Today was all about The Statue of Liberty! I still can't believe I have been there- and we went all the way up to the inside of the crown, as far as you can go. I booked our tickets months ago, knowing this was an absolute must do.
We took an Uber to the dock, waited in line about 30 minutes to get our paper tickets, then maybe another 30 to go through security, and then got on our boat to head over.
The weather was sunny with a chilly wind, but it was perfect.
This was the Uber over, our first look at The Brooklyn Bridge. We will need to save walking over the bridge for another trip.
Here we are in line getting ready to board the boat.
On the boat
There she is!
This is her back...you don't see that very often on TV.
Starting to make our way up to the top of the pedestal. There's three parts- the base, or the 11 pointed star. This was a former army fort. Then, a massive pedestal that she sits on. Then, you can finally go up to the crown.
Here we are on the pedestal
These are the stairs going up to the crown- a very narrow, spiraling staircase. It reminded me of the old cathedrals in Europe as you climb to the bell towers. They were kind-of scary. You go up one set of stairs, and down another. There were a lot of stairs! Our legs were definitely tired- it's a good thing we did it while Ben and I still have functioning knees.
The ranger took exactly one picture of us at the crown, and this was it. It did not turn out very well,but it's the best we got. I didn't know the crown had mirrors, but it did. It was a very small space- it fits a total of about 9 people, so we didn't get to stay very long, but it was perfect. I still can't believe we went to the top! We can now forever say, "we were inside her crown!!!"
Some of the interior structure. It's an iron shell and then the plates are drilled on. Gustave Eiffel designed it the inner shell. When others doubted it would work, he said, "It will work." He was, of course, correct.
Back at the pedestal on our way down.
I was simply in awe to be RIGHT THERE.
The cornerstone
Can you see them?
They have a museum on the island so we went to that as well. This is the actual size of her ear
The torch was replaced in the 80s- this is the original torch. It's smaller than I thought it would be
Then it was off to Ellis Island.
This is the "baggage room"- where immigrants would drop off their luggage, and maybe see it again.
This is upstairs and is the "reception room"- immigrants would wait here for hours and hours trying to be processed. For most it was a matter of hours, but for many it was weeks, and about 2% were turned away and sent back to their homeland, separating families.
This is where many slept- in beds stacked three high
Getting off the island was a NIGHTMARE. We got in line at 3 PM and then stood in line for 90 minutes and barely moved at all! Several boats came and left, taking almost no passengers. Honestly, it was terrible. It's the NPS that runs the boats, and they suck at it. They need to hire an outside firm because they do not know how to move people- it was honestly ridiculous and extremely disappointing from one of the top tourist destinations in the world.
Finally boarding our boat.
The good news is that by the time we got back, it was dark and we had incredible nighttime views of Manhattan.
By this point, we were starving. Ben really, really wanted to go to Chinatown and a friend had recommended a restaurant, so off we went. It was delicious! And we ate every bite, which is saying something because it was a lot of food.
Then we went to Saks to watch their Christmas light show
They also had awesome window displays
And we stopped at our favorite Paris Bakery and got dessert
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