This is a must do tour of 3 parts.
The walking tour meeting outside the important St Paul’s Chapel. is interesting, moving and informative. Richard our guide for the first part made a very sad story appropriately uplifting and walked us around in a small group around the epi centre of Ground Zero. The tour sets the scene, helped me imagine the almost unimaginable and served as the perfect introduction to what was to come. The tour finishes at the memorial, allowing time to reflect.
Then into the museum.. now this museum is vast, and will need to take a lot of your time to get around. But the upsale of an audio guide or group tour will enhance your experience and make sure you do not miss anything. Unfortunately, the timed entry on your ticket does not reflect on venue capacity, it was packed, and some corners of the museum was jammed and not accessible due to the amount of people. The museum would benefit from reducing the numbers at peak times, especially in the afternoons. The museum is very moving, the hundreds of artefacts recovered from ground zero interesting and moving, the survivor and family accounts moving, the photographs, audio accounts, atmosphere in there, just moving. Easily pass 4 hours here, a rest in the restaurant or a walk around the extensively equipped gift shop helps settle the legs and mind.
Finally, it’s over to World Trade 1, the Freedom Tower for a ride up high. Like the museum, entry is via airport style security. The introduction at the top is clever and surprising! No spoilers here. The views are on a clear day, of course, just amazing. Again up sales here for visual guides enhance the experience, showing you landmark names but is expensive for that privilidge. The cafe is also expensive. The cashier was rude. But the experience was interesting and a nice end to a physically and mentally affecting environment.
The tour isn’t cheap but it’s extensive and a must do. To understand this terrible incident in Americas history (that affected people, lives and travel around the world), it was a small price to pay.