Saturday morning came early for us but we got up and ate breakfast and headed for the train. We walked from Grand Central Terminal to the Ferry Landing at World Financial Center. I had bought tickets for an Ellis Island/Statue of Liberty Tour. You could depart from either New York or New Jersey. I could only get tickets from New Jersey. There was a ferry that would take us over there though plus it would add another state to our “states visited list”. We got on the ferry and got some great views of the city skyline. We landed in New Jersey and walked over to catch the ferry to Ellis Island.
Ellis Island as you probably know was the immigration center for the US in the late 19th and early 20th centuries for the US. They have an extensive museum. We got to check out the great hall where the immigrants arrived. It was very interesting to see the preserved items plus read the stories of what people went through to come to our country. After we finished touring that, we caught the ferry to Lady Liberty. We made sure and got on the top outdoor deck of the ferry. We had amazing views of the statue. You don’t realize how truly big it is until you get up close. We landed and walked around the statue. I’d never seen anything but the front. Once we went around the back, I realized the statue is actually wearing sandals. We then entered the pedestal. You can buy tickets to either just tour the island, go up in the pedestal or go all the way up to the crown (you can’t go up to the torch any more). You have to get Crown tickets months in advance so we did the pedestal. There were several stairs to climb just to reach the top of pedestal. I cannot imagine climbing to the crown! The views were nice and there was another museum – much to my pleasure and Josh’s dismay. It was interesting to see how the statue was built and to be able to look up and see the structure inside. We took the ferry and landed on the New York side this time – at Battery Park.
There were a few more things we wanted to see. The first we’d come to (after Josh wanted to stop at Starbucks) was the large bronze bull a few blocks away. The “Charging Bull” was literally dropped in the Wall Street area years ago by its sculptor. I wanted a picture with it but I was shocked at the crowd around it. You’d have a though a UK basketball player was there :-) . I finally managed to squeeze in for Josh to take a picture of me with it. We strolled by the New York Stock Exchange and the Trump Building and headed for the Brooklyn Bridge. We walked across that – it’s about a mile each way. There were a lot of people (which was the case at most everything we went to) and there was the additional issue of people stopping right in front of you to take pictures instead of moving to the side. We made it back across and then got on the subway to go back to Grand Central.
By the time we got there, we were starving. I wanted to visit one of the Original Soupman restaurants. His original location in downtown was no longer open. It’s considered to be the inspiration for the “Soup Nazi” on Seinfield and the owner didn’t appreciate the comparison. There was one near the station though, so we went there. There was no Soup Nazi (although they sold T-Shirts with his phrase “No Soup for You!!). The soup was excellent along with the bread and banana (of all things) that was included. By this time, I was pretty well worn out so we took the train back to our station and I struggled up the hill to the hotel.
In my next post, I’ll tell you about the friendliest part of the trip plus the part that gave me the most concern. I’ll also tell you about the famous site I almost missed – which would have upset me had I done so.
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