The 9/11 Memorial

Our hotel is right next to the 9/11 memorial but it took us a few days to venture over to visit it. I think I was actually avoiding visiting it because of all the sadness surrounding the event and also the reminder of what the event was. 

The memorial is located on the original site of the twin towers in the financial district of Downtown Manhattan.

There were many surprising features about the memorial. The most outstanding one was that the whole area has been converted to a large public open space with grass, trees and creative seating. This was in stark contrast to the surrounding city of concrete and high rise buildings towering skywards to make the most of the premium property in this wealthy district.

Another outstanding feature was that the rehabilitation work of the site was not yet complete. Surrounding the actual memorial was construction on all sides. It has been 14 years and much still needs to be done. The information we gathered from the locals indicated that it took years to complete ongoing investigations and then more years to decide what to actually do with the site.

The other extraordinary feature was the police presence around the site. Every corner and every entrance to the site had police officers from the NYPD. As you walked down the street, at times, there were more police officers than other pedestrians, and more police cars than civilian cars.

They have built a new building and called it the Freedom Tower, it is the one in the middle with the spire.

The Freedom Tower is quite a pretty building and adds to the NYC skyline. Up close (below) it takes on another perspective entirely, it looks like it goes on forever and ever, reaching up into the sky...some very clever architecture 

Below the freedom tower is a large concourse in preparation for the World Trade Centre transportation hub. It is being used in part, but construction is still underway...the initial area is impressive...

....and it looks like it is going to cater for a large number of people...

They actual memorial is two large water "fountains". Each fountain is a large square hole with cascading water on all four sides falling into the hole. The large square memorials are located on the original sites of the twin towers and are the actual size of the original footprint of each building. There are 8 cascades in total, four outer cascades on each side of the large square and an additional four in the smaller centre square. The water symbolises life. The cascade of water into the centre square, which does not have a visible bottom, represents the disappearance of life caused by the disaster.

The four sides of each square, at the top of the water falls, there are inscriptions of all those who lost their lives in the disaster...

...and those that lost their lives during the rescue efforts...

Many people were there to pay their respects...

It was a very solemn atmosphere

It was also very peaceful

...and yet...in the background...the city hustle and bustle continued

They also built a museum...

This is the view of the memorial from our hotel. The two large black holes are the two memorial water cascades on the actual sites of the twin towers in the foreground you can see the large area of construction.

The city surrounding the memorial.

It is a very large and sad reminder of the injury man can inflict on one another. The bible based hope of a world of love and peace is more poignant than ever.