We went for breakfast in a traditional cafe on the corner of the world trade centre site. Tim and I talked about his last visit here a few years ago whilst enjoying our first meal of the day. After breakfast, we walked down to catch the ferry over to Liberty Island to see the statue of Liberty. I was very excited about seeing this but also mindful of the comments from my children that it was not as big as they expected it to be when they visited. The Sun was shining, it was a beautiful day. We queued with our tickets that we had purchased over the internet. It took approx. 1hr to go through the airport style security and to board the ferry. We managed to get a seat on the top deck but there were so many people that it was almost impossible to see the view of Statten Island as the ferry left on its journey to Liberty Island.
As we arrived at the island, I agreed with what my children had said about the statue. It was beautiful, but not as impressive as I thought it would be. Tim and I decided to go straight to see this rather than to explore the island or have a coffee. Boy was I glad that we did! We had to queue for a further 1hr for yet more airport style security. I do think that this was over the top even for the USA!! Whilst 1hr was a long time, it became a longer queue as the day progressed. When we got through the security, the lift was out of order so we started to climb the 156 steps to the base of her feet. On arriving at the base, I walked out and felt that it was just a bit too high for me. I walked around the base, admiring the view, but with my back pressed firmly to the concrete wall! Once round was enough for me and I started the decent to the ground.
I had a mooch in the shop and queued again for a souvenir and then went outside to wait for Tim. We decided to have lunch before we caught the ferry to Ellis Island. We ate Fish and Chips in a 'Liberty Torch' shaped basket, outside in the sun, admiring the views across the bay to Manhattan. It was very warm for early March.
With lunch over we boarded the ferry to Ellis Island. This was a short trip giving us great views of Liberty Island. Ellis Island was not as interesting as I had expected as the history didn't really grab me. Tim had been before so we decided to have an enormous glass of diet coke and sit and admire the views out in the beautiful sunshine. We then made our way back to the ferry and crossed back to Battery Park where we had started off that morning.
Tim then took me back along the side of the World Trade Centre site and down to see Wall Street and then back down to Broadway.
The shops were great and it was so busy for what was a Sunday afternoon. We walked miles and miles, stopping in a park for a rest and enjoying the free Wi-Fi that is readily available in all the parks in the city. We pressed on looking in shops on Broadway for as far as our legs could carry us. We then decided that we would go to the next subway station and catch a train back to as near to Times Square as we could.
We were both so tired that evening we had an evening meal, paid a visit to 'Toys R Us' in Times Square (with it's Ferris Wheel inside)and then strolled back to the Hotel and watched a film and then went to bed.
Another day in NYC over.
No comments:
Post a Comment