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posted by [personal profile] laylee at 09:16pm on 12/03/2010 under ,
We woke up to snow!

yes, I know you folk who live with snow every winter think our excitement of a sprinkling of snow is silly, but we really don't get much of a chance to experience snow in Melbourne so even a couple of centimeters overnight is thrilling.

It's also bloody cold, as I discovered when I ran across the road to drop my boots in at the shoe repair shop for stretching.

Today's adventure was the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island so after breakfast we jumped on the subway and headed downtown.

Once we got to Battery Park we phaffed around for a while taking photos of snow covered trees and park benches, but then we decided that we'd better get our act together and went to find the ticket office for the ferry and Liberty Island. Due to recent events getting on to the ferry included a lot of standing around and a trip through airport style security, but once on board it takes hardly any time at all the make the trip across harbour. I have to say, the first time the statue really comes into focus is pretty damn amazing. Like, really amazing. Neither Helen or myself could quite believe we were actually staring it in the face, so to speak, and yet there it was!

We disembarked and decided that we needed to eat before we had a look around, so we found hot dogs and fries in the visitors centre. Yes, we are all class. After that we wandered around outside for a while taking more photos of the snow, and then we decided to go into the museum, which involved yet another lot of airport style security. I got very good at divesting myself of anything that would set an alarm off while I was away.

We both spent ages in the museum looking at the displays and reading the history of how it all came to be. Then we set about the task of climbing the stairs up through the statue its self. My god there are a lot of stairs! And it didn't help that neither of us were fond of heights. We didn't have tickets for the crown, only the monument, but I have to say, once we'd gotten as far as we were allowed to go, I was pretty glad to stop. More photos ensued and once we descended we spent some time rummaging around the gift shop before the jumped on the next ferry to Ellis Island.

Unfortunately for us, on Ellis Island we were more interested in the buildings we couldn't go into the the one we could! Both Helen and I would have loved to have explored the old hospitals or New Ferry House, but that side of the island was inaccessible, so we only spent about an hour there. Once we'd wandered around outside, gone to the loo and did our thing in the gift shop we'd had enough and so headed back to Manhattan.

We were both starving once we got off the ferry, so I bought a soft pretzel and Helen got some nuts. We wandering through Battery Park toward the subway station, when I saw a squirrel! Well, my love of squirrels has already been established, so I whipped out my camera to take a photo and all of a sudden a turkey appeared! At least I think it was a turkey. It certainly looked like one, although what a turkey was doing wandering around Battery Park is anyone's guess. I tried to take a photo, but it won the battle against the pigeons for the remains of my pretzel and scurried off to eat it before my semi-frozen fingers could snap a decent picture. But trust me, it was turkey. I think.

Anyhoo, we stated walking again and and that's when some guy try to sell us a Prada bag off the back of a s shopping trolley. Yeah, no, wasn't having any of that, but hey, have a nice day!

One of Helen's main ambitions for the trip was walking across Brooklyn Bridge. I had never considered it, but I was game and so we worked out which train to get and headed over to City Hall. And it was amazing. really, Really amazing. It was late after noon, the sky was clear and the sun was just starting to go down over the East River. Once again, not so good with the heights, or the cars rushing by, the scale of the structure just takes your breath away.

Once on the other side we decided to try and find pizza, but it was getting dark, we had no idea where we were or what to do and in the end it was all too hard. So we just ended up wandering around Brooklyn Heights for a while and then got the train back across the river for a quick visit to Wall Street and Ground Zero.

Ground Zero is mostly a building site at the moment, so there's not much to see, and by that time I was also starving and had to eat before I bit Helen's head off. So we found this Chinese place right across the road and I ate the best prawn dumpling noodle soup I'd had in a long time and Helen ate the best Singapore noodles she'd ever had!

After that I'm not quite sure what happened. We started following the crowd through the World Financial Center, expecting them to lead us somewhere tangible, but somehow we got all turned around and ended up wandering around Battery Park City with little idea of where we were. Helen says she wasn't alarmed, but I sure was, and if it wasn't for the fact that I remembered there was a subway station on Rector street god knows where we would have ended up. Probably huddling for warmth with a turkey in Battery Park!
Mood:: 'mellow' mellow
There are 8 comments on this entry. (Reply.)
 
posted by [identity profile] the_antichris.livejournal.com at 10:27am on 12/03/2010
I also love squirrels and snow. Anyone who doesn't is wrong in the face.

I've never been to Brooklyn or the statue itself (I cheaped out and looked at it from the Staten Island ferry) - they sound great!
 
posted by [identity profile] laylee.livejournal.com at 10:55am on 12/03/2010
Squirrels are so cute. I don't care that people think they're annoying, I adore them!

The New York Passes we bought were pretty damn handy. Got us into all sorts of places at a fraction of the usual cost. Didn't matter that we could only use them at each attraction once. Once was more than enough for the statue and Ellis Island.
celli: a hammock on a beach, captioned "anywhere but here" (anywhere but here)
posted by [personal profile] celli at 02:52pm on 12/03/2010
See, I was the opposite--I spent all my time in Ellis Island and almost none at Liberty, mostly because I'd spent so much time at Ellis Island we had about twenty minutes left before everything closed. It didn't matter a ton, because I can't climb stairs--I'm going back someday when I have different legs. :)

My favorite, favorite thing at Ellis Island by a mile was the section where they had all the pictures of the place from when it was deserted and falling apart. Most of those pics are from the other buildings. I almost bought a book of them, but it was $100 in the gift shop!!!!! I bought a book of postcards instead, and I have them on my wall at work. Kind of off in a corner, 'cause it's probably creepy if you're not me.

I got my boss a little statue of liberty with a clock in the base. It's tacky squared. She loves it. :D
 
posted by [identity profile] laylee.livejournal.com at 09:34am on 13/03/2010
The stairs at the statue are pretty fearsome. They're steep as well as narrow and very hard going. I don't blame you for not wanting to climb them with your knees.

Ironically, though, I bought my favourite statue souvenir at Ellis Island. They had these great 19th prints and books of post cards which were so much nicer than anything they had in Monument island.
catwalksalone: (casey heart)
posted by [personal profile] catwalksalone at 04:41pm on 12/03/2010
Oh, my brother said walking over Brooklyn Bridge was one of the most amazing things he did in New York. I've not done that yet. *determined face*

If you say it was a turkey, I believe it was a turkey.
 
posted by [identity profile] laylee.livejournal.com at 09:36am on 13/03/2010
Walking over the Brooklyn Bridge was definitely one of the highlights of the trip. I mean, there were many highlights, but that would have to be up in the top ten *g*

And thank you for my squirrels!

 
posted by [identity profile] suchthefangirl.livejournal.com at 05:33pm on 22/03/2010
When we were last in NYC as a family (on the tour) we got to the ferry too late to get tickets to go into the statue. I had wanted to take the kids in because I had gone up to the crown, and I think the torch, when I was in the city on a field trip as a very little kid, but instead we wandered the island for a bit.

Maybe that is why Ellis Island made a much bigger impression. D#1 was particularly moved by the museum, especially when I pointed out pictures of people that looked like pictures of my relatives. On our way back to the ferry she called my folks and they told her stories of their parents coming into the country through Ellis Island and why they had left their homeland. It was hight up on our list of best days of our trip.

It's so cool that you got to climb the statue. I think they had stopped letting people inside for a while. It is an awesome experience.

I am scared to death of heights. The idea of walking across the Brooklyn Bridge scares me. I am in awe of you that you would have the courage to do it. I close my eyes when I'm driving over it! (that's a joke, I WANT to close my eyes, but that would be dangerous...)
 
posted by [identity profile] laylee.livejournal.com at 08:56am on 23/03/2010
The statue was closed for quite some time but they recently reopened it which is great. I loved climbing up through it, even if it was a slightly hair-raising experience. However I did feel that all the security put a bit of a dampner on the day. I can understand the reasoning behind it, but it does make the whole experience a little less special.

Walking over Brooklyn Bridge was just great! You really can't see over the edge from the walkway so it's not too bad for those of us who are somewhat height challenged. And even though it was freezing, twilight over Brooklyn really is something to behold!

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