Visiting the 9/11 museum in New York was one of the most sobering experiences of my life and it took me a while to process the things I saw and heard in there.
The National September 11 Memorial & Museum is a memorial and museum in New York City commemorating the September 11, 2001 attacks, which killed 2,977 people, and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, which killed six
I’ve been wanting to tell you about our visit to the 9/11 museum in New York for a while but every time I started to write up a review, I stopped because I don’t think any words could ever convey the emotion of the time we spent there. I have never experienced anything like it and the depth of emotion genuinely shocked me – we all know how horrific the events of that terrible day were and I knew I’d feel sad and emotional but to feel it as much as I did, surprised me. Also, I didn’t take many photos in there as it just didn’t feel right so you’ll have to excuse the lack of them throughout this post.
We walked over to the 9/11 memorial from Brooklyn after walking over the Brooklyn Bridge and the first thing we did was visit the top of the One World Trade Center which was an amazing experience that I’ll share with you one of these days. We then walked from there just a short distance to the 9/11 Memorial which is basically two giant squares where the Twin Towers were. They’ve been transformed into a tranquil water feature with all the victim’s names around the edge.
The sheer size of the Memorial takes your breath away. Literally.
We couldn’t help but stand and stare and I noticed the kids, like a few other people around, looking up to the sky trying to picture the sheer scale of the buildings but it’s just impossible.
We walked from the Memorial over to the Museum and as it was later in the day, we got in quite quickly which is fab as I’ve heard the queues can be quite long.
Once inside, the atmosphere is noticeably, and understandably sombre and I had a lump in my throat from the start. This picture was at the start of the walk into the museum and even though I’ve seen so many pictures of the Twin Towers, this one was one of the last taken of the iconic landmarks.
It’s incomprehensible to think about what happened in the hours following this photo being taken.
There were photos and videos, including new reports from the day explaining how the hours unfolded and the kids watched them all in horror.
There were all sorts of remnants from the buildings including twisted beams from the towers displayed in the museum. This was one that you could reach out and touch and I, like many others, couldn’t help but place my hand on it.
There was a room which featured portraits of every single victim along with some information about them which you would think would be the most sobering part of the visit – seeing the people who died. That wasn’t the worst part for me though, the part that had me crying was where you could hear a recording of all of the victim’s names being read out, one by one by their loved ones.
There are also areas where you’ll see the remains of part of the structure where it’s been painstakingly removed from the rubble and rebuilt in the museum. There were photos to show what they looked like beforehand so you can picture it. These stairs are just one example…
We spent about an hour and a half in the museum and it’s an experience that none of us will forget.
9/11 Museum Opening Hours
The museum itself is open daily, Sunday to Thursday it’s open from 9 am to 8 pm (6 pm last entry) and on a Friday and Saturday it’s open from 9 am to 9 pm (7 p.m. last entry).
9/11 Museum Ticket Prices
These are the costs based on today’s prices:
Would I recommend a visit?
I absolutely recommend visiting the 9/11 Memorial and Museum if you’re in New York but it’s something I personally wouldn’t do again now I’ve been there. We’re going back to New York in December with one of Miss Frugal’s friends and although I think the girls should go, I think I’ll probably wait for them in the Oculus Shopping Centre as some of the sights in the museum had me crying and as much as I wanted to visit, I don’t think I’d do it again,
My heart genuinely breaks for the people involved and their families and a visit here is something that everyone should do at least once.
Don’t miss out on future posts like this – receive updates directly to your inbox by email by adding your email address here and hitting subscribe. You can also follow me on Twitter, BlogLovin or Networked Blogs and I’d love to see you over on my Facebook page and on Instagram. You can find out more about me here.
