NYC Trip Day #3

Date: 4/20/2015

Today is tour day.  We only booked two shows for our trip and then decided to do some tourist stuff on Monday and Tuesday.

This day it rained.  No - it poured.  The wind was terrible, and the rain was coming down in buckets.  But we had already bought our tickets for the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island and the 9/11 site and museum, so what can you do?  Off we went.

We had breakfast in a coffee shop before getting on the boat to Liberty Island.  The boat was rocking so much from the waves and wind - it wasn't a pleasant trip for me.  Everyone else thought it was a blast.

We climbed to the top of the Statue of Liberty.  I did it as a kid, and didn't love it, but Mat and the kids have never done it, so off we went.  It wasn't as terrible as I remember because it wasn't very busy.  The climb didn't take long.  If you have never been - the stairs are in a spiral inside the statue - it is a very steep, very narrow climb.  Finley was a little freaked out, but she did great.  When you get to the top - it is very, very tiny with very tiny windows and since it was raining - nothing to see.

After the Statue, we road the boat over to Ellis Island.  It was closed for many years when I was growing up - I don't remember going there.  It also suffered quite a bit of damage during Hurricane Sandy.  But they were up and running and a lot of the exhibits were open.  It is a huge building.  Right now they are in the middle of restoring it to look like it did when the immigrants first arrived.  It walks you through all the steps they would have had to take in order to stay.  Pretty cool.

After Ellis Island the rain let up some and it was just sprinkling.  We headed off to the 9/11 memorial and museum.  It was the first time any of us have seen it.  The last time Mat and I were in New York was back when it was under construction.  We were only able to visit the temporary museum and church.

They have made the memorial gorgeous and the museum is amazing.  Our kids had a chance to walk through the story, and see what happened and saw that evil doesn't win in the end.  It was hard to look at all of the faces of the people who died.  You could go to a computer and click on any of the 3500 people and learn more about them and see pictures.  Each person's story was told.  We saw what was left of the towers.  They had the fire truck on display that was crushed when the towers fell.  The museum is in what used to be the garage of the towers - the walls are still the same.  As is the floor.  The preserved what they could.

I know a lot of people (and families of the people who died) do not agree with a museum - a place that makes money from their grief.  And I see their point.  But I saw it as a place to always remember those who were lost in a terrible tragedy.  Those people were innocent and they deserve to be remembered every day.

In the evening we met my cousin, Kirsten, who lives in NYC for dinner at Arturos.  We had good food and good conversation, and it was a nice ending to our day.

Having breakfast before getting on the boat to Liberty Island:

 Ellis Island from Liberty Island.  Stupid rain:

 Looking down from the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty:

 These are the stairs you take to the top of the Statue of Liberty:

 At the top of the Statue.  Can you tell what Finley thought of it:

 Looking down from the top of the Statue of Liberty:

 Looking down inside the statue of Liberty:

 The museum on Liberty Island - kids picking the nose of the face:

 Ellis Island Registry Room:

 There was a raised map with braille on Ellis Island for blind people.  It was amazing.  I wish more places had things like this:

 The Statue of Liberty from Ellis Island:

 Ellis Island buildings:

 Leaving Ellis Island on the boat:

 Near Wall Street:

 At the 9/11 memorial.  These are the fountains outside - where the buildings used to stand.

 This was the last piece of the towers that was removed from the sight:

 Some of the metal from the towers:

 The stairs - in the middle of the escalators - where the original stairs:

 Part of the very top of the towers:

 The floor of the towers - still preserved:

 The fire truck that was crushed when the towers fell:

 Arlington and I gathering a map.  Can you tell what mood she was in at that moment?

 The new One World Trade Center:

 Having dinner with Kirsten

 Goofy kids waiting on a bench:

 Arturo's restaurant: