That's a big apple

Day 263
Manhattan NY

Our first day out in NYC turned out to be a whole lot of stuff to see. More than we were expecting. We pack our bags and head out towards central park. It's the furthest thing away from our place where we are staying and a little too far for us to take the subway to go see. Bravely, or stupidly, we thought it would be best to drive Shirley deep into the concrete jungle and find a parking space on the streets. Let me set the scene for you. It's the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. Our best idea is to drive into one of the busiest cities in the world and a free parking space will magically appear right where we want it too. Never mind the fact that people in New York don't own cars because its too hard to get around. Sure a problem for them, but not for us. We head into the Holland Tunnel and pay an eye popping $15 toll to cross over to Manhattan. A twenty minute drive to the west side of central park and we score free parking on the avenue. Being experienced at traveling pays off. Time to go for a walk.

We walk into the 1.3 square mile park surprised and bewildered at what we see. In our minds it was going to be some run down dirty place with no grass and tons of homeless. What we were not expecting was to find a beautifully landscaped green space with public bathrooms, no trash on the sidewalk and not a homeless person in sight. The trails twist and turn through the trees and some spots are so thick you can't see the buildings that are 100 feet off to our right. 

People are out in full measure. Globs of humans clog the walkways and streets at certain paths. Runners, bikers, walkers, and folks who just need some sun. It's still pretty early and we beat most of the holiday crowd.

A couple of hours pass and the time is up. We've got tickets for a 2pm tour to the statue of liberty back across the Hudson in New Jersey. We roll home to take care of lunch and a dog walk. Then it's on the bicycles to the pier where the boats leave for the statue. It's past the old train station and around the corner.

The line is long. Like ridiculously long. What a fantastic idea. Let's go to the Statue of Liberty on Memorial day weekend. Why wouldn't that be a good idea. Lucky for me Katie spots the little blue flag that is for the reserved ticket line and we get in front of all these people standing around. The folks below turned out to be dumber than us. They thought they could show up and buy a ticket without a problem.

After getting on the boat we get a glimpse of the traffic in the Hudson River. Winds are blowing at about 15 knots and the chop is a couple of feet tall. First stop: Ellis Island.

The building outside is packed. The inside rooms and museums are packed. The registration room isn't too bad. Most of the tourists are sticking to the edges to grab pictures of this great space. An amazing amount of brickwork and tile that welcomed the first immigrants in 1892. Ellis island operated until 1954 and finally shut down for basically being outdated. The building fell into disrepair and remained largely ignored until the 1970's. A massive restoration went underway and this room was re-opened in 1990. Fairly recent when you consider the importance of it to our country. Next stop: Statue of Liberty.

Finally a good picture of the crowd. It's late in the afternoon and this is the worst we have seen. Liberty island is a shade over 14 acres and this is what it all looks like. A rough guess, I'd say there are a few thousand people here and they all had to come by ferry. 

We sneak past the crowds one last time and go through security for pedestal access. Two months ago Katie booked our tickets and access to the inside of the statue is limited. She tried to get us up to the crown but those tickets are booked far in advance. The ones we were able to get took us the where you see the green copper and granite meet. It's impressive for sure. Let's go over a super quick story on her existence. In 1865 some french intellectuals were fed up with their controlling government. A fundraiser was started and the people of France, not the government, donated money to build us a symbolic gift of freedom and liberty. Craftsman then made a mold out of wood and plaster. Three hundred thin copper sheets were then beat over the molds to form a thin copper skin. The statue was shipped to us in pieces and re-assembled in 1886. At that time it was the largest statue in the world.

This is the original torch. It was removed after a munitions explosion at nearby island damaged it during WW2 (set off by the Germans). The replacement was made of modern day blown glass and was structurally stronger to withstand weather and future possible attacks.

With the sight seeing done it was back into line. Forty five minutes went by until we were loaded onto our ferry home. For the day we had completed 12 miles of walking and 3 miles of bicycling. We were both wore out but Eli was not. He had been couped up all day in the RV and really wanted to be outside. Not wanting to disappoint he got to lead us on a stroll through Jersey City at night. Not a bad life this life on the road. Not bad at all.