On September 11, 2001, 19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al-Qaeda hijacked four airliners and carried out suicide attacks against targets in the United States. Two of the planes were flown into the towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, a third plane hit the Pentagon just outside Washington, D.C., and the fourth plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. Often referred to as 9/11, the attacks resulted in extensive death and destruction, triggering major U.S. initiatives to combat terrorism and defining the presidency of George W. Bush. Over 3,000 people were killed during the attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C., including more than 400 police officers and firefighters.
September 11th, 2001, the day that no one will ever forget.
On July 6, I had the opportunity to go to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. When you first get there, you walk through a large court yard, where you see the fountains. There are two fountains, one is for the North tower and the other is for the South tower. 
Some names on each fountain have roses next to them as well. The roses are placed on victims' birthdays.
In case anyone wants to visit the museum, you do need to purchase tickets in order to enter. After going through security, you then venture downstairs to the exhibits. The museum is made of up of remaining parts from the towers and it is pretty much exhibits within exhibits.
The picture above is where the museum starts. This shows each flight path of each plane on September 11th. When you start walking through the museum, there are many recorded experiences from the people who survived and people who were witnesses to crashes. As you continue to walk through, you can missing person signs from family members looking for their loved ones. On display there is a set of stairs called, "The Survivors Stairs," these stairs were used by people working in the towers to escape. There is a lot to see in the museum. I got there around 12:30 p.m. and did not leave almost 4 p.m.
Like I said before, the museum is exhibits within exhibits. There is an entire exhibit that is within the museum. This exhibit, is everything and I mean everything from all the news reports playing, anything that could have been picked up off the ground, pieces of the planes, first responder's gear, and much more. This is the exhibit that we spent most of our time in. It is a lot to take in all at once.
In this exhibit, there are videos to sit watch and listen as well. These videos are recorded experiences from people who worked in the towers, witnesses and loved ones. These videos are very overwhelming and a lot to take in. For me personally, I had listened to almost every video, and the one video was all voicemails from people on the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania to their loved ones, telling them that they were fine and that they loved them and hope to see them again. I broke down.
On the left, is the last remaining wall from one of the towers and the beam in the middle of the floor, is a dedication beam to all the firefighters and police officers who lost their lives. The day that I was there, there were three bagpipers walking around playing as well, two of them being police officers and other was a firefighter. This just made my experience more emotionally.
This is from the top of towers. If I remember correctly, this was used for satellite signals.
I was very emotional walking through the museum. There is so much to see in the museum as well. The larger exhibit had the videos, store front window displays with all the dust on the products, more parts from the towers and much more. I was very young when this happened, but after going, I have learned much more. There is only so much they tell you in schools. While there I noticed that no one was talking, the whole museum was silent. This was different for me because everywhere I had gone before people are always talking. This experience reminded me to be thankful what I have. I did not know anyone who went through this and I did not lose a loved one but my thoughts and prayers will forever be with those who have lost someone. I will forever be thankful for those you keep of safe such as our soldiers, firefighters, police officers and all other first responders.
I enjoyed my experience at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. I highly recommend that you should definitely visit the memorial and museum. The Memorial is open to the public everyday. You do need to purchase tickets for the museum.
