New York~ Day Four

Day four was one of my very favorite days! We woke up very early and took the subway to Battery Park, walked around a slight bit, and then headed to the Liberty Island ferry. We ate some sub par pretzels and hopped on the ferry. It was the coldest day that we had spent in New York, and being on the water made it that much worse, but it was a beautiful day!

The ferry took us over to Liberty Island where we walked around and admired the Statue of Liberty. The statue is often portrayed as massive and impressive, and while it is impressive, the size seems to be over exaggerated, but it was amazing to be standing next to a symbol of the freedom of our nation. The view of Manhattan was very impressive, although the skyline is now missing the two tallest towers. We were going to walk to the base of Lady Liberty (and I use lady loosely as she lacks feminine qualities such as a butt and appears more built than any man I know) but the wait was over two hours and we wanted to spend more time at our next stop...Ellis Island.

Ellis Island was more amazing than I could have imagined. I loved it so much. It was not only physically beautiful, but the rich history and the heritage that shaped our nation. I took a picture next to the board which cataloged the numbers of immigrants to the country. I am pointing to 1962 which is the year that my Grandparents, Aunt Lesley, Uncle Archie, and Dad came to America. I think their immigration was part of the reason I was so intrigued by the stories and artifacts. Although my family didn't have to pass through Ellis Island, endure inspection and scrupulous interrogation, and the physical journey was undoubtedly easier, leaving their home, and enduring physical separation from each other must have been the hardest thing they'd ever do.

Ellis Island had to be one of my New York highlights. My favorite story came from a girl who was about 4 or 5 years old. 5o years later she was recalling her memory of arriving at Ellis Island. She remembers seeing a man, and thinking he was so beautiful and falling in love with him instantly, not knowing that he was her father. She says she must have recognized herself in him and recognized the love in his eyes. She'd never met him before that moment because he'd come over to America years before his family.

After Ellis Island we returned to Manhattan. We remained down town and headed over to Wall Street. There is so much security down there! LOTS of people smoking too, Adam believes there is a lot of thick stress flowing through the air down there. Good thing we found a free life coach offering her service to those walking by! We took pictures by the bull and sent our positive thoughts through that street and ate at the BEST DELI!!! I can't remember now what it was called, perhaps Adam will. We then walked over to Trinity Church and saw Alexander Hamilton's grave. There was aparently a lot of victim relief at Trinity Church during September 11th.

We walked over to Ground Zero. What a strange sight to see. Any other place in the world it would have just looked like a construction zone, but in the middle of lower Manhattan where the buildings scrape the sky and hug each other like brothers, the empty space was haunting. We didn't stay long. There was really nothing to see, and that was eerie.

Like two crazy people, we kept going. We'd already had a full day and then some, but we still had some free coupons that we wanted to go through and Adam suggested MoMA: the Museum of Modern Art. Although we hadn't planned it, it was one of the best parts of our trip. Partially because we were SHOCKED at what some people considered art. Examples of this were: Folded paper, Torn Paper (you know, just a ripped up piece behind glass), a guy who locked himself in a cage for a year in the name of art, a guy who splattered various things on white paper such as fingernail shavings, urin, and sauce. At some points I was crying because I was laughing so hard! Of course the museum did have its redeaming qualities such as the post impressionist and impressionist paintings which I enjoyed and an amazing light fixture which was inspired by breaking dishes in a kitchen...it was really amazing and I want a house to put it in lol.