Day 23

Day 23; day trip into New York

We rode the train! It was a 30 minute drive to the train station from our hotel, and another 40 minutes into New York from there. We visited ground zero for the September 11th attack where there now stands a monument in its memory. There is a museum being built on that spot, and there are two memorials where the twin towers once stood. They are beautiful fountains that sink into the ground (like a pool) with names of people who died engraved in metal around them.

On another note, we are tourists. What kind of tourists would we be if we didn't go to the statue of liberty and Ellis Island? We took the fairy over to liberty island and partook in the self guided tour (they give out recordings that talk about the island and lady liberty). I learned that the statue's copper is only 3/32 of an inch thick! That's the same as two pennies! I also learned that she was designed to move in the high winds that run through the bay.

I find it peculiar that on the day of her revealing, women were not permitted to go see it. Women not able to go to the revealing of a woman statue that stands for liberty and freedom makes no sense to me. Women protested this by hiring boats to take them in circles around the island.

There was a medical emergency while we were visiting the island which is unfortunate, but that meant a helicopter rescue unit had to fly to the island! I got a great video of the helicopter landing on the lawn as well as a great view of a hat that had flown off someone's head from the high winds. The hat must have been 25 feet off the ground. There were napkins from the lemonade stand taking flight as well as people running away from the helicopter because of the high wind. I kept getting closer so I could have a good video :)

Then we went over to Ellis Island to see the place that my great grandparents came into this country. The island was expanded many times in stages in order to keep up with the ever-increasing immigration to the United States. There would be 5000 new immigrants at Ellis Island every day trying to start a new life.

Eventually we worked our way to Wall streetand got ice cream comes before heading back to our hotel for a little nap (4 hours). We had snacks for dinner and mapped out our next few days of the trip. Now that it's almost 2am we finally know where we are going and are getting ready for bed.

Much love, LB