Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty

On the Wednesday of my parents' visit, we spent most of the day visiting Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. They were both very interesting to see, but the lines and airport-style security was a little intense. The lines to get on the ferries reminded me of Disney.


The entryway to the initial ferry was preceeded by a security check. This took place in an old train station, which was used by those arriving from Ellis Island to disperse all over the US. There was a small concession area, but it was mostly empty.
Here is the train station's exterior. It is actually a very nice station and famous for its part in history, but we were eager to get to the ferry and see the larger sights (at least, I was).

Here we are waiting in line. I think I am the only one looking at the camera, but we don't have any other pics of us in line, so this is the one I'm posting. :) The hats were a good plan because it was quite sunny.

Yay! Now we are on the ferry! We look so hot because we had been standing out in the sun for a while, waiting our turn. It was great to get out of the sun and onto the boat.

On Ellis Island, there were many really interesting displays. This one shows English words borrowed from other languages as well as the word source. It highlights the diversity of American culture and the benefits we have received from being a nation of immigrants.

Another cool Ellis Island display:

Here is the great hall at Ellis Island where incoming immigrants would line up to be checked in. We learned a lot about this process from some of the displays.

Here we are back in line! After we saw the Ellis Island hall, it was time to head for the statue. For this, we needed to once again wait in line for the ferry. Mom, it looks like you needed a hat. The building behind us is the hospital where sick immigrants would be kept (and would either recover and be allowed in or not recover and be shipped back). The hospital is not part of the tour.

On the ferry, there were lots of great views, and Dad and I took lots of pictures. Here is one great sailboat heading south. Lower Manhattan is to the left and Brooklyn is over the bridges to the right.

The Statue of Liberty was quite impressive, but I didn't know that so much of it's height is due to the platform it is on and not the statue itself. Still, it was pretty exciting going past the front on the ferry as we approached.

We had tickets that allowed us to climb to the balcony right below where the actual statue starts (platform tickets). It was a bit of a climb, but not too bad. The views were great from up there (including the statue shadow), but the area was very small and crowded.

Brian took this picture of me on the balcony. It was difficult to get enough distance between us (small space), so I am trying to lean backwards. In the background, Jersey City is to the left and Manhattan is to the right.

Statue of Liberty interior structure:

I have dozens of pictures of this statue (Brian suggests that I was a little excessive in my picture-taking). I enjoyed taking pictures of it though, and the clouds were so great. The sky was always changing! This shot is from on the island.

From the Statue of Liberty island, we had a pretty good view of the areas surrounding the bay. In this picture you can see Ellis Island (buildings with red roofs on the left) with Jersey City in the background. On the right, Lower Manhattan is in the foreground and areas of Manhattan further north can be seen behind the ferries as the Hudson River curves gently to the left.

Brian with Manhattan (cute haircut):

Me with Staten Island and then the opean ocean (the wind was picking up, so I had to watch my hat):

Here is one last shot of Ellis Island and Jersey City (with a sea bird).