You cannot go to New York and not see the Statue of Liberty and/or Ellis Island. You can't, okay? You just can't. So we didn't.
As I think I mentioned before, we had fairly good view of Lady Liberty from our campsite (or parking spot), but not so nice that we could call it done. There were a lot of random things in the way of a clean view. Boat masts, smog, other RVs, cats pinching loaves, etc.
We tried to score tickets to go up in the crown but they were booked until January, and everyone told us the better view is not from the top anyway. I mean, you have to be on the ground below to be able to do this:
As I think I mentioned before, we had fairly good view of Lady Liberty from our campsite (or parking spot), but not so nice that we could call it done. There were a lot of random things in the way of a clean view. Boat masts, smog, other RVs, cats pinching loaves, etc.
We tried to score tickets to go up in the crown but they were booked until January, and everyone told us the better view is not from the top anyway. I mean, you have to be on the ground below to be able to do this:
Anyway, the day started out nicely over in Jersey City (here I go again, all out of order like a squirrel hacked the blog), if not a bit chilly. I think it might have been in the low 30s when we walked from the RV park to the closest train station, which was only a couple of blocks. From the station at Liberty State Park we had to walk quite a long way to get to the ferry terminal, but we had this excellent view of Manhattan all the way.
Ellis Island was the ferry's first stop. The park service offers a free self-guided audio tour set up (think headphones and a little remote device that you click and listen to as you walk through the building). The main section of the museum is nicely done and very informative, covering the history of immigrations and the kinds of lives people were leaving behind as well as what greeted them when they arrived on American soil. You could (well, I could) easily spend a couple of hours checking out that part, but we wanted to see the registration room and peruse the family records also. However, all of that stuff is still closed mostly due to continued recovery efforts after Hurricane Sandy. My grandmother came from Sweden when she was three years old. They traveled on a ship and she once told me how she remembered the buckles on her shoes getting rusty from the water that washed over the deck. I wanted to search for her passenger record, even though I was almost certain they had entered the country through a different port. Although the registration room was closed, a sign said passenger record searches were still possible online at EllisIsland.org, so that is where I went. I entered my great-grandfather's name first and came up empty, but when I entered my grandmother's name it found her right away. They arrived on October 7, 1924 on the ship Bergensfjord, having left Sweden from the port of Christiania.
Ellis Island was the ferry's first stop. The park service offers a free self-guided audio tour set up (think headphones and a little remote device that you click and listen to as you walk through the building). The main section of the museum is nicely done and very informative, covering the history of immigrations and the kinds of lives people were leaving behind as well as what greeted them when they arrived on American soil. You could (well, I could) easily spend a couple of hours checking out that part, but we wanted to see the registration room and peruse the family records also. However, all of that stuff is still closed mostly due to continued recovery efforts after Hurricane Sandy. My grandmother came from Sweden when she was three years old. They traveled on a ship and she once told me how she remembered the buckles on her shoes getting rusty from the water that washed over the deck. I wanted to search for her passenger record, even though I was almost certain they had entered the country through a different port. Although the registration room was closed, a sign said passenger record searches were still possible online at EllisIsland.org, so that is where I went. I entered my great-grandfather's name first and came up empty, but when I entered my grandmother's name it found her right away. They arrived on October 7, 1924 on the ship Bergensfjord, having left Sweden from the port of Christiania.
The second ferry stop is at the Statue of Liberty. We grabbed Junior Ranger program booklets for the girls and headed for the main attraction. We had to pass through major airport style security even though we had already done the same before boarding the ferry and there is no other way people can get to the island. Well, I supposed they could swim. Anyway, we walked the stairs to the top of the pedestal for a stunning view up Lady Liberty's gown and armpit. Between the extremely cramped little walk space and the lack of any real view we did not last long before heading down. This is where the real fun begins as you not only find multiple great angles for viewing and shooting the statue, but the people watching is on par with any major theme park.
Stopping to warm up in the sun and eat lunch, we found the seagull bombing to be on par with our own beloved Gulf Coast beaches. In fact, I think maybe New York gulls spend the winter traveling to Florida to network and attend conventions with break-out sessions on how to work in teams to steal entire hoagies. They seem to communicate well, with one lurking just out of shooing distance and one or two bogeys circling above, waiting for the distraction moment. Then one moves in for the strike. The whole system breaks down as soon as the prize is hand (or beak) and he flies off, refusing to share with his teammates, which was no doubt the original agreement. They may be annoying, but you have to admire their pluck.
Where was I?
Oh, yeah! So here are my favorite shots of Lady Liberty.
Stopping to warm up in the sun and eat lunch, we found the seagull bombing to be on par with our own beloved Gulf Coast beaches. In fact, I think maybe New York gulls spend the winter traveling to Florida to network and attend conventions with break-out sessions on how to work in teams to steal entire hoagies. They seem to communicate well, with one lurking just out of shooing distance and one or two bogeys circling above, waiting for the distraction moment. Then one moves in for the strike. The whole system breaks down as soon as the prize is hand (or beak) and he flies off, refusing to share with his teammates, which was no doubt the original agreement. They may be annoying, but you have to admire their pluck.
Where was I?
Oh, yeah! So here are my favorite shots of Lady Liberty.
The remainder of our day was spent strolling down Wall Street and into Manhattan in search of good cheesecake. We found coffee, hot chocolate, and cupcakes the size of Em's head, and also Federal Hall, the place where George Washington took the oath of office as our nation's first president. We were just sort of wandering along, looking for a diner when a really old building caught our eye and we bothered to read the inscription below the statue out front. Federal Hall! History! Check off a road school moment! I hope they have a restroom. Awesome sauce! Now, about that cheesecake...
The Urban Spoon app did not serve us well here. I think we walked two blocks of the financial district, around and through a cathedral we thought was the same one from yesterday, down Avenue of the Americas (or maybe it was 34th Street) (or possibly Broadway), and we found the big Merrill Lynch bull sculpture. There was a long line of tourists waiting to take a picture by it and two NYPD officers (really) standing guard. Why? The thing is huge. No one is going to sneak that into a backpack and make it out of the city. Kevin asked them if they could point us toward good cheesecake. The suggestion we got was way further than we wanted to walk but we chanced by a little cafe and looked inside and bingo! Cheesecake by the slice! We snagged three and lit out for the train.
We got back to "camp" earlier than the night before and not nearly so exhausted. We were booked for another night but decided we had seen all we really needed to see in New York so we planned to pull up anchors and head south in the morning. We may not be big on big cities, but we are definitely glad we made the trip to see the Big Apple.
-Jenni
P.S. Click here to see the other NYC photos.
We got back to "camp" earlier than the night before and not nearly so exhausted. We were booked for another night but decided we had seen all we really needed to see in New York so we planned to pull up anchors and head south in the morning. We may not be big on big cities, but we are definitely glad we made the trip to see the Big Apple.
-Jenni
P.S. Click here to see the other NYC photos.