Sept. 11

Family members of Sept. 11 victims during a moment of silence at the ceremony marking the third anniversary of the attacks, at the World Trade Center site in New York, Saturday, Sept. 11, 2004.

Family and loved ones gather around a memorial pool at the site of tower two of the World Trade Center, during memorial ceremonies marking the third anniversary of Sept. 11 attacks in New York, Saturday Sept. 11, 2004.

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Vice Chariman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Peter Pace pause during a ceremony to honor the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks Saturday, Sept. 11, 2004 in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va.

Two Years Later

The spot where the World Trade Center once stood is visible in this aerial view looking northeast. Two years after the towers were destroyed, ground zero is still a place teeming with emotions - sometimes conflicting, always powerful.

A funeral cortege walks behind a pentagon-shaped memorial marker honoring 66 victims of the Sept. 11 Pentagon attack at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., Monday, Sept. 8, 2003. Thursday marks the second anniversary of the attacks at the Pentagon and World Trade Center in New York.

An FBI aerial photograph shows the crash site of hijacked United Airlines Flight 93 in Shanksville, Pa., in this Sept. 12, 2001, file photo.

Andy Jurinko looks at ground zero from a window of his loft in New York, where he watched the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center two years ago. . "All the remorse has faded," he says. "It faded six, nine months ago. Those are just a bunch of morbid curiosity-seekers. It's the lowest common denominator. It's a carnival."

Tourists on Liberty Street across from ground zero watch a man create spray-paint images of the World Trade Center towers on wooden boards. This is what Andy Jurinko sees from his loft.

Trish O'Sullivan, left, and Bonnie Scally have lunch at the Millennium Hilton Hotel while looking out over the World Trade Center site. A bartender who works there says of her customers: "They sometimes don't believe it, what's out there. It's so many different feelings. But I think when something new goes up there, that will take away a lot of the hurt. People will finally move on."

Annmarie Maley, who watched the World Trade Center towers fall from Hoboken, N.J., where she works, stands in New York's World Financial Center looking east over ground zero. "I wonder if the people who work down here are used to this yet," she says. "Because I'm not."

Annelise Peterson plays with her dog, He-man, at the office of her public relations company in New York's Soho neighborhood. Eight months after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Peterson changed careers from a financial job she hated to run her own fashion PR firm, which she loves. She lost both her fiance and older brother in the twin towers attack.

Lisa Orloff, who sold her clothing business to head September Space, a volunteer organization she founded after the Sept. 11 attacks, unfolds a memorial quilt project at the organization's office. Students of Holy Angel Academy in Buffalo, N.Y., made the quilt after inviting schools nationwide to contribute patches in memory of Sept. 11 victims. The 23-by-37-foot quilt will be on display at September Space.

Tourists view the site of the World Trade Center from the World Financial Center's Winter Garden in New York. The building was heavily damaged in the attack on the World Trade Center, but since it was restored, people line up along a glass wall in air-conditioned comfort to watch ground zero.

Sandra Maria Fonseca of Honduras prepares to have the outline of her hand traced on a wall covered with graffiti during a visit to ground zero. The long, gray wall has become a World Trade Center scratch pad. Visitors have nearly filled it up with messages to the dead, words of encouragement for the nation and profanity directed at terrorists.

Oscar Mertz, of Boston, looks through the fence along Liberty Street during a visit to the former World Trade Center site.

Michael Keeley, right, and Lisa Theis, both of Sacramento, Calif., stand below a poster of the World Trade Center twin towers as they visit ground zero.

Members of an Amish family who did not wish to give their names look around Liberty Street during their visit to the World Trade Center site.

Flautist Phillip Belpasso plays mostly patriotic tunes for handouts along Church Street at the World Trade Center site. Every day, the perimeter of what now is called ground zero connects hundreds of people who work nearby--some for a paycheck, some at the mercy of tourists' wallets, some without homes who lay down caps and hope for pocket change.

This is a view from inside of the "bathtub," which was once the site of the World Trade Center towers in New York.

This is an overhead view of ground zero just before sunset. The sun sinks behind the Hudson River to the west, and before long the 16 acres will belong again to the construction workers and security guards who work the late shift.