November 4th, 2001 I walked alone counterclockwise all around Ground Zero.

It was one of those things I needed to do having been in Alaska at the posh Alyeska Prince Hotel on 9/11. When I turned on the TV at 7:30 AM local time to check the stock market on CNBC it was 11:30 AM and "all over" in NYC. I had literally slept through it. CNBC had their classic shot of lower Manhattan from the New Jersey side, now without the WTC. It took a while to figure out what had happened. And one was left with a sense of disconnectedness, guilt, obligation and resolve.

Even weeks later, walking around WTC was emotionally draining. By now, Ground Zero is surrounded by a chain link fence with varying plastic meshing to obstruct viewing. You certainly could see more of the goings on inside Ground Zero on TV. One place one could peek into the WTC site was from the upper steps of St Peters RC Church, mentioned on the show as the place the Fire Department chaplain was taken. A policeman stationed there made sure you could only get a fleeting glance. Carried by the prevailing winds at the time, there was a distinct acrid stench East of Ground Zero.

What was hardest to take, were all the "Missing" posters, the makeshift shrines with walls of stuffed animals, messages, decomposing flowers, candles, etc. There was a fresh flowered wreath from the Embassy of Romania in colors to match their flag. A can of Bud Light with a note to someone missing struck me as a bit odd. Vendors, some Middle Eastern looking, were hawking FDNY and NYPD sweatshirts, T-shirts, hats, etc. As I said, emotionally draining. On the walk North away from Ground Zero, I walked by a Fire Station not too far away. It too had makeshift shrine with flowers and stuffed animals.

That evening, I took my mother, who lives less than 2 miles from Ground Zero, out to a restaurant. We could smell that Ground Zero odor.

In my teen age years, before WTC was built, I used to walk down that area occasionally to "Radio Row" where there was a large number of electronics stores with ham gear, hi-fi gear, "surplus" electronics parts and such. That pretty much vanished when WTC was built.

There are millions of 9/11 stories. One I had not heard until that NYC trip was of the WABC-TV antenna technician stationed on top of the WTC North Tower. He perished, of course, but he called the studio and told them what was going on from his perspective. My sister, who works for the station, had a T-shirt with the technician's name on it - part of a fund-raising event to help out the guy's family.