Day 59 - Liberty Island, Ellis Island & Manhattan, New York

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A fair portion of today was going to be spent walking around. First off, I had a reserved ticket to Liberty Island. I had to catch the subway down to Battery Point, though, it didn't go all the way, for some reason. I had to make a run for it from Brooklyn Bridge station.

Grabbing a hot dog on the way as I ran through downtown and the financial district, I made it to my ferry set to depart at 10:25am. It was a fairly nice day today. There were plenty of people aboard.

We set for Liberty Island. What a fantastic sight to see. I had a walk around the island, checking out the gift shops, and getting some good view points of the Statue of Liberty. Interesting why it's green - I had no idea that it was oxidised copper. So many years ago, the statue was actually bronze coloured.

I was happy with what I saw here. I moved on to Ellis Island, a former immigration port of entry into the United States, which has now been turned into a museum. I grabbed lunch here - there wasn't much else to do, and the museum didn't hold much interest for me.

Back to New York City, and it was time to check out lower Manhattan. I saw Occupy Wall Street. Interesting protest going on here; it's been going for a fair while. They even had tents lined up for people to sleep. What an interesting place to be. There were police officers staying near and watching, to make sure nothing gets out of hand, or that tourists stay for too long.

I then went on to Ground Zero. I tried to find the entrance to the 9/11 Memorial. I did a bit of walking around before managing to find it; the place was surrounded by construction fences. They were building the new Ground Zero. I had to go up the road to obtain a pass first, to enter the memorial. A very beautifully decorated memorial, something nice to turn the place into. The atmosphere was very peaceful, and I was sure to have felt some emotion here.

I then walked along Wall Street, and found myself heading for Brooklyn Bridge. This was going to be the last tourist hotspot I would check out for the day. A fancy looking bridge it was, though I didn't feel like walking along the entire thing. I've had enough walking for today! It's been long.

It was soon after that I headed back to my hostel. Now that was a great way to spend the day, I saw quite a bit. I think I have to say that New York so far, has been the most interesting place to go sightseeing.

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