We visited Chernobyl three years ago. It is quite a surreal experience as your pictures show so articulately. I realized though that it wasn't my tragedy when I checked out of our hotel. We stayed at the very nice Hyatt Kiev. On checking out, the young lady at the front desk asked how we had spent our time. We had seen a lot of great sites in Kiev, and enjoyed the city thoroughly. I rattled them off and added Chernobyl. She said "Oh, I can't visit that. It hurts too much." It was the same reaction I had to visiting the site of the former World Trade Center. I couldn't possibly in the years following 9-11. In a way, her reaction brought the site too life even more than our visit.