Today we decide to head off to the Statue of Liberty.  It is exactly 10 months since I saw Roger Waters in New York City, who would have thought we’d be back so soon.

We head off to the Piers located along 42nd Street on the Hudson River and locate our pier and ferry for the trip.  Before we even get near the pier there is airport style security.  Our bags are searched and we are screened from head to toe before getting on the ferry that takes us to Liberty Island.

The ferry is packed, like packed.  Standing room only for the ten minute journey.

When we get off, we are again greeted with security. More bag searches, body scans and advice that we can’t take any bags near the monument.  They provide lockers, for a fee. Well that’s annoying. We have no choice, so hire a locker, lock our bags away, don my Camera, which is allowed thankfully, and off we go.

As we approach the monument the pedestal looms large with Lady Liberty towering above us. We wander through the shadow the statue casts, a reprieve from the heat for a minute as we gaze up.  We circumnavigate the pedestal before entering the base of the monument and making our way up.  We’ve purchased tickets to go inside and up, but not to the flame. As we enter and begin our climb, the heat hits us.  Inside this metal tower it must be 120F degrees.  We trudge ever upward, hoping for relief at some point.  Our water was confiscated, so we don’t even have a drink as we ascend. We eventually make it to the viewing platform about two thirds of the way up and gasp for air as we peer out from the tiny viewing platform.

Whilst the view is spectacular, the effort to get there may have out weighed beauty of the experience. We descend to ground level, noticing the temperature cooling as we move down.  When on the ground we find a gift shop and place to buy some food and drink. We are exhausted after the demands of the walk and climb combined with the heat.

The queue for the ferry to return is long and in direct sun and is tortuous. We take turns holding our spot in the queue and fining somewhere in the shade to stand and wait.  After what seems like an eternity the ferry arrives and we board, packed in like sardines again.

We return to Manhattan and head home, enjoying some Jon’s Pizza for dinner.


Previous post Day 02: The Met and Virgil
Next post Day 04: The Park, still searching, hunting

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *