I was up at 5am. After a quick breakfast we were on our way just after 7. We headed to Battery Park to get a ferry to the Statue of Liberty. They have pretty tight security there for obvious reasons. Lance and I went through and assumed the others were right behind us since we were all in line together. We boarded the ferry and found a seat. Then the crew pulled up the walkway and we realized they were not going to make it! As we started leaving the dock I saw the 3 of them still inside near security.
Lance and I got to Liberty Island and took our sweet time walking and taking pictures trying to allow time for them to catch up. I spotted the cutest little fuzzy yellow caterpillar. (I looked it up after and it’s an American Dagger Moth.)
We got into another security checkpoint to go into the statue. They don’t allow any food or beverages (or even empty water bottles). I forgot I had a danish in my purse so I told Lance to put it in his pocket. Haha. He was very uncomfortable with the idea so I threw it away quickly. They were very vigilant and even asked him if he had anything in his pockets. Good thing they were empty! They sure make a killing with people having to rent lockers. They made quite a few people leave line due to the size of bags, backpacks, food…
We finally got inside the statue and I wasn’t aware there is a museum inside. Still trying to go slowly to let them catch up, we read almost everything and learned quite a lot about the history of the statue and how it was made. Just as we were finishing the exhibit they arrived! This was at least an hour after we last saw them. Turned out #1 was stuck in security they think due to a paperclip in his pocket. Wow. We went up to the pedestal and the view of the statue is actually quite poor from that vantage point.
We went to get in line for the next ferry to Ellis Island. It was a bit of a wait so we knew we would have to miss going to Radio City for a tour. I didn’t really want to go in the first place so I didn’t care and no one else seemed too bummed.
At Ellis Island it was kind of emotional. I was thinking of all the lives that have been directly affected due to that place. They estimate that nearly half of all Americans can trace a relative that went through there. I wish we had an opportunity to spend more time there but we had other things on our agenda. We had spent about 4 1/2 hours at the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island already.
After getting back to the city I did something really stupid. So stupid I don’t even want to share but I will having seen a TON of people do the same stupid thing in the days following. In the subways they have two different kinds of turnstiles. We had only encountered the first pictured at that point. Simple enough. I’ve used them tons of times at sporting events and such. But this time we had the 2nd pictured. Yes, I’ve seen these before. I’ve used them before. The other 4 had already gone through. I slid my MetroCard and then proceeded to grab the set of bars closest to me and pushed. Lance saw what I was doing but it was too late. Instead of stepping in and pushing like I was supposed to I pushed the wrong set. I was stuck on the opposite side of everyone else. You can’t slide your MetroCard more than once to prevent multiple people using the same card. We didn’t know what I should do. I felt like an idiot. Then we saw 2 people squeeze in at a time and figured if I could ask someone to allow me to go with them it would be fine. It took forever before a skinny enough person came along that wasn’t holding something and that understood English. A girl who barely spoke English was kind enough to let me go in with her. Thank the Lord. We made it on our subway and I broke down. I couldn’t stop crying. It was a stressful situation that had the best of me. I told Lance for the rest of the trip he had to go behind me! What an ordeal. But from my mistake, like I mentioned, we saw tons of people do the same thing and were able to help them out. We even used our own cards to assist 2 ladies’ that didn’t speak any English. They had already used their cards and didn’t get why they couldn’t go through. Lance had to physically move them into the opening! Tricky turnstiles.
We ate lunch at Planet Hollywood. Lance and I each got a shirt and a water bottle. With our NY Passes we saved $40 there! All of us saved $10 at lunch and $10 in the store. I love a good deal!
We planned to go to the NBC Studio Tour but they were sold out. I was bummed. I really wanted to see it. Maybe next time we go.
We went to The Top of The Rock. It was pretty similar to the Empire State Building so it wasn’t as cool as it would have been had we done that first. But we did get a really good view of Central Park. We walked around Rockefeller Center and to the Nintendo World Store.
Lance and I called it a day and headed back to the hotel. I got to soak my aching feet in the pool and enjoyed a massage from a water jet. It closed at 9 then we ordered a pizza. The others walked across the Brooklyn Bridge and ate at Grimaldi's. My feet didn’t want to walk any more. I needed a vacation from my vacation!
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