911 Memorial

I walked from Union Square to the  911 memorial, letting the visible cranes near One World Trade Center guide me downtown.  Architecturally I'm not a fan of the new structure, it employs a generic modernism that I find unappealing.  As I got closer to my destination, I joined throngs of tourists walking around the construction site in search of the memorial.  Vendors started to appear on street corners selling their wares, and cops ushered us in the direction of a security check point.  Although I paid a $2 booking fee online for my ticket, they asked for another "donation" when I went to retrieve it.  I was also told I needed to purchase an item in the gift store to get my ticket.  Understandably, there's been controversy over the memorial charging fees, and I felt like I had walked into a tourist trap.  There was nothing referential or sacred about the experience until I was finally able to peer over the wall etched with the victims names and see the water cascading 30 feet to a flat basin, and then another 30 feet through a smaller square hole in the center.  The scope of the fountains is impressive, it literally took my breath away, but it also lacks intimacy and evokes danger.  There will be no frolicking in the water on hot summer days.  Perhaps in time this will be a space to be enjoyed, but for now it is only a space to be observed.