho hum)

 

I consider myself lucky in some ways to have felt both sides of the argument, visiting the tribal lands in Pakistan and Ground Zero. Both sides have been very wrong, and for nothing really, the average Joe is no better off just the power hungry a**holes on both sides who felt better

[saint boggy]

Not really the right place to discuss shopping, but it is a place you have to rummage and work hard at and depends on the time of year whether they have the current UK season in stockl at half price.

 

The whole going there thing as many have said brings the true tragedy home. That day will always live large, getting home, watching Sky/CNN in disbelieve and actually crying a bit when you saw the towers come down.

Living here and running the local office for an American Multi-National was also tough in the days following, an employee was on one of the planes, he was taking his fiance to Hawaii for their wedding, the other guests were all in the air at the time. Very sad.

(The company set up a special trust fund and raised almost a million US$ in donations in the first two weeks from employees friends, family, suppliers and customers)

Also the tales of lucky escapes and people marooned in the US and New York especially for a week with no communications to tell their loved ones they were ok

For us it caused huge worry and an outpouring of support for my people that we never had before or since for our business, suddenly the fear of retaliation or "bands of crazed fanatics" ransacking offices became a real worry, we spent hours making plans to evacuate staff, get emergency visas for something like 20 nationalities to relocate to Ireland. The Irish Embassy in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) and British Embassy in Dubai were absolutely fantastic, and although it sounds a bit kitsch these days, the email strings and messages of sympathy and support were amazing.

 

(Shame the French bought the company and threw all that history away - ho hum)

 

I consider myself lucky in some ways to have felt both sides of the argument, visiting the tribal lands in Pakistan and Ground Zero. Both sides have been very wrong, and for nothing really, the average Joe is no better off just the power hungry a**holes on both sides who felt better

quite right.....

i was on a plane flying down the east coast of the USA on September 11th, and got diverted to Bangor in Maine for the 2 days til they lifted the no-fly ban........it was an incredibly surreal time for everyone.....i remember just watching the TV in the hotel room (they had switched off the tv's at the airport,so as not to freak people out too much) and being in total disbelief and shock at what i was witnessing.

like i said, it was a very dark and surreal time.

would really like to visit Ground Zero tho, just to realise the scale of the site and what happened on that day.

[OLYMPIC]

As someone said earlier having visited the site as it was last year i would go again when the new freedom tower is finally finished just to see how it changes the look of the area,and what permanent memorial might be there.

I must admit when you visit the museum it's the actually seeing the everyday things that were recovered that makes it more sad.Also makes you think to a degree how lucky we have been that the terror attacks that we suffered have not been of the same scale.

Looking back now it is a day in our lives that will define to some degree the rest of our life,if you think just about security how much is different to the time before 9/11 the security at airports etc.

[scott_saints]

Anyone else see the documetary on the "9/11 faker" last night??

 

What a sick, attention seeking, fat b1tch!!

[saint lard]

Anyone else see the documetary on the "9/11 faker" last night??

 

What a sick, attention seeking, fat b1tch!!

 

I did ,and i agree.

[saint1977]

Anyone else see the documetary on the "9/11 faker" last night??

 

What a sick, attention seeking, fat b1tch!!

 

Will watch via VM On-demand tonight but it defies belief. That said, you get nutcases that hang around disaster zones pretending to be doctors and officials but this woman might have gotten away with it 25 years ago. With 24 hour media and the internet though, she was always going to be exposed eventually. Can't imagine she's too popular in her NYC district!

 

I saw the previous one on the Marriott Hotel beneath the WTC and I was thinking "why didn't you evacuate the hotel immediately?". Trouble is, no-one thought it would collapse but the lack of masonary and the steel construction used meant it was cost-effective to build at that height but could never have withstood a white hot fire like that. The Empire State Building would have been gutted but would have stood and has more fire stairs which is a lesson high-rise builders need to observe, and not just seek to maximise rentable floor space. That said, no-one really knew what impact 2 huge jets with full tanks of fuel would have so it's harsh to blame anyone but NYCFD did rate the towers as very dangerous when they were built in the early 70s.

Edited 12 September, 2008 by saint1977