Day 5: Immigration Investigations

Overview of today’s agenda: Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and Brooklyn Bridge

Today’s adventures were mostly dedicated to Liberty and Ellis Island. The guide books weren’t wrong when they said you need five hours to do both islands. I would add that I spent  more time on Ellis Island than I did on Liberty Island. While seeing the Statue of Liberty is cool, the exhibits are more extensive on Ellis Island.

I arrived early at Clinton Castle in Battery Park to get a monument pass for the Statue of Liberty, because while CityPass included free ferry ride it didn’t give you access to the statue itself. Planning to see the statue is an adventure in itself – it pays to research how to do it in advance to avoid being disappointed!

After going through airport–style security you are crammed onto a ferry and brought to Liberty Island. It is definitely better to get there early in the morning, as the lines to go up the statue just get longer and longer. Unfortunately since 9/11 you can only go up to the top of the pedestal, but you do get a great view up Lady Liberty’s dress! On a cloudy day the view is less than spectacular – but the quasi-museum about the construction etc was cool.

After an overpriced all-American lunch (Burger and Fries) I took the ferry over to Ellis Island. While the views and interior weren’t as impressive, the displays were quite extensive and interesting. The tree of American-English words that had come from other languages was particularly neat. The 30 minute video in the theatre gave a good summary of the history of immigration at Ellis Island. The best part was upstairs where there was memorabilia from the time period as well as stories of immigrants.

I stuck around downtown after visiting the islands and went to Chinatown. I had excellent Vietnamese food and some lychee ice cream for dessert. I was a little skeptical of the suggestion to try the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory, as my past experience with Chinese desserts has been less than stellar. However the lychee ice cream was fantastic, and for those who are not fans of Asian flavours this ice cream place covers all the basic flavours.

Since I was already wet from all the rain today (and my one leaky show was already soaking), I decided to stick it out to see the Brooklyn Bridge up close at night. It had a convenient pedestrian walkway above the road. From the centre of the bridge you can see most of lower Manhattan, downtown Brooklyn and just barely see the Statue of Liberty. It would be interesting to go back during the day when its sunny to compare.