Liberty and beyond

Our destination for today was very downtown.

We head to Battery Park, where New Amsterdam was founded and then queue for the ferry to Liberty Island. Standing in the security line, waiting to be processed for the boat ride gave us a very small inkling of what steerage passengers endured on arrival in America. The ‘sheeple’ mode kicked in – just wait, shuffle forward, marvel at the stupidity of others (have they never gone through a metal detector gate before … or listened to the officers yelling instructions?) and then wait some more for a ferry to arrive. Alistair had the added joy of having to take off his boots (there is some metal in them somewhere) and stand in his socks on a freezing cold damp, metal floor.

The Statue of Liberty is beautiful, enough said. The island experience, with interactive and very informative museum, was great. A stroll around the statue (we didn’t go into or up the statue) taking in the views and enjoying the sunshine and snow drifts, was lovely.

A ferry ride to the immigration centre on Ellis Island was next. And yes, there were several more queues to endure. The story of the island was well presented at the museum (the whole place is a museum actually) and the processing hall, echoing with the sounds of tourists, had a melancholy feel of despair and fragile dreams.

The financial district was next, when we returned to Manhattan. We walked around Wall Street, were impressed by the area’s strong, classic architecture, unsettled by the extremely solid, retractable road barriers limiting car access to the area around the Stock Exchange and were curious as to why there was such a long line stretching across Bowling Green Square behind the Charging Bull statue  (in order to touch its testicles!).

After a quick lunch sitting in the wind and sun, we visited Ground Zero. The two square ponds mimicking the Twin Towers buildings’ footprints, with water cascading into deep central squares, are a poignant memorial to all the people who died in the September 11 attacks. There was a respectful hush over the area as people take in the enormity of what happened. The rebuilt area is in keeping with NYC’s skyscraper tradition – tall and boxy but these glass-envelope buildings lack the flourishes of the traditional towers. A very sculptural Oculus (looking like a giant peace sculpture to Alistair) is actually the entrance to a Westfield shopping mall and subway interchange.

After a day out and about, a bevy or two at Jimmy’s finished the day. It will be an early start tomorrow for our day trip to Pennsylvannia.