My New York City: "9/11 Memorial"

It took me a while to start this blog post... and even though I really enjoyed the Memorial itself and the atmosphere of I'd say "respect and remembrance" and "life celebration" there, every time I think about it, I remember being 14, watching TV at my grandma's, when all of the sudden all of the channels were switched to the live coverage of what was going on in NYC, the city of my dreams, that day. I remember having tears in my eyes and complete shock on my face, my heart pumping so fast, my breath taken away when the other tower was hit...and I was thousands miles away!

It is still hard for me to even imagine the fear, shock, disbelief and sorrow of Americans, of NYC citizens, of all people involved somehow, of workers, firefighters, police, regular people just walking by or working/living close by, children... so I will do my best to try to lead you through the memorial with my pictures and little overviews, and make you feel the atmosphere of this beautiful and unique place where remembrance of people taken away by this tragic day meets celebration of life and future!
My friend told me that the design competitions had been held for quite some time, which made me go to 9/11 Memorial Official website to find out more about it.

So apparently, "an International design competition was held in 2003 for selecting the design for a national memorial to remember and honor the people killed in terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and February 26, 1993. Design submissions totaled 5,201 and were received from 63 nations"! The winning design belongs to architects Michael Arad and Peter Walker.

When me and my friend entered the building to pick up our visitor passes, we realized that it was not only a ticket box, it actually was a little museum with a lot of insight information about that day (by minutes!), project plans and designs, pictures and even personal things of victims and their families! We spend good 45 minutes going through it, carefully reading every detail. I must say, I had goosebumps every step I took!

When we were finished, we picked up our tickets and headed to the memorial itself, which was just few blocks away. The 1st Tower, which is the one that had the most work done on so far and looks almost finished on the outside, can be seen from many different places in NYC (I believe just like it was with Twin Towers). But we had to go through one more procedure before getting onto the territory of the Memorial - a line to wait and a... security check! (and yes, it is just as strict and accurate as in airports).

On our way I sneak a peek through the fence at the construction site of what I believe was Tower #3 - it is an interesting feeling to realize that from what seemed nothing there is going to be another record breaking high skyscraper :)


Not a long wait, few regular procedures and we are on our way to the Memorial!

It looks amazing!! I mean, everything about is amazing: the way they introduce visitors to the Twin Towers' "home" place, the way you feel being there, standing there and realizing where you are, the way they expressed the feelings and emotions the world lived through that day and commemoration of the people lost is just unreal! The two "waterfalls" are situated exactly where the Twin Towers used to be and anyone can take a guess on what they represent right away: the way and quantity of the lives lost (and the way we feel about it)...

Although it is a very peaceful place now!

Nearly 3,000 names of the men, women, and children killed in the attacks of September 11, 2001 and February 26, 1993 are inscribed on bronze parapets surrounding the twin Memorial pools.
Names are stencil-cut into the parapets, allowing visitors to look through the names at the water, and to create paper impressions or rubbings of individual names. At night, light shines up through the voids created by each letter of a name.

 It was one of the most emotional trips to places of my life along with my 2007 visit of the place (at that time there was nothing but the subway station called "World Trade Center")

Thanks for taking the trip with me again!
Hope you enjoyed it, and if you're visiting NYC, please, visit this historical place and see it yourself!

P.S. For more NYC and other places go to the "Our World" section of my Blog ;)
Thank you for reading!

xo K