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Published: November 4th 2009
Oct. 13th We planned to spend the day in Southern Manhattan today, starting off with the tours of Libery Island and Ellis Island. We had reserved the first boat of the day, leaving the harbour at 9am, so we had to catch a subway at around 8. It was our first trip with the NYC subway, and after a couple false starts getting through the turnstiles, we were on our way. Once we got on the boat, the first stop was Liberty Island. We picked up our audioguides, and went through the museum located in the pedestal beneath the statue itself. The pedestal pass allowed us to get to the observation level about 150 ft from the ground. The crown passes are booked up about 6 months in advance, so we weren't able to get one.
The statue itself is another 150 ft high, made up of an interior steel structure (originally iron), surrounding by a copper sheathing. It was of course a gift from France to commemorate the centennial of American Indepence. The museum has some interesting pictures of original design concepts, including one inspired by the Colossus of Memnon in Luxor, Egypt. We actually spent
more time than anticipated on Libery Island, so unfortunately had a bit of a line up to catch the boat to Ellis Island.
Ellis Island was the main entry point for immigration into the US from 1892 to about 1924. After 1924 it was still an immigration centre, but more predominatly a detention and deportation centre. We had an audio guide here as well that took us through the exhibits and the main processing building. It was certainly interesting, but it would obviously mean more to someone with a link to US immigration.
Once back in Manhattan we walked past the financial disctrict and the charging bull, down wall street and past ground zero before hitting the subway back to the hotel. Ground zero is basically a construction site now. The only thing out of place is that it is a full city block of Manhattan with nothing in it, a very strange site.
For our last night in New York, we had tickets to another broadway show, Wicked. Its more of a theatrical production based on the witches of the Wizard of Oz. Pretty cool effects and production, quite a different style from the Jersey Boys.
After the show we finally took up the offer of the Mexican place right beside our hotel, which had been tempting Melissa's dad since day one, 2 for 1 Margaritas, with some food on the side.
Oct. 14 Mostly a travel day, we took a taxi to Penn Station, which happens to be directly underneath Madison Square Gardens. We caught our Amtrak train to Washington, DC. It was about a 4 hour trip, but actually really comfortable, fairly cheap at $49 US, and probably just as quick as flying when you factor in getting to an airport from Manhattan, security, baggage pickup and everything else. I'd definitely recommend it as a way to get up and down the US east coast.
We got a cab to our Priceline won hotel, the Marriott Wardman Park. It was not walking distance to the National Mall, but it was right across the street from a metro stop and a 5 minute ride to the Mall. It was a pretty nice hotel, with a good selection of restaurants right across the street.
After checking in, we jumped onto the metro and down to the Mall. We took an
evening walk around the monuments as they were lit up at night. Most of the monuments are actually fairly far away from eachother, so we didn't make it all the way down to the Jefferson memorial, but saw it from across the reservoir. We started at the Washington monument, over to the WWII memorial, then walked along the reflecting pool and to the Lincoln memorial. I was willing to reenact the Forrest Gump scene with him wading through the reflecting pool, but Melissa wasn't game. We continued on past the Vietnam memorial and then up by the White house to take a quick peek. We couldn't see much across the south lawn as they were tearing down a stage they had up for the Latino festival the day before. Enough walking for the day, we headed back to our hotel, and found an Irish pub across the street for some food.
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