Tuesday Morning: Subway, Liberty, Ellis, St. Paul

Tuesday we were up and ready to conquer the subway at around 8. We had purchased tickets for a cruise to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island online and the ferry was leaving from Battery Park at 10. The website recommended being there 45 minutes early to get through security and all that. We arrived right at 9:15 and proceeded through airport style security before boarding the ferry (it made us think of the Booze Cruise episode on the Office---except that there was no dance floor). The weather was absolutely gorgeous! This was going to be the warmest day (high of 76 or something like that) so I had on short sleeves. With the little breeze on the water and the bright sun, I was very happy! Seeing the Statue of Liberty has always been a life long dream of mine. I think this is why Tuesday was my favorite day; it began and ended with something I've always wanted to do. Very fulfilling! I looked at Eric as we were on the boat and told him that this was a dream of mine. He has always been a dream come true to me, why shouldn't he be the reason one of my 'Bucket List' items get checked off? Of course, I've never actually made a list but have a rather LONG mental one in my mind: Pyramids of Egypt, watching the space shuttle take off, Venice, Rome...anyway, we'll see how long we live! I'm off topic!

Seeing Lady Liberty up close is really cool. Knowing that millions of immigrants sailed right by her in search of a new life is very sobering. What liberties I take for granted! I've already forgotten how much we paid for those tickets. The folks who came crammed in boats spent all they had to catch a glimpse of her and know that there was hope in this country. Here she is

Dream fulfilled:

about this picture: yes, my hair is turning white in places. Already. At 34 :(

We decided to skip traipsing around Liberty Island. We kinda thought seeing her from a small distance would be better than looking up at her from ground level. So we stayed aboard the ferry and got to hear a tour guide telling his group some neat tidbits of Statue of Liberty facts. That guy had actually been up in the torch back in the 70s because he knew the man in charge of changing the light bulbs in there. Very neat.

An audio tour of the Immigration Museum on Ellis Island was included with our tickets. I'm really glad we did that. I'm sure we could have made it through faster but listening to the history of a place like that is well worth the time. I hadn't known that so many folks came through here in such a short amount of time. In just over 3 decades, 22 million people came to the US through this entrance point. They got off the boats with all of their worldly possessions, didn't speak English, had no money in their pockets...crazy! Real quick I'll pass on what the procedure was like. As soon as they made it into the Registration Bldg. they were told (by men in uniform who evoked fear in them because they weren't used to trusting men in uniform) to leave all their stuff in the baggage room and head up the stairs. As they climbed the stairs, doctors were watching them to try to start picking out the ones who seemed infirmed in any way. If, at any time during their process, a person appeared to be less than fit, they were marked with a piece of chalk on their back and pulled out of line to continue a more in depth medical exam. Imagine! Having your child, or your elderly mother pulled away and taken some place else after surviving a long journey this far! It was nice to hear that only 2% of those who came through Ellis Island during the peak immigration time were deported back to their home country. If you passed the medical exams and the interviews with the investigators (where are you going, how much money do you have, what are your skills, do you have family here) you were allowed to continue on your journey. If you couldn't pass those things and the investigators thought you would be a drain on society or if they thought you had some disease, you were sent back. Wow. Here's some pictures of the place.



The first paragraph of the above picture is one of the greatest things about America, to me. It's what makes our country very unique.

Next on our agenda, after landing at Battery Park, was to find St. Paul's. St Paul's is a small Episcopal cathedral that is the oldest continually used building in Manhattan. George Washington worshiped here!


see the covered porch he and Martha have just stepped off of?

how cool is that?


It is also famous for it's proximity to the Twin Towers. It's churchyard is literally right across the street from the World Trade Center.

(the orange metal stuff you see through the trees are cranes working on the site)

This church is called the 'little church that stood' because when the towers fell and debris went everywhere, this little church stood firm. It was covered with ash but it had no real structural damage. Rescue workers and firemen used the church's sanctuary as a home base where things were managed, where workers rested on the pews, where comfort was given. Daily, at 12:30, they have a short prayer service for peace and reconciliation that we wanted to participate in. It was peaceful. The inside of the church, while beautiful, has become kind of a shrine to the 9/11 event. It is full of things that you don't find in other cathedrals.



This brings us about to lunch on Tuesday! Sheesh. I'm going to stop here and make the rest of the day a totally different post. I don't have near as many pictures (I don't think) so hopefully it'll be a tad shorter. Thanks for hanging in there with me! I am enjoying reliving the week.