Tuesday 7 July

Today was the last day we had to use our New York passes so it was a big day we had lined up. This morning we headed out early to see Ms Liberty herself. We got tickets for the ferry and then joined the queue of course. Security everywhere is amazingly tight, and this was no different.

It never fails to amaze me how many people Americans are willing to shove into one small space. The ferry ride is only quite short and we got our first good look at the statue. Would you believe that we ended up on the same ferry as twin boys who finished Year 12 at PAC last year? They got all shocked and coy when we went to say hello.

The island itself wasn't particularly exciting. We were not prepared to line up for half the morning to climb up inside so we did the tour around the island, took a few pictures and got back on the ferry.

The next stop was Ellis Island. This is where the immigrants were processed upon arrival to the United stated back in the ninteenth and early twentieth centuries. The museum in what was the main buliding and it is quite extensive. It takes you through the stories of many immigrants and their experiences of arriving in America. Not all stories had the happiest of endings either.

Upon arriving back on Manhattan we walked through Battery Park and up to Ground Zero. The space is large and the gap in the skyline is significant. Building on the two main towers is progressing with the holes almost filled to ground level. A couple of other buildings that came down during 911 have already been rebuilt.

We then continued though to find the Wall Street bull (which isn't on Wall Street) but couldn't get a good picture for all the people that were all over it constantly. We were hoping for a down fall of rain just so we could get a good shot.

We then headed up the island to the Intrepid, Air, Sea and Space museum. This museum was built around the war ship the Intrepid. It also has a large collection of war planes and helicopters, a Concord that you can walk through and a submarine (although we didn't get to this before the museum closed).

Continuing on with our nautical theme for the day we went on a 2 hour sunset cruise around the bottom half of Manhattan. This was great, with an excellent tour guide who had lots of really good information and described things so well even I could find them on the skyline! It was a great way to finish up the day.