Has anyone been down to Ground Zero?

[Frog4N6]

I live in Washington, DC but went to New York City the week before Christmas. ON my third day there I went down to Ground Zero. Ironically enough, I showed up just when they were tearing down what was left of Building 6 and some of the ash wafed (sp?) over us. It was a small amount of soot yet it stung your eyes and I remember thinking to myself "I can't imagine what it muct have been like down here on Sept. 11th." I think I'd still be having nightmares about it.

The site was hard to see because they did not have the "viewing platforms" when I was there (and personally I think that's tacky). Most of the debris has been hauled away and now it looks like a construction site.

I hope they rebuild a combination office structure and memorial on the site.

[_wtb_kisses84-92]

hi frog
i didnt get to go yet but for advent my class bought toys and gifts for a few families of the firfighters who passed away our pictures were in the paper and since its our last year at my school we might take our class trip nyc so maybe we'll get to go to ground zero my friend went there n she said the feeling was just so overwhelming that she couldnt stay there she was in tears and to think of what was there and isnt nemore its very sad just thinking about it i remember exactly how that day went but the one thing that sticks to me was when the pentagon was crashed into i just thought holy #### both of my parent s are in D.C. and i remember the planes just coming into the wtc's and i realized this is really happening its not just planes crashing its ppl dying it just our world was so.....surreal i never expected anything in my life like this to happen then i was just looking out of our classroom window and then it just hit me md's wtc is right in front of our school and i was even more hysterical it sared the #### out of me i just wonder why is it only when tragedy strikes do people unite and as it is we are already going back to our old ways i lived with an arab family for two months andseeing how much they go through it hurts just watching and hearing the ignorant remarks people make some americans think that just because it happened here it means that nobody else is hurt but they are i think everyone in the world lost something when this happened
sorry for blabbing so much
~Piper~

[WTBluver4Life]

no i havent been there, but o man do i ever want to. it might sound morbid but i LOVE nyc, its my favourite place in the world, so i kinda feel like im obliged to go.... ya know? well probably no, but whatever. lol!

[charmed]

is the air around the area like bad or is it normal?

[Frog4N6]

Someone had asked what the air quality was near Ground Zero--not great! Although I'm sure it has vastly improved since September. On the avenues (even in midtown--Ground Zero is lower Manhattan) if there was a good breeze you could smell the destruction. Nothing specific, just like a site smells after there has been a fire.

[charmed]

i guess it would be like christmas time when the bushfires swept across sydney new south wales and made the air smell like smoke and stuff

[CosmicBug]

I will be in NYC next week. I haven't decided it I'm going to visit the site or not. I have very mixed feelings. I also love NYC. I think it's the second greatest city in the world (the first being Chicago -- where I live). If I don't go to the WTC site, it will probably be because of time restraints.
--CB

[BSDDomi]

I was there in December 2003. And the atmosphere wasn't the greatest as you can imagine. Some people were snapping pictures and taking videos while others were just crying but it still was very quiet. I didn't know how to feel since last time I'd been there was in March 1994 and everything was fine back then, we'd even climbed the tower but I remember not being able to walk to the very top because of the World Trade Center bombing in 1993.

This is what it looked like when I was on the twin tower in 1994:

http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/4411/nyc01et7.th.jpg (http://img231.imageshack.us/my.php?image=nyc01et7.jpg)

And this is what it looked like in December 2003:

http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/3922/1000134tp3.th.jpg (http://img231.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1000134tp3.jpg)

Oh thought you'd like to see this:

http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/5140/wtcrh4.th.jpg (http://img216.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wtcrh4.jpg)

[jenron12]

I'd like to go to the memorial site in Pennsylvania, but no one else in my family is interested in going... has anyone been there? It's not too far from where I live.

[jmar]

I was at Ground Zero in December 2001 - at first I went alone, no one else wanted to go, then, I discovered that my family was following several blocks behind me. So we ended up there together. It was very eerie at the time & very - quiet. Almost no one spoke & there was no activity that day (a Sunday) - it reminded me of the quiet in an empty cathedral. Early morning, many people just walking through, everyone sad, pictures of loved ones lost. On our walk there we passed a fire company near Chinatown that lost all but one firefighter. It was a very emotional day.

I've driven past the PA memorial site, I mean the exit off the turnpike, but I've never been, Jenron. I can't even watch movies about 9/11 & it took me several years to watch the opening shots of L&O and SVU because they showed the twin towers.

[jenron12]

jmar, I have a friend who lives in Addison, PA (I'm not sure where that is, but she says it's really close to the crash site) and she's the same way... she's driven past it several times but can't bring herself to stop.