MOVING ON - AND UP

The National September 11 Memorial opens this weekend with a forest of trees and two square pools in its centre, marking the space where the Twin Towers once stood

A decade has passed but people the world over still have vivid memories of that fateful morning on September 11, 2001 when two planes hit the iconic Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre in downtown Manhattan in a series of attacks that killed almost 3,000 civilians. Today, the city has moved on and upwards.

Ground Zero never sleeps. Since the tragic 9/11 events that ripped apart the World Trade Centre complex and nearby areas, the vast 16-acres that spearheaded what was known as the "Super Block", has become a place of communal services and renewed hopes. New Yorkers who lived through the tragedy come to pay tribute to the victims. Tourists from all over the world, many of them who watched the incident unfolding on television, also visit the site and witness with their own eyes what "moving on" really means.

On Sunday, as the US marks the 10th anniversary of 9/11, Ground Zero, will witness the dedication of the National September 11 Memorial to the families of the victims prior to its opening to the public the following day. Located at the site of the former World Trade Centre complex, the Memorial, which occupies about half of the total 16-acre site, is the first in a series of buildings that will be known simply as the new World Trade Centre. Scheduled for completion in 2013, this new complex will replace and renew the space that was once home to the Twin Towers and four other buildings destroyed that day.

"It is our intention not to build anything on top of the spaces where the Twin Towers once stood," says a guide at the NYC & Co booth near Ground Zero at Lower Manhattan of the opening of National September 11 Memorial. "To maintain it as a place to remember what happened here, we've instead built two enormous square waterfalls within the footprints of the North and South Towers. This is where the buildings used to stand."

The largest man-made waterfalls in North America, each about 4,000 square metres in size, will cascade into reflecting pools, finally disappearing into the centre voids. The names of the people who were killed in the 9/11 attacks in New York, at the Pentagon, and on Flight 93, as well as the 1993 bombing at the WTC will be etched in bronze around the edges of the pools. The memorial will also be a sanctuary, as it will be lined with cobblestones and filled with more than 300 oak trees, carefully selected from a 800-kilometres radius of the WTC site, including nurseries in New York, Pennsylvania and near Washington DC, symbolising the areas impacted on 9/11.

"Instead of looking up at New York skyscrapers," says the guide. "We will look down at what is left behind. We will be asked to appreciate the power of what isn't there, the power of staring at an absence."

But this is not only about appreciating the absence. Multiple cranes are working day and night at Ground Zero, adding new floors at One World Trade Centre, which will soar 541 metres skyward to become America's tallest building. Located on the northwest corner of the WTC site, the building, one of five in the complex, will include, like its predecessors, office space, an observation deck, world-class restaurants and broadcast and antennae facilities.

One World Trade Centre, once named the Freedom Tower, kick-started the revival sentiments of Lower Manhattan when media conglomerate Conde Naste signed a US$2-billion lease for about one-third of its total office space. Other companies quickly followed suit and now the square kilometre south of Chambers Street that borders the WTC is reported to house more than twice as many residents, three times as many hotels and 130 more companies than it did on 9/11. Stores that were once forced to close have come back and there are also plenty of newcomers such as the popular chain Whole Foods, Tiffany & Co and growing start-ups like Luke's Lobster.

"This is a major turn-around for the place that many feared would never come back," says Christopher Heywood, vice president, Travel and Tourism Public Relations of NYC & Company in Manhattan. "Lower Manhattan is an up-and-coming community. All the big companies are moving there, more people are living there and more businesses are thriving there. This is just a wonderful sentiment to celebrate the 10th anniversary of our city's tragedy."

Out of New York's 50-million visitors a year, Lower Manhattan draws about 9 millions who enjoyed the community's iconic site including Ground Zero, Trinity Church, Wall Street, as well as the famous bronze-cast 3.2-ton Charging Bull at the Bowling Green Park. Once completed, the new WTC will consist of the five new skyscrapers plus the National September 11 Memorial and Museum at the World Trade Centre, World Trade Centre Transportation Hub, a retail complex and a performing art centre.

IF YOU GO

<< Delta Air Lines operates a daily flight from Bangkok - Narita - John F. Kennedy in New York. Book your ticket early and get the best offers from their online site at www.delta.com

<< New York is always crowded with tourists so it is recommended you book accommodation six months prior to travelling. Try looking for downtown bed and breakfasts for maximum city enjoyment.

<< NYC & Company (www.nycgo.com) is the official tourism promoting arm of New York City. Their website gives essential guidelines to this mega city divided by interests such as shopping, theatres and neighbourhood highlights, plus discounts on tours, restaurants and hotels. You can also visit their main office on 810 Seventh Avenue.

<< For more about WTC and the National September 11 Memorial and Museum, visit: www.911Memorial.org and www.WTC.com.