Have you ever visited any September 11th attack sites?

[american_typeculture]

I've only driven by the Pentagon but I've been to the monument in Arlington Cemetery. It is surprising to me that the only federally recognized public memorial is The Flight 93 site.

[swag]

1. Like a lot of folks, I've been to WTC ground zero a few times,

most poignantly around Christmas 2002.

[k8conant]

2. I stayed at the Millenium Hilton and visited St Paul's Chapel

right there at Ground Zero in February 2006. I hadn't been to NYC in 50 years. I have driven by the Pentagon and not far from Shanksville but I didn't go to the site.

[liberalmuse]

3. The WTC...

New Years 2003. Very sad, of course. I can't imagine what New Yorkers went through on that day, seeing their beautiful city attacked like that, up close and personal.

[onenote]

4. WTC site and Pentagon

[pansypoo53219]

5. i had been to manhattan in 98'

and went back in 03' to visit my uncle and i had him take me down there. i didn't care about the WTC spot, but wanted to see what survived around it. and the surviving buildings were all pre-1900 or pre-1950. and i got to see that graveyard and church across the street, enjoying the setting sun it hadn't seen since they built the WTC.

i didn't go near the WTC in 98'.

[MannyGoldstein]

6. I Was At WTC A Week Or So After 9/11

Very weird.

Everything was covered with fine debris, like ash.

The site looked like a bad B movie made real - some of the remaining buildings were half-destroyed - one side looked fine, the other was gone.

Incredible.

[jobycom]

7. I've seen the WTC site. I saw it first late at night by accident.

I live in Austin, and I bought a Prius in Connecticut off Ebay (they were hard to get back then). So I took my parents, a niece, and my younger daughter to pick up the car--my parents had always wanted to see New York.

So we got lost touring the city in my new Prius on Saturday night--New York is a fun place to drive on Saturday night! We got twisted around, and didn't know where we were, so I pulled over and asked a cop (yes, I'm male!) how to get off the island and back to Connecticut. He told us to go up two blocks, turn around, and follow the road we were on around the curve and back up to a bridge (I forget exactly the directions). Anyway, we drove up the two blocks, dodging traffic, and turned around. My mother suddenly asked "Why is it all dark right there? Everything else is lit up?" I hadn't noticed, because I was driving, but I looked at where she was pointing. It hit all of us at the same time where we were. Dead silence, except my younger daughter, who was six, asking "What? What is it?"

I don't believe in ghosts, but I now understand why some places seem haunted. You could feel the pain. It had nothing to do with the site, only with our understanding of what had happened.

We went back the next day and spent several hours in the area, seeing the hole in the ground, and seeing the rest of the city, the life-affirming parts that proved that it all still goes on.

[no_hypocrisy]

8. WTC

and I'm a little surprised at how dispassionate and disconnected I feel when I gaze at the giant crater.

I used to be a law student at NY Law School and traveled underground on the PATH train to the WTC, ride the escalator up a couple of floors, cross the street to the Post Office, and then 10 blocks to school Monday to Friday for nearly three years.

I now ride the PATH train to the same stop, I see the newspaper stands where they used to be before the attacks, I ride the escalators, but when I get to the surface, the buildings are missing. That's disconcerting as far as things not being where they should. And it's also weird that everything else (all the other buildings, the traffic, etc.) seems so normal and okay, and the only thing off is two buildings are missing, there's construction in the hole where they used to be, and it's now a place for tourists to take pictures like Times Square. Very surrealistic and Kafka-like. I emotionally can't connect with the fact that the buildings were destroyed due to the hatred of 12-13 men and delusions of pleasing their god.

[kansasblue]

9. Pentagon and WTC

[low_phreaq]

10. Inside the interchange by the Pentagon

In November 2001 I was in DC on business. One evening I decided to take the Metro to the Pentagon. The first thing that struck me were the trucks with what I assume were anti-aircraft defenses spaced around the parking lot. I don't know if those were there prior to 9/11 or not. As I walked around the building I could see the damaged portion of the Pentagon. Construction workers were there rebuilding it.

In the distance I could see a highway interchange. Inside the loop of the ramps closest to the Pentagon, I could see some small trees. There appeared to be various items piled up around the trunks of the trees. There was a sidewalk that led from the Pentagon to cross under this interchange, so I went to take a look.

Hundreds of memories of all types had been placed around the bases of each tree, with some trees having a small mountain of memorials beginning to reach several feet up the trunk. Photos, letters, religious symbols, CDs perhaps with recorded messages or music, flags, flowers, and many other items had been left at this impromptu memorial with a view of the crash site.

I spent a couple hours there, going to each tree and getting a glimpse into the souls of those who had come before me to grieve or pay tribute. I called home to talk to my family, who were worried for me to make this trip so soon after 9/11. It had gotten dark, but I stayed a while longer to watch the construction crews work on the Pentagon under their bright lights. I didn't have much of anything with me, so I made a cross with some twigs I found on the ground, and placed it by one of the trees before I left.

I don't know how many people know about this memorial, or if it is still there. It moved me deeply, and was a good emotional release after having my guard up for a couple months.