It is free to get in but you must make a reservation well in advance. I booked our tickets for October 21st way back in August. By the time of the anniversary celebrations and grand opening of the memorial on September 11th they were saying that they were booked up until December so I guess it was a good thing that I booked the tickets when I did.
Our visit started with a long queue. That was when I realized I'd forgotten our printed reservation back in the hotel. duh. Guess I'm not the only one to do that since they had a booth where you could show ID and get them reprinted.
The line up to get in was really long and winded back and forth across a big city square 6 or 7 times. From there you were herded down alongside a construction site and inside a security building. All bags, coats, belts and watches had to go through an x-ray machine and then you had to walk through a metal detector. Security was pretty tight, but nobody complained. Once through security there was a narrow fenced in area about a block long to walk until you got to the memorial and there were with multiple security checks (tickets and ID) along the way.
In the line I wasn't sure how I felt about being there. How was I was going to feel inside the memorial? Would I be upset? Would I feel a connection to the horrible event that took place here and the thousands who perished? What if I didn't? Would that make me a bad person??? I really wasn't sure what to expect from myself and from the experience.
In the end, I'm not sure how to describe how I felt there other than to say I was moved to tears and beyond. We stayed in the memorial for over an hour. We didn't talk much. We walked around the footprints of both of the WTC buildings. We read the names of all the people who died. We cried. We hugged. This is pretty much what everybody else was doing too.
Thank you for sharing. I am glad you had an opportunity to see it.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for posting this.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a child I walked by the construction of the twin towers on the way to my father's office.
I've been wondering how the memorial turned out.
It must have been an incredibly moving experience..
It was very moving. I liked the way they had grouped people's names so that they were with people they worked with or were associated with. The many names of women listed with "and her unborn child" really got me. I am glad I went. It was good to acknowledge.
ReplyDeleteThe memorial plaza was really quite beautiful. Lots of young oak trees between the footprints of the buildings. Oh and I forgot to post the picture of the one surviving tree. They have replanted and anchored it and it was all snarled and scarred but with a ton of new growth. I'll have to post it later.
The design of the "footprint" fountains was interesting, they left me with a feeling of negative space, emptyness, void. Which I suppose is what they were supposed to represent.
And despite the big line up to get it it was quite spacious and not at all crowded inside the memorial.
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