We started our day about 8 AM purchasing tickets (we thought) from our hotel but the printer didn't work so they sent us over to Madam Truseau's to print the tickets. (No sweat we thought.) Well we ended up in at least a 30+ minute line with others trying to get tickets printed. We got the stuff printed so lets skip a head in the story to the Ferry to the Statue of Liberty. We try to get into the line and they turn us away because all we have is a voucher for tickets. The guy sends us a couple of blocks away to find the guys in the yellow jackets who actually issue tickets for this company. By the time we find them and get the voucher changed to a ticket it was 11:30! Lesson? There are ticket venders running around all over the city in Blue and Yellow jackets that can sell you tickets to the nearby attractions. The prices are the same so if I had to do it again I would just buy the tickets nearby from a vender.
As we left our hotel we passed the most interesting parking lot we have seen in the city. High rise parking - that is a unique use of space. The guy that owned it wanted to be in the picture so of course I let him pose.
Going back to our narrative, today we got to do my favorite mode of transportation in New York - the subway. You can't beat it for getting around the city fast. We bought one day - unlimited passes for $8.25. That allowed us to get on and off as much as we wanted as opposed to $2.25 per ride. So we walked a couple of street over to the subway and rode the length of Manhattan underground to the Staten Island Ferry and a short walk over to the Statue of Liberty through Battery Park. This park was the site of one of the three forts guarding the entrance to the Hudson River and Manhattan itself.
The picture below is a statue that was recovered from the site of the World Trade Center and will be moved back there when the park at that site is ready. It was part of a fountain there, and though damaged, survived. 
How many pictures can you take of the Statue of Liberty? Apparently quite a few. This one is my favorite taken as we were coming in close to the island to land. The base that it sits on is in the shape of a star. Of course the green color is from the fact that it is a steel frame covered in sheets of copper.
Here is a picture of Barb standing at the base of the statue. After several days of rain or showers this was a gorgeous day with patchy clouds and no precipitation.
In the gardens were statues to several of the people responsible for the building of the statue, which by the way, was constructed in France and shipped here and put back together. The statue below is of Andre Eiffel who designed the steel frame of the statue. Yes, the same guy who build a little tower in Paris.
Our trip to the Statue wouldn't have been complete without finding the plaque with the famous Emma Lazarus poem. We never did find the actual plaque but we found this display with a copy of her original poem. I want to put the whole thing here:
Not like the brazen gient of creek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land,
Here at our sea-washed sunset gates
Shall stand a mighty woman with a torch,
Whose flame is the imprisioned lightning,
And her name Mother of Exiles.
From her beacon-hand glows world-wide welcome;
Her mild eyes command the air-bridged harbor
That twin cities frame.
"Keep ancient land, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired , your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe fre.
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me.
I lift my lamp besied the golden door!"
1 comment:
Sounds like you're having the time of your life. I'm so jealous! One day our family will go too--when the kids are older and able to understand and do more. Thanks for the pictures. I expect you'll put them together in some kind of book? Looking forward to reading more!
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