A VISIT TO THE 911 MEMORIAL IN NYC
Hello there.
We’ve just returned from an 11 day adventure that took us to New York City where we spent 3 days visiting with family and friends and then embarked on a 7 day cruise to Bermuda. If you’ve been following along you’ll know that this trip was a graduation present to our youngest son Austin. It has been some time since I’ve been to The Big Apple and I had not yet made a visit to the 911 Memorial in NYC, nor had our son Austin.
A friend works in a building located across from the memorial and he invited us to visit him there where we were able to get a stunning, bird’s-eye view from the perspective of his 43rd floor office. At 43 stories tall, his office paled in comparison to the 1 WTC, which has 104 floors and stands 1,776 feet taller than the original Twin Towers.
The original Twin Towers were the tallest buildings in New York City. At 110 stories each, 1 WTC (North Tower) and 2 WTC (South Tower) provided nearly 10 million square feet of office space for approximately 35,000 people and 430 companies. For a brief period upon their completion in 1973, they were the tallest buildings in the world. They attracted roughly 70,000 commuters and tourists daily.
George Mironis, evacuee from the 48th floor of the North Tower, took the photograph below as he exited the World Trade Center on 9/11.
The National September 11 Memorial is a tribute to the remembrance of the nearly 3,000 people killed in the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 at the World Trade Center site. It also stands in honor of those lives lost on 9/11 near Shanksville, PA., at the Pentagon, as well as to the six people killed in the World Trade Center bombing in February 1993.
The Memorial’s twin reflecting pools are each nearly an acre in size and feature the largest manmade waterfalls in the North America. The pools sit within the footprints where the original Twin Towers once stood. Architect Michael Arad and landscape architect Peter Walker created the Memorial design that was selected from a global design competition that included more than 5,200 entries from 63 nations.
Thirty foot waterfalls cascade into pools, each then descending into a center void.
The names of every person who died in the 2001 and 1993 attacks are inscribed into bronze panels edging the Memorial pools. Nearly 3,000 names are arranged in “meaningful adjacencies” that reflect where the victims were on 9/11, and the relationships they shared with others who were killed on that day. Requests from victims family members to place certain names next to one another were also honored.
It is a heart wrenching and powerful reminder of the largest loss of life resulting from a foreign attack on American soil, and the greatest single loss of rescue personnel in American history.
The 9/11 Memorial opened on the 10th anniversary of the attacks. There is a museum here that is dedicated to preserving the history of the events of September 11, 2001.
With its grove of trees, the Memorial’s plaza is an actual green roof for the structure that houses the 9/11 Memorial Museum, a train station and other facilities 70 feet below street level. The plaza is lined with cobblestones and more than 400 swamp white oak trees, creating a space for reflection. To symbolize the areas impacted on 9/11, the trees were selected from a 500-mile radius of the WTC site, including nurseries located in New York, Pennsylvania, and near Washington, DC.
After our short visit to NYC we boarded Norwegian Cruise Line’s, Breakaway, for our voyage to Bermuda. Sailing out of New York Harbor down the Hudson River afforded us yet another incredible perspective on 1 WTC.
Towering above its neighbors, 1WTC stood out like a beacon of hope and perseverance, an amazing sight to behold.
The Celebrity Cruises ship, Summit, followed close behind.
Let us never forget.
The Memorial Mission Statement
Remember and honor the thousands of innocent men, women, and children murdered by terrorists in the horrific attacks of February 26, 1993 and September 11, 2001.
Respect this place made sacred through tragic loss.
Recognize the endurance of those who survived, the courage of those who risked their lives to save others, and the compassion of all who supported us in our darkest hours.
May the lives remembered, the deeds recognized, and the spirit reawakened be eternal beacons, which reaffirm respect for life, strengthen our resolve to preserve freedom, and inspire an end to hatred, ignorance and intolerance.
So there you have it: A VISIT TO THE 911 MEMORIAL IN NYC
If you’d like to learn more about the 911 Memorial visit their website by clicking here.
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