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.

There is also a huge sculpture in Battery Park with an eternal flame that is from the World Trade Center. I would rather see that than the site. I can completely understand why you want to go there, though. You can see how big it was. If I wasn't standing there when it came down I don't think I could ever accept that it's gone. They're good at keeping peddlers away from the site and I can't believe there are people there soliciting donations. Ridiculous. They just dedicated a large memorial at the firehouse there (on Greenwich and Liberty Streets). I haven't seen it yet but I'm going to try to go at lunch today or tomorrow. It's supposed to be very good and I'll post about it when I see it. It's good to have something at least - it's disgusting that there is still no memorial.

reynabeyna, please understand I was not picking on you personally as I don't think anyone was but the term in general.

This is a great site for downtown.

www.DowntownNYC.com

I don't see a problem if you do downtown in the morning and MoMA in the afternoon.

I just wanted to add that I said I also cringe at ground zero - but inwardly. I wouldn't correct you or storm off! It's just that I mourn the buildings the way I mourn the friends I lost. They were there my whole life - it just has to always be the World Trade Center for me. Don't worry about what anyone says just enjoy your trip! And I really recommend this exhibit http://www.nycpolicemuseum.org/html/911rem.html

And neither was I, I apologize for coming off a bit harsher than I intended too (in going back and reading my post I realized it was late and I must have been a bit cranky).

Yes -- World Trade Center site, please.

While there, do not forget to go to St. Paul's Church ("the little church that stood"). Very moving experience. It is where the rescue workers slept. When they cleaned it out & renovated it after the clean up was completed at WTC, they re-shellacked the pews but did not remove the scratches left behind by the firefighters boots or other equipment! (http://www.saintpaulschapel.org/pyv/)

It is obviously still a sensative subject for most...It is really hard to wrap my mind around the fact that it really happened.
I was in NYC in April. We had a private tour for about 10 people and we did drive by the site on the way to the Statue of Liberty. It was unplanned, but we stopped got out and walked around. It was so overwheming for me. It was a very sad moment and I cried as most of us did.
I am glad I was able to pay my respects in my own privatge way, and absorb the horrible fact of just how massive the towers must have really been....

I don't think there is anything wrong with wanting to see the World Trade Center site. I was there last April with a group of 25 8th graders taking a US historical tour along the east coast and we stopped by before going to the Statue of Liberty. It IS part of our history now.
I am glad I was able to visit the site and pray for all those affected.. for family members, friends, co-workers. It is not that I couldn't pray from home, because I certainly did, but to see the names and the memorial in person made it so much more personal. I hope reynabeyna still will visit and pay respect for the lives lost.
I stood there in tears trying to imagine the horror of that terrible day. Living in NY doesn't give anyone ownership of the site, it was after all an attack on the US, not just New Yorkers. Although I used to live in NY and visited the city often, the site impacts all who see it in some way or another. How can it not? It was a tragedy we can't forget. As I stood there with tears rolling down my face for all that was lost, I watched the locals walk by and wondered.. how do you walk by this every day and not cry?

I do walk by everyday between the subway (4/5) and my office (World Financial Center). I get upset when I see people taking smiling group photos in front of the site or buying tacky and illegal souvenirs from the various merchants along the north side of the site (they are there most every day).
I guess if you ask how I can walk by everyday and not cry...some days I do get choked up. Especially when I see vistors respectfully and emotionally paying tribute to the site. My office windows overlook this site, so I look directly on it from my desk.
One other place you can view this site is from the second floor of the Winter Garden. It's more removed from the site and may enable more peaceful reflection.

New Yorkers, I'm sorry but you don't own the corner on grief. So many times I read New Yorkers on this site wagging their fingers at tourists as if they're the protocol police. This affected many of you personally because this happened where you live and many of your family, friends and colleagues died there. I'm sorry.

The same goes for those who visit Pearl Harbor. Grief doesn't exist for those who weren't born yet but that doesn't stop those from visiting it, smiling for the pics and buying the souvenirs does it? If you ask those men and women who were there, their grief is just as real today as it was then. Sixty years or more from now when those survivors from NYC are either very elderly or dead, do you think anyone will really care if it's called "ground zero" or if someone smiles in a pic?

WTC is a tourist site now just as Pearl Harbor is and all that goes with it, good and bad.

well put Pjork Chop!

I agree with the above posters as well, ground zero is and will be a tourist destination. Obviously people go there with reverence and respect much like people do at pearl harbor, Aushwitz, Ford's Theatre, the grassy knoll in dallas. I could go on and on with places in this country and around the world.

Just seeing the title of this thread makes me ill. Please, let's allow it to disappear.

People will do what they want to do.

To answer your question, yes, you could visit all those sights on one long day, but you only be able to spend a few hours at MoMA.

You can see Ground Zero in an hour or so (there's not much to see), but like a lot of other posters, I see no disrespect in visiting (and I live in NY and have friends who perished), just as I have visited Dachau, Auschwitz, the Killing Fields in Cambodia, Wounded Knee in SD -- there are lots of historic, touristic sights that are emotional to different audiences, and I have no issue with those wishing to visit Ground Zero. Aren't they adding a memorial and museum to encourage visits?

I just noticed this post, and my first response was "a fine merlot".

Yes, those of us who lived through the 9/11 attacks in NY are still very sensitive about it. Additionally, I don't really understand why tourists feel the need to visit a hole in the ground.

Insensitivity reigns supreme. Enjoy your visit to NY.

<<I have visited Dachau, Auschwitz, the Killing Fields in Cambodia, Wounded Knee in SD -- there are lots of historic, touristic sights that are emotional to different audiences, and I have no issue with those wishing to visit Ground Zero>>

Good point. I would add Normandy beach and Pearl Harbor.

I mean no offense to suerich68, but these people are not being insensitive. Our country as changed because of that spot, the lives of our kids and grand kids will be different. All these changes may not or arn't good in my opionion- but I think if people need to see it they need to see it. Theres nothing insensitive about it. Get over it.

I'll tell that to my friend, whose husband's remains are in that construction site.

"Get over it!"

Yeah, that'll work!

Please, let this thread die.

The original poster has what he/she needs. It's DONE.

Again i meant no disrespect, the "get over it" comment was in reference to people wanting to see it, not about loved ones dealing with their loss.

A visit to the WTC site would not be complete without a stop at St. Paul's Church, where there is an ongoing memorial exhibit.
http://www.saintpaulschapel.org/