the 9/11 memorial at the WTC site opened this september. fountains have replaced the 2 towers, as you can see here. lit during the night. i took this pic from our hotel room, at 7 in the morning, new york just waking up on a sunday.... they are still working there, as you can see.
to visit the memorial, you need to reserve passes in advance, (they are free, however) specifying date, time and number of people. i tried (here), but it was booked until end of october. since we could see it from our window, that was ok. you could also stand in an enormously long line at the day you are there, to see if there are still any passes left. why isnt it just open for everyone to see? perhaps its just temporary, and they dont want this place to be overcrowded. there are 2 entrances, one for normal visitors, and one for family/friends of the victims. both require an airport-style security-check.
the two fountains have all the names of the victims engraved, also those of the attack on the WTC in 1993. here you can read more about it, also how they arranged all the names.
on saturday, we went to the international center of photography in new york (free entrance with our bankcard!). i wanted to go there since they had an exhibition about 9/11, to mark the 10th anniversary. however, there was also an exhibition of the danish photographer peter sekaer, who photographed the usa between 1935-1945. those were really good. the professional 9/11 photos did not impress me that much. but... there was also a small room with many, many photos having something to do with that day or the WTC site itself, which were taken by "people". this was a project, i forgot the details, but they asked everyone who felt like it to send in their pictures of that day, the aftermath, or how the WTC looked before... and those were really impressive. some were really good, and many of them really sad. i didnt understand why they put those in such a cramped room....
