Statue of Liberty

Yes dear reader, it is a song title by the Little River Band.  Today we spent the day at the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island - and I mean all day.  We left at 9am and returned just shy of 5pm.

Random information from today:

1. I'm sure the voice over announcers they use are actors.  The dude at Dallas airport sounded for all the world like Buzz Lightyear.  I kept waiting for him to announce the next plane to leave gate 6 was bound for "infinity and beyond".  Today the announcements on the boats to the islands were made by Principal Skinner.

2. In peakhour, never, ever hesitate when trying to get onto the train. The slight gap in front of you can close up as quickly as it opened.  Jayne was safely on board when the two people either side of me stepped in front of me, locking me out.  I pushed in as the doors closed on me.  "Are you OK?" Jayne asked. I just smiled - I've been slammed in Paris on the Metro; today was nothing.

3. America - land of the free? Well, it might be, but it is also the land of the giant-sized adult sippy cup. Now gentle reader, you know that I am opposed to sippy cups. If you want a coffee, make the time to sit and have one.  You don't walk the streets like a giant baby in a suit carrying a bag in one hand and a sippy cup in the other.

The Statue of Liberty

Finally, they get an A+ for organisation - although we still had to line up to trade our CityPass tickets for one of theirs.  Moving everyone through the metal detectors can take up to 90 minutes apparently. It was as smooth as silk today.  Lots of barriers open, staff directing people, everything moved quickly and efficiently, although for the first time anywhere, we had to remove our vivofit wrist devices.

Sculpture on the dock

A view of the Trade Tower from the dock

As a bonus, the weather forecasters got one right.  We waited for today because the weather was supposed to be lovely, mostly sunny, light breeze, and 24°C.  So, there are a lot of shots of the grand lady herself.

We did the audio guide tour of the island.  We didn't get into the pedestal and we certainly didn't get to the crown - the latter requires a minimum booking 6 months in advance.  The audio guide was informative and although the first one I had malfunctioned, they didn't run out of battery like they did elsewhere.

It was a beautiful day and everyone passing us was eating an ice cream, so we joined the crowd.  A single waffle cone of soft serve :( ice cream cost almost $5. However, it was a similar size to the Statue of Liberty's torch. I seriously struggled to finish.  Jayne did not.

Back onto the boat for the 10 minute trip to Ellis Island.

Ellis Island

The island houses the Immigration Museum.  Another audio guide and a lot of walking.  There were three exhibits: one looked at migration to America from 1945, another at the history of Ellis Island and the final exhibition covered the history of immigration to America.  Quite fascinating really.  It was amazing how quickly a country that was founded by migrants (yes, I know there was an indigenous population) turned on them.  In less than 100 years the respectful treatment of the indigenous population was replaced with a 'remove to reserve' policy and the concept of open migration began to narrow, particularly towards Chinese and people of African origin.  Curiously, the same arguments for xenophobic behaviour that are used today were also used back then, "they'll take our jobs" etc.

Conversation between 2 women overheard on the line to get back on the boat:
"What are those buildings over there?"  They were in fact the hospiital wing of the Immigration Centre where prospective immigrants were quarantined till they were no longer considered a potential threat.  The reply came, "I have no idea. I didn't pay attention to any of that stuff inside - there was too much information to take it all in."  God bless Americans.