<p>Visitors stand near the north pool at the 9/11 memorial plaza in the World Trade Center site in New York Monday on the first day that the memorial was opened to the public.</p>
September 13, 2011
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September 13, 2011 9 p.m.
Sept. 11 memorial opens
NEW YORK - Exactly 10 years ago, ground zero was a smoking, fire-spitting tomb, a ghastly pile of rubble and human remains. On Monday it was a place of serenity - an expanse of trees and water in the middle of a bustling city - as the 9/11 memorial opened to the public.