15 April 2019

We needed the alarm clock this morning. At last we are on NY time. We left the hotel at 8am, as we had a hot date with a certain famous lady.

We had one of the hottest tickets in Manhattan. Crown ticket for the Statue of Liberty.

In all the times that Andrew and I have visited NY, either as a couple or with friends or for business, we have never made the trip to Liberty Island and Ellis Island. Mainly because it is a full day trip and we are never here long enough.

There is a little story in advance of today’s events.

I had originally investigated the possibility of walking up the statue to the crown, and could see it was now open to the public. All I needed was to book online. Easy. In January, I sat down to make my reservations and to my horror it was fully booked. I contacted the Helpdesk and was told that they don’t keep a waiting list due to demand, but that I should book the pedestal tickets (the base of her feet), but to keep checking back, and that if I was able to get crown tickets that they would refund my pedestal ones.

I never like to be told that I can’t -and I was now on a one woman mission to get Crown tickets. From January 1st, I checked at least 5 times a day. As I woke up, on the tube on the way to work, on the tube home, when I got home and before I went to bed. Eventually, I could see that they were right - tickets did occasionally become available - just not yet for my dates. After many many weeks of trying, I was on hold to HMRC with a VAT query, and random click on the site and there were THREE tickets available for today.

I scrambled around trying to find my credit card and hold a conversation about VAT, and managed to secure the crown access tickets for today. A lesson in perseverance and tenacity if ever there was one.

We took the subway to South Ferry.

It was a beautiful sunny morning, but really cold and really windy, and we were totally under-dressed.

We made our way to the ticket area and the queues to buy tickets, even at 9.30am was LONG. People would have been waiting hours for the ferry to cross to Liberty Island. We walked right to the front and were given clear instructions of what to do, and asked to return at 11:30am.

We found a cafe to have a light breakfast and shelter from the wind.

At 11am we made our way back and went in line to have our bags checked through airport style security. And then we boarded the ferry. Ten minutes later, idly chatting to Oli, whilst Andrew went to search for some extra food for himself, I looked out of the ferry window and there was the Statue of Liberty, looming on the horizon. I stopped mid sentence, uttered a few words and Oli and I took in her splendour. She was so beautiful - even through a dirty ferry window.

We disembarked the ferry and made our way to the base. It was utterly freezing, but you could have done anything to me and I wouldn’t have cared. To be so very close to something so iconic was a dream come true for me. Andrew and Oli were just speechless. Just to see her, with the most beautiful blue sky as her backdrop, let alone knowing we would be climbing up her insides..just too much.

Sorry for so many pictures - I just could not stop.

We locked our bags into the security lockers (only allowed a camera or phone, no bags) and made our way up the stairs to the pedestal area. The views across the Hudson to Manhattan were wonderful. Despite the icy wind, we could not have asked for better conditions in order to view the skyline.

We walked all around the pedestal, and then started the climb to the crown. The tiniest spiral staircase, no wider than my hips. Round and round and we were inside her robes. We could actually see the folds of her cloak. Amazing. Keep going, round and round..and then..we were at the top. In the crown of the Statue of Liberty - one of the most famous statues in the world.

And it was tiny. So tiny. Only room for maybe 8 people - Andrew could hardly stand at his full height.

I wish I could find the words to explain how it felt to be there. Something so special and so momentous. It was just too much to comprehend. To look out across the river and to see parts of her crown protruding from where we were standing. I think it will remain one of the most special moments of my life.

We were lucky enough to have at least 20 minutes there with the Park Ranger and one other family before we had to make room for the next visitors. We started our descent and just spent some time in silence, trying to make sense of what we had just done. All that for the grand total of $17 each.

Next stop was Ellis Island. Ellis Island is the home of the immigration centre run by the US from 1892 to 1954. Whilst the Statue of Liberty represents the symbol of freedom for the US, Ellis Island was where real freedom began for those hoping that the USA would provide a better life. This is where ships of hopeful immigrants would arrive in the US from their original home.

The boat from Liberty Island to Ellis Island took us 10 minutes and we arrived a the grand entrance.

We entered the main hall, which would have been where the immigrants would wait with their luggage to be processed. Various tests would be undertaken - health, intelligence, money and documents. 2% of emigrants were turned away, which doesn’t sound a lot, but between 1891 and 1930, Ellis Island reviewed over 25 million attempted immigrations. Of this 25 million, 700,000 were given certificates of disability or disease and of these 79,000 were barred from entry. That’s 79,000 disappointed people.

Reading the history of Ellis Island, it was surprising how many were from Europe. The US really is made up of so many different nationalities. Ellis Island worked really well, everyone seems to have been treated fairly and held in humane conditions and fed and kept warm. No women or children were released without knowing they had a home or a job. New York needed the people, and the people needed NY. It worked.

Due to the change in the way people now enter the US, Ellis Island was closed as an immigration centre in the 1950s and is now a beautiful museum. Well worth a visit.

By now it was almost 5pm, so we caught the ferry back to Manhattan and took the subway to Times Square. You can’t escape visiting this rather brash and touristy area when coming here. It just has to be done.

It was still light, but the lights were already on all over. We went to a restaurant - Juniors - for a well earned meal of ribs and burgers, before taking a walk back the 10 blocks to the hotel.

It’s been a wonderful day.

PS - the Empire State is lit in the colours of the French Flag tonight.