What to pair with Ground Zero....
 

Is is possible to fit in Ground Zero (no tour), Grimaldis , walk over Brooklyn Bridge, AND MoMA in one day? Or, our we just kidding ourselves? Thanks for all the help, I am trying to finish an itinerary.

I'd venture to say that some people might find your approach to visiting the World Trade Center site a bit insensitve.

I've been past the World Trade Center site (I don't like to call it ground zero) three times on my visits to New York as I have seemed to find myself in lower Manhattan (the first time I came across it, it was unexpected and unplanned) and don't know what you are wanting or expecting out of a visit to the site, it is a giant hole in the ground with a fence around with some memorials and plaques (last time I was there it looked as if construction had begun though).

Sorry, I'll never forget going through a list of contacts at the company I worked for at that time and having to delete the names of the dead, I'm still not quite ready for it to be someone's tourist itinerary to be fit in with other 'sites'.

Vittrad, I couldn't agree with you more. The WTC site is not just another tourist attraction to fit into your schedule.

Andrew

The WTC area is a construction site, and as far as I know, no "tours" are offered anyway. If for some reason you feel compelled to walk by, do so, but please don't lump it in with a pizza place and an art museum.

There is nothing that "pairs" w/ the WTC terrorist disaster. Say a prayer.

And what if reynabeyna wants to say that prayer on site? I think you guys are a little harsh.
For first time NY visitors it might be a way of paying respect. Why will we have a memorial there otherwise? Should visitors not get close to the place until the memorial is done?
As a NY-er that still stops and tears up at the fence everytime I pass by, I don't see the harm in wanting to eat that day or going about other business. Anyway...

Reynabeyna, I think it's doable if you start your day early. From WTC site I would count 3-4 hours for walk to and over Brooklyn Bridge and lunch at Grimaldi's. I guess you'll take the train or a cab back in the city - that will give you a few good hours for MoMA.

Just reading the posts makes me tear up. We were there at Easter break. We stepped out of the subway, looked across the street and walked over to see what used to be magnificent buildings...now a huge hole with construction going on. As we walked closer and closer to the fence, I felt tears rolling down my face and and overwhelming sense that I wanted to be out of there as fast as I could, that I was embarking on sacred ground and shouldn't be there. If you have a strong intuitive sense of life, you'll feel it and understand. You'll also understand why the other posters are upset about including it with your itinerary. Forgive them, they're in pain and it's understandable.

I was there..and I'm not the least bit UPSET about your wanting to fit it in with other places..everybody travels differently which some here might do well to recall. It has nothing to do with disrespect IMO.

I agree that people have been a bit harsh on reynabeyna. Perhaps the post has a tone that may be interpreted as a bit flippant, but give her credit for thinking of taking time out of her vacation to pay respect for those lost. She does not appear to be visiting anything else in lower Manhattan, and, obviously, there is no memorial in place yet so she is making a special effort to include something important, somber and not "fun" during her trip. And all my NYer friends do call it ground zero - including the one who worked there and still has nightmares about his experience.

I agree that all of those things can be done, assuming you are the sort of person who likes to be busy all day.

As awful as 911 was, life does go on. Painfilly, but it does for those of us who witnessed it on our TVs and cried and for those who survived it in NYC. The fact that life goes on is not disrespectful, it is just the way it is. We continue to travel and figure out our itineraries, while remembering and honoring the terrible memory of what happened.

So I find it not at all disrespectful that she wants to see and experience the site, and also do other things that day. I don't think you have to plan to only see the site that day, as if that will somehow be more respectful of what happened. I think she was asking a perfectly normal question about how to schedule her day. I asked the same questions on the Asia board when I went to see the Peace Park and Atomic bomb site in Hiroshima, certainly a different situation but also a sacred place where the memory of huge destruction and death lives.

My advice would be to try to pair seeing the site with something life affirming and beautiful afterwards. Perhaps since you'd already be in lower Manhattan, have a nice lunch in Tribeca (I like supporting the businesses there that went through the events that day and are still recovering). And maybe then head over on the boat to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. For me, that would be life affirming, and a good thing to combine with the tragedy of 911, which we obviously all still hold in our hearts.

But you know, walking the Brooklyn Bridge and the beautiful art at MoMa is also life affirming. And walking the bridge would give them time to think about what they just saw.

After we went to Hiroshima I took a ferry with my teenage son over to the island of Miyajima, off the coast of Hiroshima. It was a very good thing to do, as the beauty of the island really helped after seeing the tragedy inside the Peace Park museum. And after the WTC site, we walked and walked, through Tribeca to lunch and to many of the art galleries that have reopened or opened anew in Tribeca.

Well said poster emd. For me it is respectful to visit in a quiet way and say a prayer.

Sandy

I agree with most here.

This was an insensitive way of asking about the site of the former World Trade Center.

I cringe at "ground zero" and so does everyone I know. It is a constructions site and there are no tours. And just be warned that they have started to build and there are explosions going off a few times a day as part of it. I also think a walk over the Brooklyn Bridge is a great thing to do after visiting the Trade Center. There is nothing wrong with continuing your day after a visit there. If you actually want to have a feel for what went on that day or really experience any part of it you should go to the Police Museum on Water Street. They have an amazing exhibit and after that you'll need a walk over the bridge to clear your head. Skip Grimaldi's though - blech.

Something that irritated me when I was as the site was visitors smiling for photos with the disaster in the background. I wanted to smack them.

The term 'Ground Zero' is insensitive although it is commonly used.

It makes me cringe every time I see or hear someone use the term in relation to the World Trade Center site.

It also implies that the Pentagon and the Pennsylvania disasters were less important because the Trade Center site was ground zero for the terrorist attacks.

Forgot to mention that as I was looking at the pictures of the different stages of the buildings as they crumbled on that terrible day, and was feeing overwhelmed by it all, a kid actually came up to me and asked me for a donation for the Boys and Girls Club. Talking about wanting to club somebody over the head! There are signs posted stating that they are not allowed to solicit funds but they do it anyway. I liken the people asking for money to somebody going to a cemetary and hitting up the mourners for funds. By the way, there's a pizza place down the street with pretty good by-the-slice pizza.

To all that have replied:
By no means did I mean to disrespect anyone by using the term "ground zero".That is the term most commonly heard. I too, watched in horror as the planes crashed into the World Trade Towers.I hoped for word from loved ones and prayed for my friends families as well. I raised money and held car washes to help in anyway I could from here in Seattle. I understand that my wording seemed harsh, but I am not familiar with NY at all and have no clue the distance from one place to the next. My only plan was to visit the World Trade Center site and pay my respects. In no way am I going to turn it into a tourist attraction. I have only 8 days in NY and want to take in all the City.

Combine your visit with one of the most enjoyable tours I've ever taken -

http://www.foodsofny.com/greenwichvillage.php

RAVE reviews by others as well.

We went to the Statue of Liberty early, then walked to the World Trade Center site, then walked to Chinatown for lunch. A day or so later we took the kids to the firefighter museum in Soho, which seemed to upset them a lot more than the WTC site. We weren't trying to be touristy but respectful, and I'm offended by the notion that it's somehow unacceptable because we were tourists.

We found it restful to visit battery park and just sit on a bench to look out over the water and reflect quietly for a while. Visiting the site to pay our respects really made me need some inner respite.