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/