Almost each time I visit New York I make a pilgrimage to the 9/11 Memorial in lower Manhattan, where the attacks on the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center took place in 2001. I had even found my way there just two months after the attacks, to see the biggest pile of rubble I've ever seen. In today's memorial, each tower is commemorated by an infinity pool placed in the imprints of where each tower stood. The constant pouring water lends a timeless element to the site and the memory of that incident, which pretty well changed the history of the world. At the site, which is free to visit, there is an army of security and undercover police, keeping a sharp eye on everyone and everything. The metallic sill, a sort of wide ledge, surrounding each pool has the names of each victim of the attacks inscribed into it. Here and there a solitary rose fluttered in the breeze. In some places a small US flag, a moment of colour sporting the stars and stripes, was inserted into an engraved name. There is also a museum on the site (current price USD18) but I didn't visit it because I had already seen when it was first created.

After visiting the 9/11 Memorial I wandered down past Trinity Church and its old tombstones, an odd juxtaposition to the nearby 9/11 site, to the famous Wall Street. Further down, past historic bank buildings, you come to the New York Stock Exchange. It seems that I am not the only one driven crazy by the aimless milling people, because the whole sidewalk and part of the roadway has been condoned off so that the public can't access it and get close to the building (probably a security measure, but why is it that everyone in New York City seems to always walk in the wrong directions, constantly bumping into you in the most awkward way possible!)
From this point it was a short walk to South Ferry and the Staten Island ferry, which I didn't have time to do because I had a concert up in Midtown.



In lower Manhattan, approaching the 9/11 Memorial


Looking down into the Infinity Pool, where one of the towers stood before the attacks on September 11th 2001


Another angle on the Infinity Pool, which matches the dimensions of the World Trade Center that stood in its place previously


The names of those who died in the atrocity are carved into the metallic sill surrounding each of the two Infinity Pools


Looking up at the Equitable Building on Broadway


Tombstones in the peace and quiet of the grounds surrounding the Trinity Church, just steps away from the 9/11 Memorial


The original door to the New York Stock Exchange in Wall Street