Advertisement
Published: August 27th 2008
Edit Blog Post
Statue of Liberty
One of the main tourist attractions in New York is The Statue of Liberty, visited by hundreds of tourists on a daily basis. We had been previously advised to get there as early in the day as possible otherwise we should be prepared to stand in long queues. Eager to beat the crowds, we set off from the hostel around 8am.
The Statue of Liberty stands tall on Liberty Island as a welcome to all visitors, immigrants, and returning Americans. The statue was given to the Americans as a gesture of friendship from France in 1886 to strengthen the Franco-American relations. Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, who is well known for designing the Eiffel Tower, engineered the internal structure, while Eugène Viollet-le-Duc was responsible for the choice of copper shell.
Tourists are no longer allowed to the top of the Statue of Liberty, possible due to fears of terrorism, although to be honest we really did not understand this, as we could not see why we were any safer in the base or on the ground. Security for most tourist attractions in New York has adopted strict airport style security measures, making the waiting times to get into
attractions very lengthly and slightly ridiculous. To top this off many of the staff working in security have been quite rude and dismissive to tourists.
The queue wasn't too bad when we got there and we were soon on the ferry to the island. After arriving, we had a wander around the small island and went inside the main base to climb to the feet of the statue. It gave us some great views over Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge. The audio tour was pretty informative too and filled in some of the gaps for us. After a few hours, we hopped onto the ferry to Ellis Island, which was also included in our ticket. Having seen the statue in so many forms through TV, postcards and various merchandise, it was still visually impressive seeing it "real life".
Ellis Island
Between 1892 and 1954 Ellis Island was the main entry facility for immigrants entering the United States. During these dates thousands of immigrants from various parts of the world arrived on Ellis island in the hope for a new and exciting life. Arriving on the island the building was crowded with tourists and locals alike, however im
sure that this was not a patch on the hussle and bussle that the immigrants would have experienced years before.
The audio tour was extremely well done, taking us through the stages and experiences typical of the immigrants arriving on Ellis Island. We heard extracts from some of those who landed on Ellis Island, sharing their experiences from when they stayed on the island and their feelings, hopes and fears as they stood in the long queues.
After a very informative tour around the amazingly preserved building we joined the queue for the boat back to Manhattan.
Wall Street - Financial District
Back on dry land we headed for Wall Street, the Financial District of New York in South East Manhattan. It runs east from Broadway downhill to South Street on the East River. Wall Street was the first permanent home of the New York Stock Exchange and over time Wall Street became the name of the surrounding geographic neighborhood. Today Wall Street is home to a large number of major US stock and other exchange headquarters, however many New York-based financial firms are no longer headquartered on Wall Street, but are in midtown Manhattan, the
outer boroughs of the city.
Despite visiting Wall Street on the weekend, the street was still relatively busy, however more so tourists than businessmen. It's also a surprisingly narrow and small street, famous more for its name really. It still had some of the classic sites though such as the Stock Exchange building and where George Washington was originally inaugurated as the first President.
Brooklyn Bridge
As the sun began to fall we headed off for a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge with the crowds of locals heading home and the masses of tourists excited by the view. The Brooklyn Bridge, one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States, stretches 5,989 feet over the East River connecting the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. On completion, it was the largest suspension bridge in the world and the first steel-wire suspension bridge.
The walkway was split into two, providing space for both the cyclists and those on foot. As we walked over the bridge we stopped to take in the amazing city skyline which is prominent in so many American movies. Arriving in Brooklyn we decided to head for the nearest subway which
Battery Park
This was formerly located at the World Trade Center and was damaged by the incident. Now located at Battery Park. would take us back into New York City. Brooklyn having existed previously as a seperate city, many from Manhattan still look down upon the borough (and pretty much any borough that isn't Manhattan). It wasn't much different from the rest of the city though, albeit a bit quieter. Plus, we saw a full family of Hasidic Jews, dressed in the full harb which was something you don't see every day in Scotland certainly.
We caught the subway back to Times Square for some food and then to the movies to see Wall-E, which was brilliant. We seemed to go to Times Square every day, although it was never our intentional to be honest. We didn't get out too late and we headed back to the hostel in preparation for our last day in New York.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.242s; Tpl: 0.016s; cc: 17; qc: 83; dbt: 0.1414s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.3mb