Moving memorial honors World Trade Center tragedy

The new Tower represents endurance and recovery, while honoring lives lost. Its mission

is "to preserve freedom and inspire an end to hatred, ignorance and intolerance."

NEW YORKERS, GLOBAL VISITORS PAY HOMAGE TO THE FALLEN AT NEW, ELEGANT TRADE CENTER MEMORIAL AND MUSEUM

Names of victims are placed near names of people with whom they worked.

The names are inscribed in bronze around waterfalls and two beautiful pools.

This family visited the memorial after a subway ride with us.

STORY By CHRISTENE MEYERS

PHOTOS By BRUCE KELLER

WE ALL remember that dreadful day: the haunting images of the Twin Towers collapsing, families searching frantically for lost loved ones. Smoke, tears and sorrow.

So 14 years after the infamous deeds of September 11, 2011, we spent a day at the scene of the carnage.

This young visitor took a selfie near the

pools and bronzes honoring the victims.

The dramatic 9/11 Memorial was designed by architect Michael Arad and landscaper Peter Walker. It includes two pools set in the footprints of the original Twin Towers.

Thirty-foot water-

falls cascade into the pools and descend into a center void.

Names

of the nearly

3,000 victims are

inscribed in bronze around the perimeters of the pools.

WE JOINED families from around the globe and other New York neighborhoods to pay our respects.  We were among thousands of all faiths, age and dress as we emerged from the subway from Midtown Manhattan.  We were warmed by the sun, shining as it had on the day of the disaster.  We were grateful for the weather as we walked through Lower Manhattan to the memorial.

Windows on the World was a favorite haunt of many.

The looks on peoples' faces were somber and reverent as they studied the names around the pools.

The original Twin Towers stood proudly.

Some left flowers or made rubbings of loved ones' names. Others took selfies or group photos.

Many seemed lost in reverie and memory.  I had spent many happy times in the original Twin Towers, often at the famous top-floor restaurant, Windows on the World. There I interviewed celebrities and dined with friends in the movie and theater business.  Windows was a favorite hang out of travelers, writers, stars and politicians. Everyone loved its splendid views.

Tourists from around the globe, and many New Yorkers, await tour tickets. 

WE SPENT time studying the 9/11 Memorial Museum, but agreed it was a brutal few hours -- with its first-person accounts of the day, personal artifacts, structural remnants and multimedia displays.  The WTC complex with a master plan by Daniel Libeskind calls for a spiral of new towers around the eight-acre Memorial.

ONE OF the most touching elements were hundreds of swamp white oaks around the memorial.

A single, beautiful pear tree -- known as "Survivor Tree" -- stands as proud testimony to survival. Workers found the damaged tree reduced to a stump in the Ground Zero wreckage. Nursed back to health, it grew to 30 feet and flowers each spring.

ONE MAY download the 9/11 Memorial Guide on a smartphone or visit names.911memorial.org.

Juhu Beach Club -- visited by whereiscookie in April, and

recently, by CNN's traveling gourmet, Anthony Bourdain.

NEXT UP and BY THE WAY: A Montana museum once the home of the philanthropic, pioneering Bair family, opens its doors for an "Upstairs, Downstairs" tour next week.  And last spring we discovered a wonderful Indian restaurant, Juhu  Beach Club in Oakland, Calif. It has quickly become a favorite of Bay Area diners, and visitors looking for tasty Indian fare cooked by someone who knows her way around curry and chutney. We raved about the fairly new eatery months ago! Recently, world renowned chef Anthony Bourdain, of the popular CNN show, "Parts Unknown," gave Juhu thumbs up. High praise from a guy who loves San Francisco and writes about its older, venerable eateries such as Sinbad's, House of Prime Rib, Tosca, Trader Vic's and Swan Oyster Depot. Check out our piece and tune in to Bourdain Sunday nights on CNN.

 Anthony Bourdain, whereiscookie visit Juhu Beach Club