It was a clear, bright and sunny day! We started at 8am for the subway to Castle Clinton, the place where we were supposed to board the ferry to reach Liberty Island. Liberty Island is the place where the great Statue of Liberty stands high! It is a spectacular monument..! Security is very tight and is just like the airport security. You are allowed to take food items, though not till the crown.
The view from the ferry is brilliant, especially when you go up to the 2nd floor. It’d be colder than in the city, so it’s advisable to wear layered clothing. And, if you are on the 2nd floor, it would be much colder than the rest of the ferry.
Upon reaching the island, we had to go straight to the information centre, since we had crown access tickets. We had to show a photo-id-proof so they could tie a band to the left wrist of the hand, which makes it easier for the rangers (guards) there to figure out that you have crown access. After this, we went through another round of security check and hola - we were inside! The moment we entered, we saw a replica of the torch that the Liberty statue holds.
There is also a museum inside, which gives a lot of information on how the statue of liberty was built and how the design of the beautiful statue came up after so many trials and years of hard work by Bartholdi. It also explains why the statue is green in colour. And, for those who thought the statue was made of concrete/wood/steel etc. just like I thought, it’s none of these - the statue is made of copper!
Its hollow inside, so you can go up to the crown from the inside and have a view of the outside from the crown.
Before you go into the museum, you have to check yourself in to one of the rangers, so that they can fit you into the next available batch of people to be sent to the crown.
They send max 10 people at a time because there is so less space inside the crown, there is hardly enough space for 4-5 people. There are 354 steps that you need to take to reach there. And as you go up, from time to time you'd be able to see how many more steps you need to go.
Once you are through a 100+ steps, the wide steps will disappear, and you'd find series of narrow steps forming a spiral.
There is a lot of space at the side at a regular distance, so if you want to relax or are tired, you can stand there for some time and need not worry about blocking someone's way when you stop for a short break! The spirals have just enough space for one person to climb!
You can be at the crown for as long as you want and can take lot of pictures too! The view from the crown is amazing; you can see Manhattan skyline, Brooklyn Bridge, a part of Brooklyn, Staten Island and the Liberty Island itself down below.
Once you are coming back from the crown, you'd have lot of stops at various levels (height), and you can view the Manhattan skyline and the other islands from various levels. It was very breezy when we reached there, and we just took some snaps and ran off!
You'd eventually come across a 11 pointed star, from where you can capture some nice shots of the statue as well as Manhattan skyline.
Once you are at the pedestal, you can get a full view of the Statue of liberty if you look up to the sky, and you cannot just look at it once! I kept looking at it again and again and was amazed by the beauty of the monument whenever I looked up! I can just say that no words are enough to describe a beauty like that!
We just roamed around the Liberty Island while we waited our ferry towards Ellis Island. The island was covered with snow and it was cold and breezy even though the sun was shining bright up above!
We headed next to the Ellis Island, where we saw the Immigration museum. It’s a grand building and a place where people from outside the country were disembarked (at the time of world war) and then they went through a long immigration process to get into the USA.
The museum has lot of information on the procedure that was followed for accepting or rejecting immigrants coming from various places in the world. It was a tedious process for both the immigrants as well as the officers. There used to be up to 10000 people in a day coming in ships trying to get a place in USA. People were checked for various diseases like trachoma, TB etc., those who were medically unfit were rejected and sent back to their port of embarkation at the cost of the shipping company.
The photo below is of the registry room where people used to wait for their turn.
We also went to see a documentary about the immigration process in one of the theatres inside the museum. The museum is well maintained and contains lot of information like the number of immigrants from various parts of the world, the slave population, the population of white vs. black, the various races in the America; all the states that added up to form what is now the United States of America.
Once we were done, we took the ferry back to Manhattan, where we started our journey. By the time we reached home, it was already 4pm. We had a fun-filled but exhausting day, so as soon we reached home, we just collapsed on the bed!
It was a memorable trip for both me and my husband, and I can say that this is one place everyone must visit; you will fall in love with the calm and beautiful face of the Statue of Liberty the moment you see it! Am sure this is one of the biggest reasons why one should really visit New York atleast once in their lifetime!
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