Dear Helen_A,
I am so glad I mentioned about going to NYC. Thank you for that invaluable information about the WTC site - it will save me a lot of time! We were planning to go because it is a site of such historical importance, but it is a bit far from where we will be staying (near the Empire State Bldg.), so I am glad you have told me there is really nothing there to see anymore and so our time won't be spent in vain. It is somewhat disappointing, though. I had heard that there was a viewing platform around the site and thought it was still there. So if I go there anyway I won't even be able to get near it since it's just a construction site now? Can it be seen from a nearby building accessible to the public? Well, this is all good info. to know for others who may be interested in visiting the site as well. .
I haven't been to the WTC site in a while now, but from what I understand, the area is all closed off for a few blocks around it as they want to make sure that nothing is sabotaged, etc. Even right after "the event" the site looked like a big construction site basically, you would never even know it was anything different than that. Except it looked like a very big construction site...
I grew up in NYC and remember seeing the towers all my life, they were sort of like a landmark by which to orient yourself. It is very confusing to be in that area now - you get disoriented, since nothing looks the same anymore.
It's interesting the things you think of when it first happened. One of my earlier thoughts were, I wonder what happened to all the books at Borders near the Towers... It's kind of an illogical thought, but there it was. My little niece, who was about 7 when this happened, and who just visited WTC for the first time a few weeks before it happened - and went up to the top, asked about the gumball machine that she saw up there, she wondered what happened to the gum in it. It's funny how your mind tries to make sense of things that are so out of the ordinary by trying to put them into some ordinary context. I guess it is some sort of a defense mechanism...
The Empire State bldng is not that far from the WTC site though, I would say it is about a half hour to 45 minute walk. You can try to go and see how close you can get... But I doubt you will be able to get close enough to see anything... Good luck and have fun in NYC. If you have any more questions, don't hesitate to ask!
