Day 6 and 7 Two More Wonderful Days!

Day 6 Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and Lion King

Today was one of those days where you feel grateful all day. I woke up early and decided to get up early and just go to the Ferry and hope for the best at the Statue of Liberty. I figured we would be doing a lot of walking and stairs so I would just count that as my exercise for today. We got on the subway and miracle of miracles got to our destination very quickly without any problems. I had said my prayers and asked Heavenly Father if there was any way we could still go up the statue of Liberty to make that happen. I ordered my tickets ahead of time, but couldn't print them off of the computer. They sent me to the will call office to pick up my tickets. When we got there I told him about yesterday and he said no problem he would give me some monument tickets, I about started crying. Then he looked inside our envelope and said you have all day anytime monument tickets. I really truly had to keep myself from crying when he said that. I immediately started thanking Heavenly Father. Here they are:



So we then boarded the ferry, they pack it big time!! Take note that I have on red, white and blue. :-)




Our first view of the Statue of Liberty



Steve on the ferry with Statue way in the background



Me on the Ferry

Me on the ferry.

We decided to do the audio tour on both the Statue island and Ellis Island. We reccomend doing audio tours whenever you can. You learn so much and what you are seeing becomes much more meaningful. Here is Steve with his headphones



Here we are in front of the statue

We got to climb the 156 steps to the observation deck (the monument passes I was so concerned about). Before 911 you could go all the way up to her hat thing. Inside the Pedestal there is also a museum you couldn't see unless you get a pass. It was really neat, I took a lot of pics in there that I am including as well as some of the plaques outside for those that are interested in extra info about the stature at the end of this post.

These are life size replicas of parts of the statues so you can see how big she is-Steve is picking her nose-once a little boy, always a little boy!!



Me in front of her foot



This is a pic of the way they made the copper shell in other words her. The outer shell is really thin, 1/8".



Me with Wall street behind me



Steve with the Brooklyn Bridge behind him. It is the longest suspension bridge in the world. You can also see that there are quite a few ships in the bay. I am also including a pic of the bay before the statue.




This is the how high the pedistal is looking down.



looking up from the observation deck



This is a pic of her walking sideways, the reason I took this pic is because she is striding, as symbol of moving forward, she is carrying a book that says 1776 representing our liberty, her crown has seven spears representing the 7 continents and something else I can't remember but was really neat, she has a broken shackle on her foot ( the kind of thing that they put around prisoners feet) to represent breaking away from tyranny. I never realized she was so symbolic. To think that a French designer put so much time and thought into it is amazing. Those days of France loving us so much are certainly over. Anyway, it was a wonderful place to be.



I am including these two plaques from the museum on freedom, they are very moving






Now we boarded the boat again and went over to Ellis Island, I thought I had a good pic of it, but I didn't, it is quite beautiful. It has changed over the years, but most of it is still the same. Most of the immigrants came across to Ellis Island from 1892-1954. Before and after that the immigrants came into other places.

Steve in front of examples of the kind of luggage they brought with them. They had to drop it off here in the lobby when they first came in. They then sent them upstairs to the registry room which is where I am standing, they waited in long lines to register them and there family.


They said there were many lines, the room was packed.

At this point after they registered they then separated the men from the women and did a multitude of exams, mentally, physically, and emotionally. Not very many got sent back, but they could if they had something we felt we didn't want. These are some of the pics of these lines and exams.

They are checking their eyes for an eye disease that would cause them to be sent back. To the left under the white dot is the tool they used, it is scary looking.

The long lines of people coming in.
This is a place they can buy things.

Some people were here on the island for a few days to months. If they were ill, they were put in hospitals on the island until they were well. If they were single women, they couldn't go to the mainland without a male escort, or a husband. (Remember the movie Far and Away) So a lot of women would send their picture to America and apply for a husband. The men would meet them at Ellis Island with candy and flowers. Sometimes the women would fall in love with a man on the boat coming over and marry them, so they would be let go of their contract.

Steve sitting on an original bench.

It was a very moving experience being here on this island and realizing all the people had to go through to come to America. You would really have to want freedom and the privileges to put up with the things they went through. Many died on the way over from diseases they caught on the ship.

Very tired but having had a great day, we went back to the mainland. Braved the subway and of course got on the wrong train, at least going the right direction. We got off and transfered w/o a hitch, feeling pretty proud of ourselves.

We came home ate a Digorno pizza, rested a short time and then boarded the right subway and went to Lion King.


It had amazing costumes, dancing, choir singing, and okay acting. We were blown away by how they made the costumes move like animals. I felt that every time they danced it was very moving, so I decided they were dancers with very good voices, but not actors. Every time they opened there mouths it was like the emotion left. But the choir numbers were amazing also. Steve loved the choir numbers and the costumes and how they made them lifelike, but he had a hard time not constantly comparing it to Les Mis. I reconciled myself and explained to him that they were different. And in there own right very amazing.

We had an ice cream after the show and got on the right train after being told the wrong info, and came home. We were still dreaming of making it home w/o a hitch.

Day 7 Cultural and Eating Walking tour of Greenwich Village



Well, we got up and felt like it was winter in Oregon. It was raining steady. We ate a quick breakfast and got to our tour place easily w/o getting lost early. We put on ponchos and started our tour. We were slow to remember the Cultural part of the title, we were wondering why she was giving us so much history and so little food. I then got out my ticket and reread it and realized she was supposed to be giving us so much info. We then started enjoying it more. It was 3 hours of walking in the rain, but I thought it could be very hot and we could have been wishing it was cooler. So we were happy with the rain. We forgot the camera, which made me very sad, but at the same time we realized it would have been scary with the camera. We both wished we had a pic of us in our ponchos with the rain steadily dripping on us. We looked really cute!! We decided we really like Greenwich Village. I had the best Olive oil I had ever had. I am really tempted to go back and buy some. It was spendy!

We decided since we were downtown anyway, we would go to the movie. We went to the new Bourne movie. It was good!!! It was fun to be in the big movie theater!! We enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.

On our way out, I was putting something in my purse (a cute new American Eagle purse that I bought after we got here) and fell down the stairs. After getting over my fear, I with Steve's help got up and sat back down in a chair. We sat there for about 5 mins and then I said I thought I could get up. Thankfully I got a slight sprain. I could walk on it, so thankfully for the first time we got home w/o any mistakes. I took some Ibuprofen, iced it and kept my leg up. I iced my knee also, I think it is okay, I hope so anyway. So today here I am with my foot up having iced it again, it is slightly swollen, catching up on my blog. Dad is getting a little restless, he is wishing he hadn't booked 2 weeks. But we are having a great time. I am hoping after two days of much lighter activity, I will be ready to go on Monday. We are hoping to get on a bus tour about all the movies and tv shows that took place here. Well, we love you bunches!!!

Below is more info about the Statue of Liberty for those of you who like that kind of stuff.